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Swiss Arrivals Lounge, Zurich (ZRH)
Shortly after landing in Zurich from what can only be described as a hot mess of a flight from Montreal on SWISS Business Class aboard the A330, we were faced with a very real traveller dilemma. With a five-hour layover ahead of us before our next hop to Frankfurt, there were two competing instincts at play. My AvGeek brain wanted to immediately make a beeline for one of my favourite European lounge terraces to plane-spot, although I wasnt sure if we would be allowed in since our onward travel from the Schengen area. The more practical, and ultimately winning, consensus was that five hours was plenty of time to do something far more memorable, like an early morning stroll through Zurich city.
Swiss Arrivals Lounge Zurich – Main Entrance
Before any city wandering could happen, though, we needed two things badly, coffee and a shower. That made the SWISS Arrivals Lounge the obvious first stop, located landside after immigration at Zurich Airport.
Location and Access
The SWISS Arrivals Lounge is located in Arrivals 2, just after customs, and is also accessible from Arrivals 1. It’s open daily from 06:00 to 13:00, which aligns perfectly with overnight long-haul arrivals into Zurich. This lounge is designed intentionally for passengers who have just landed and want to reset before the day begins, whether that means heading straight into meetings or hopping on a train into the city.
Swiss Arrivals Lounge Zurich – Welcome Desk
Access is granted to passengers arriving in SWISS or Lufthansa First Class or Business Class, as well as Miles & More HON Circle members, Senators, and Frequent Travellers. It’s very much a status- and premium-ticket-driven space, and it shows in both how it’s run and who it caters to. This was my first visit to the SWISS Arrivals Lounge, and right away it was clear that this isn’t just a functional pit stop. It’s a well-thought-out space that understands what arriving passengers actually need.
Layout and Seating
After being warmly greeted by staff at the welcome desk just inside the main doors, our boarding passes were scanned, and we turned left into the main area of the lounge. The first thing you notice is the simple yet elegant bar with a crisp SWISS logo behind it.
Swiss Arrivals Lounge Bar
To the left of the bar is the main seating area, which feels less like an airport lounge and more like an elevated European café. There’s a real mix of seating styles here. Sofa seating dominates the space, giving it a relaxed feel that works equally well for winding down or opening up a laptop. There are also wingback chairs tucked into quieter corners, as well as a family seating area that works well for groups travelling together.
Lounge Seating options
Main Seating Area
Family seating area
To the right of the bar are several enclosed booths designed for work and phone calls. These are proper closed spaces, not half-hearted dividers, making them ideal if you need to take a call without broadcasting your conversation to the rest of the lounge.
Meeting Room
Just beyond those booths is one of my favourite features of the lounge: sofa recliners with semi-private barriers. These are perfect for stretching out, watching something on your phone or tablet, or sneaking in a short nap. I especially appreciated that these weren’t the usual generic leather recliners you see everywhere. Each one was upholstered in a fun colour, which added a bit of personality without being distracting.
Sleeping lounger
For those who need something more substantial, the lounge also offers three private rooms that can be booked at check-in. These rooms come with full-size beds, a TV, and an attached bathroom. For longer layovers or travellers heading straight into a workday, this is about as close as you can get to a hotel experience without leaving the airport.
Private Sleeping Rooms
My main mission was a shower, so I made my way to the shower suites. There are 20 shower suites in total, each named after major global cities—presumably destinations served nonstop from Zurich. It’s a small touch, but it adds a bit of character to what is otherwise a very functional space.
Shower Suites – Entrance
Swiss Arrivals Lounge – Shower Suite
The shower suite itself had everything you’d expect and was clean and well-maintained. SWISS also offers an ironing service for passengers, which speaks volumes about the clientele they expect, people who may be stepping straight off a flight and into meetings. Personally, after a long, sweaty overnight flight, this shower alone justified the stop.
Food and Drinks
Refreshed and feeling human again, I headed to the food and beverage area. Given the morning timing, the lounge was set up with a solid breakfast spread featuring both hot and cold options. There was a noticeable effort to include vegetarian and vegan choices alongside more traditional breakfast items.
Coffee and Food options in lounge
Coffee, unsurprisingly, was excellent, and honestly, that was all I needed at that moment. My body was still operating on something close to 3:00 am Eastern Time, so while I didn’t properly eat enough to comment on taste or depth of the offerings, the selection itself looked well considered and appropriate for arriving passengers easing into the day.
Perfect Layover – Zurich city getaway
With a quick coffee done, we were out the door and on our way into Zurich. One of the biggest strengths of this arrivals lounge is how seamlessly it fits into a short city visit. From the airport, it’s about a 25-minute train ride to Zurich’s central station. That efficiency, paired with easy access to showers and coffee right after landing, makes it incredibly easy to turn a long layover into something more meaningful.
Zurich train station
We spent a couple of hours wandering through the old city, browsing markets, and hopping between cafés, all while quietly racking up an impressive 20,000 steps for the day. Despite doing all that, we still made it back to the airport with time to spare.
That extra buffer meant I could also pop into the SWISS Senator Lounge for food and drinks before boarding our Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, our next stop on this unapologetic milk run from Montreal to Zurich to Frankfurt to Toulouse for an AvGeek weekend and the first edition of PMB Experiences.
Takeaway
The SWISS Arrivals Lounge in Zurich is a perfect example of how arrivals lounges should work. It’s efficient, thoughtfully designed, and genuinely helpful. Whether you’re heading straight into the city, off to meetings, or connecting onward, it gives you the tools to reset properly after a long flight, without feeling rushed or overwhelmed.
This was my first visit, but it certainly won’t be my last.
