Sixty rooms inside the 1836 Hürlimann brewery — Zurich's most photographed hotel lobby (an 11-metre, 33,000-volume library wall) and the only hotel with direct access to the Thermalbad & Spa Zürich rooftop thermal bath built inside the original brewery beer cisterns.
"A 1836 brewery converted by the architects who don't usually do hotels — and the lobby is a 33,000-book library wall. Walk through it to a thermal bath built inside the original beer cisterns. There is no other hotel in Zurich quite like it."
The Hürlimann Brewery operated continuously at Brandschenkestrasse 152 in Zurich's Enge district from 1836 until 1996, when production moved out and the cluster of brewery buildings was redeveloped under the Sihlcity master-plan. The B2 Boutique Hotel & Spa opened in February 2013 inside the former bottling plant and brewmaster's office — Althammer Hochuli Architekten led the conversion. The property is part of the wider Hürlimann Areal, a small protected industrial-heritage district that also contains the Thermalbad & Spa Zürich (the public thermal bath built inside the brewery's original 19th-century arched beer cisterns; opened 2010 and now Zurich's most-visited public spa) — and the B2 is the only hotel with direct internal access to the Thermalbad's rooftop pool and circuit.
The 60 rooms (including 4 suites) are arranged across the converted production building — exposed brick from the original walls retained, original cast-iron columns preserved on the lower floors, white-painted contemporary insertions for the rooms themselves. The Comfort Double at 22 square metres is the standard category; Superior Doubles at 27 sqm are the most-booked upgrade; the Junior Suites at 36 sqm and the named B2 Suite at 60 sqm are the larger options. Some rooms include private terraces facing the Hürlimann Areal courtyard and the original brewery tower; the upper-floor rooms face Lake Zurich and the Üetliberg above. Every room has a Nespresso, Bose audio, and the deliberate B2 design language (steel-frame furniture, oak floors, restrained palette) that reads design-hotel rather than industrial-loft pastiche.
The lobby is the property's signature space and one of the most-photographed interiors in Zurich. The "library wall" runs three storeys, 11 metres tall, and holds approximately 33,000 second-hand volumes acquired from the Galler Buchhandlung antiquarian bookshop estate when it closed; the books are not for sale and not catalogued — they are the wall. The Skylounge restaurant on the top floor handles the all-day breakfast and a Mediterranean dinner with views to the Lake Zurich basin. The Wine Library Bar (a separate ground-floor space) handles the evening; cocktails are restrained and the wine programme is uncharacteristically deep for a 60-room design hotel.
The wellness story is what sets the B2 apart from the city-centre boutique competition. B2 guests get free access to the Thermalbad & Spa Zürich rooftop pool — the same pool the public pays CHF 42 to enter — via a covered passage from the hotel's wellness floor. The rooftop thermal bath at 35 °C is in the open air with a view to Lake Zurich and the Alps; the Roman-Irish Bath circuit on the floors below uses the original arched beer cisterns. For a Zurich wellness retreat that is genuinely city-centre rather than Uetliberg-displaced, B2 is the only honest answer. The position — 8 minutes by tram to Bahnhofstrasse, 12 minutes by tram to Zurich Hauptbahnhof — is closer to centre than the Dolder Grand or Atlantis by Giardino.
For Zurich wellness retreats that want city-centre rather than Uetliberg-displaced, B2 is the only honest answer — guests get free access to the Thermalbad & Spa Zürich rooftop pool, the Roman-Irish Bath circuit in the original beer cisterns, and the Hürlimann sauna programme. Book a Junior Suite, three nights, and the spa-and-library evenings between.
A 60-room design boutique with a 33,000-volume library lobby and direct access to a serious thermal bath is the most considered solo booking in Zurich — book a Superior Double on the Hürlimann courtyard side, take dinner at the Skylounge, and use the library wall for the evening. Three nights is the right length.
A design-led honeymoon at meaningfully lower price-point than Baur au Lac or Park Hyatt, with a thermal-bath proposition that reads as something genuinely Zurich-specific. The B2 Suite is the headline booking; the rooftop thermal pool at dusk is the experience to come back to between Bahnhofstrasse shopping days. The Skylounge for sunset dinners.
Brandschenkestrasse 152
8002 Zurich (Enge)
Switzerland
Hürlimann Areal at the door; Bahnhofstrasse 8 minutes by tram (route 13); Zurich Hauptbahnhof 12 minutes by tram; Sihlcity 5 minutes on foot; Zurich Airport 25 minutes by car.
60 rooms (incl. 4 suites)
Comfort Double from CHF 320/night
Superior Double from CHF 410/night
Junior Suite from CHF 580/night
B2 Suite from CHF 950/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Hürlimann Brewery 1836–1996
Hotel opened February 2013 (Althammer Hochuli)
11-metre, 33,000-volume library wall
Skylounge restaurant (rooftop)
Wine Library Bar
Direct access to Thermalbad & Spa Zürich
35 °C rooftop thermal pool
Roman-Irish Bath in beer cisterns
Free hotel-guest spa entry
Inside protected Hürlimann Areal
From CHF 320/night. The 60-room footprint and design-led reputation mean the property books out earlier than its star-rating would suggest — three months ahead for spring and autumn weekends; six months ahead for the Hürlimann winter sauna season (October–March).
Book This Hotel →A 95-room Giardino five-star in the Uetliberg foothills with Igniv by Andreas Caminada and a forest-edge outdoor pool.
The 1899 Belle Époque resort above Zurich, restored by Norman Foster, with a 4,000-square-metre spa and two Michelin stars.
Nine medieval interconnected buildings on Rennweg restored as 49 individually designed Old Town rooms.