Have a look at

Conforama
www.conforama.ch and

TopTip
http://www.toptip.ch/

For Zurich traffic info - http://www.zvv.ch/aktuell.asp

Regards,

Dejan Foro

Hello All,

The time my wife and I arrive in Zurich is rapidly approaching - which leaves us with several questions.

First of all, we've got an unfurnished apartment sorted (finally!). Now we need to get stuff for it! I know that there is an IKEA nearby, how easy is it to get to? Is there a bus/train that goes straight there, and where from!

Secondly, we'll be buying a bed and mattress and what not. Has anyone attempted to take a mattress on the bus? Or is that against the law or something! The last thing I want is to break some kind of unwritten (or written) Swiss rule when I first arrive.

Presuming that we'll have way too much stuff for the bus, I understand that at IKEA in Zurich you can hire a van? Has anyone done this? Do you need to book in advance, or can you just turn up and pay for one at the checkout? If not - can anyone recommend any cheap van rental places? I'm presuming insurance will be included and all I will need is my driving licence?

On another shopping note, over in the UK we have this brilliant shop called Argos - where (if you're tight like me) you can pick up all kinds of stuff that you never realised you needed, for much less than you thought it cost! Does Switzerland have an equivalent to this shopping bemoth? If so, where do people buy their shower curtains and cheap towels and bed linen?

Also - we're arriving right before new year, and would ideally like to buy some stuff on 1st/2nd January. I know that these are holidays in Zurich - how closely do shops observe national holidays? Will everything be shut, or like the UK are certain places open?

Thanks!

We were the king and queen of Ikea when we first arrived. I have no idea about public transport to the store, but I do know about hiring a van to get the stuff home. They are all Mercedes automatics and it is best to book in advance, I'd go as far as to say essential. You need a current driving licence and a credit card as far as I recall. I think they cost about 35chf an hour.
As far as Argos type shops go. None I've come across but we do live in Zug rather than Zurich.
Opening following new year is again, something I can't help you with, but bear in mind that shops DO NOT open on a Sunday, at night time or a saints day.
Ikea is open until 21.00 most nights I think though. They are a reasonable source of linen and kitchenware, you could do a one stop shop

You can take a train from oerlikon to dietlikon and from dietlikon to ikea by bus which takes about 4 minutes.

If you buy a matrass in ikea they come rolled and vacuum packed which makes transporting them very easy.

Where abouts in Zürich is your apartment? This will make a difference to what is the best transport options for you.

From the way you describe Argos, you will find the equivalent in Migros. This is mainly a supermarket, but they also have a branch that does bathroom, kitchen and other stuff at very reasonable prices. And the quality is not bad. I think there is also a chain called Otto's that is similar, but I havn't got around to checking that out yet.

We like the Migros homeware shops called Micasa for bed linen, towels, shower curtains and that kind of jazz. They also do DIY stuff (furniture, lighting, shelving and paint, etc). There're normally out of town - there's one in Volketswil but some of the bigger city centre Migros (Migros City and Brunau Park) stock bed linen and towels, etc., and you can get to them by tram.

Excellent - this is exactly the type of info we are looking for. On the IKEA front we decided to look through our catalogue in the UK, to get some idea of what we were after, before descending on Zurich. After all, a hogbo is a hogbo whichever IKEA you are in!

Migros sounds like the ticket - sounds a lot like Tesco in the UK - which literally sell almost everything, and like Migros the size of the shop determines how much. Thanks for the tips - I will search out said "big" Migros shops for the stuff we need.

Our apartment is in Oerlikon, so from the map it looks pretty damn close to IKEA. I think we need 2 buses to get there, from Oerlikon Bahnhof Nord, and think it will be 3-4miles in one of those rented cars, with some tricky motorway on/off issues.

On this basis - is it likely to be cheaper to get one of those trailer things to take it for me? As much as I'd love to drive a Mercedes one of these days, if it's going to cause me heart palpitations on the bahnhof I may give it a miss!

just wanted to let you know that we made the trek to ikea (dietlikon) today for the first time and it wasn't too bad. just take a train from zurich main station to dietlikon - then get off on dietlikon/bad and walk to the 787 bus that takes you to industristrasse (sp?). goodluck!

While I think Ikea is great for certain things, i'm not a big fan of the furniture in there... I find it very generic, and you can always tell where it's from when you see it.

I'm personally a big fan of wood furniture with a bit of character, and discovered JYSK when I first came to Zurich http://www.jysk.ch/de/aktuelle-werbu...n-katalog.html

Sure, it's not premium quality expensive stuff like you get at fancy places, and it hasn't got the hugest range, but it IS "proper" wood, and really avoids that cheapo generic Ikea plasticky look as a result. I got a nice TV unit from them and plan to buy a bed and coffee table there soon too.

It may not suit the types who like the uber-modern look, but I find wood very warm and homely, so I was chuffed to find a place that did decent furniture without needing to re-mortgage to get it... the prices are decent too in my opinion

Agreed. You can spot an Ikea piece instantly...has a certain look.
Sorry to get a bit off topic....but....
There is a JYSK in Baden and the wood furniture did look quite nice and for solid wood it seemed quite reasonably priced.

The thing I found odd is that many of the duvets and pillows are not wrapped in plastic and I don't mean the samples, I mean the ones you are supposed to buy. Usually there is one sample not wrapped, which everyone likes to touch, but then what you buy is in plastic. Some were, but not all. So I asked the sales clerk. She told me they unwrap them. I said I wasn't prepared to buy a duvet or pillow that was handled and asked if she would look in the back for a new one in plastic and she said the have none. Right.

I probably wouldn't shop there as I just didn't like the clerk's attitude....she looked at me as though I my request was bizarre. I can't think of a single store where I have seen new duvets and pillows for sale that are not in plastic.

I'm from Sweden so I guess it's my duty to say that IKEA has everything you'll need. Good luck!

do try to be prompt next time, Swedish person

hey i know its a late reply to this thread but in case anybody needs some more tips on where and how to find cheap furniture in Zurich i recently wrote an article about it here

http://zurichexpats.com/furnishing-home-budget-zurich/

i left out ricardo.ch but since i've never used it i didn't want to include it.

hope it helps people