Having recently moved to Zurich with my Frau and 4 month year old baby it has quickly hit us how difficult it is to have some sort of a life away from home with a baby. As civilisation hasn't yet reached Zurich in the form of a smoking ban a quiet pint with a baby is a no go - unless sitting outside, which will soon become difficult as winter draws in. Likewise restaurants are also a problem for the same reason. In London there are cinemas where you can go with a baby but I've found nothing like that here. Childcare and babysitting seems pretty complicated as well.

So in short has anyone here in this situation with more experience of Zurich found any bars, restaurants, cinemas, or other things that are baby/child friendly and what were you experiences here. Any other suggestions welcome.

There are quite a few restaurants springing up which are smoke free. Try Tibits or Hiltl (both veggie restaurants), there is also a noodle bar at Kreuzplatz.

Pubs tend not to be smoke free yet but then again, they aren't really any place for a baby anyway.

As for cinemas I certainly couldn't imagine taking a baby to a 2 or 3 hour film even if it were allowed. What would you do if he or she suddenly decided to have a crying fit? If memory serves me right, babies do choose a supremely unsuitable moment to let rip with a massive cry. Mine is three years old and this rule still applies...

Thanks for the restaurant tips, do you know any that server meat?

I don't see anything talking a baby to a pub for a quiet afternoon drink, no talking saturday night binge here!

And baby cinemas have a long break in the middle of the film to allow for feeding/changing and the point is that if a baby cries the mother can calm it and the other viewers are understanding. Only parents and babies go, not everyone else, lol!

There used to be a cinema session that was specifically for parents with babies (the sound was turned down a bit and everyone there had babies so it was no big deal if you needed to change a nappy or feed or whatever) I think it was the cinema at Sihlcity, but I am not sure if they still do it or not.

Lots of people on this forum have a strong disliking for Starbucks, but it is smoke free and therefore has always been my preference for a coffee when with babies.

Increasingly restaurants have non smoking areas, always worth asking if you want to go somewhere.

Child care is not so complicated. If you only want someone to babysit for a few hours occassionally it is very easy really. Just find someone and pay cash. You only run into complications if they are childminding over something like 18 hours a week.

The good thing about babies is that really you can take them whereever you go with not too many problems, once they start walking things get a little complicated!

Even in winter it is fine to spend time outside, just make sure they are wrapped up really warmly - you can get sheepskin bags - like a sleeping bag type thing - that goes in your pram, I used those all the time - baby keeps snug and with a hat that ties under the chin you can be outside for quite a long time!

Don't worry, you will find that you can do almost everything you were doing before with a baby - although as you said, pubs are probably out for now!

Good luck
Jo

As Joanne said, there indeed used to be a baby cinema (NuggiKino) at Sihlcity. However this has now been discontinued since the major sponsor pulled out of the project. Luckily, Pathe cinema in Dietlikon is continuing the tradition. More info at http://www.pathe.ch/dietlikon/nuggikino.php . We went few times when our son was younger and enjoyed the experience. Have fun

The restaurant "Vorderer Sternen" right on Bellevue slap bang in the middle of Zurich is smoke-free downstairs.
http://www.vorderer-sternen.ch/lageplan.asp
You can also just pop in to have a drink, but the food's pretty good too.

You should try the larger shopping centers, the Glatt Zentrum has a non-smoking policy and you will find child-friendly restaurants, cafes as well as loads of shops to potter about in.

Sihl City, too, although you do have to run the smoky blue gauntlet of the fag-dependent hovering around the entrance...

For smoke free restaurants this is a good link too: http://www.rauchfreiessen.ch/searchResult_2.asp?lang=D. Since the page is in German only I limited the search to Zurich for you . Three flowers are completely smoke free, two with separate smoke free room.