Gay Guide Zürich

Zurich is with its round 400,000 inhabitants, a small, manageable metropolis with an astonishingly lively and modern gay scene. The days when Zurich was seen as a sterile finance city are a long gone. The gay scene locations are frequently open until the early hours of the morning. A registered, same-sex partnership contract was past by referendum with a 2/3 majority and the party scene has a good reputation not only because of the success of the "Zurich Pride" and the last remaining Techno parade in Europe which takes place on the 2nd Saturday in August. At the beginning in 2008 a lower court declared sex in "public commercial rooms", meaning darkrooms in Zurich for illegal. Owners and gay organizations have contested this judgment. Zurich's gay scene is traditionally located in Kreis 1 in the old town around Niederdorf Street, east of the Limmat. A broader, more alternative scene is located in Kreis 4, and there is a new development of several dance clubs in a former industrial area in Kreis 5 near the Escher-Wyss square.