Ice rinks in Zurich

[Verena]

Hi all!

I will travel to Zurich (Switzerland) next week and I would really like to go skating. I am trying to find arenas in the city, but I have no luck - probably because everything is in German :). Does anybody know any arenas in the city of Zurich?
Also, there is a possibility that I will live there for a while. If anybody has any experience in Zurich about skating (or not) I would be very happy to know!

Cheers,
V.

[dooobedooo]

Deleted - double post

[dooobedooo]

Haven't skated in Zurich, but - for outdoor seasonal skating starting October - doesn't this place (Dolder Ice Complex) look fab ...
http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/offer-Activities_Excursions-Sports-17042.html

Hope someone else can help you with a year-round arena ...

[Mrs Redboots]

They have very few, if any, year-round arenas in Switzerland; I know that the year my daughter lived there, she was only able to skate between October and March, although I think a rink nearby remained open slightly longer than the club she joined.

There appear to be four rinks in Zurich, address list here (http://www.zurich-relocation.ch/content/leisure/addlist_iceskatingrinks.html).

From googling the individual rinks, it looks as though the bottom one, Kunseisbahn Kuesnacht, will be open from 1 September, although the outdoor rink doesn't open until 1 October. There's a document about it (in German) here (http://www.kuesnacht.ch/documents/KEK_Benutzungsreglement.pdf), which you may be able to get Babelfish or one of those to translate for you.

[skatingpanda]

There are 3 rinks in the city:

- Heuried: 2 ice sheets, outdoors, seasonal (Oct-Mar). Club: http://www.skating.ch/~echz/
- Dolder: 3 ice sheets, outdoors, seasonal (very good choice in winter, because they have public ice time 9-22 every day). Club: http://www.kls.ecz.ch/ , Rink: http://www.doldereisbahn.ch/
- Oerlikon: 1 sheet indoors, 1 sheet outdoors. Club: http://kl.escz.org/

And then there is the rink in Kloten (in the same town as Zurich airport), which is indoors too. Club: http://www.skating.ch/~eckloten/

For just skating on your own it is a bit tricky right now, because even the rinks that are open (nearly) year round (roughly Juli/August - April), are only open to the public from October to March, the rest of the time they are open to clubs only. For instance, Oerlikon and Kloten are open right now, but no public ice. At both rinks there is the possibility to buy patches outside the season (look for "Vorsaisoneis", "Nachsaisoneis" or "Sommereis"), but the usual procedure is that the coaches do the booking of patches for all their students with a LOT of advance. If you end up staying in Zurich longer, your best bet is to join one of the clubs, so that you become an "insider" and then everything should run smoothly.

It might be easier to find walk-on freestyles or public ice in Wetzikon, where they have one of the two truely year-round rinks in Switzerland (the other one is in Bäretswil, but doesn't have a web site). The patches are run by the club: http://www.elzo.ch/ (look under "patches" and "Sommer Eis").
There is also public ice, as you can see here:
http://www.wetzikon.ch/cms.cfm/s_page/52180

If you are an adult that skates freestyle, be prepared to be looked at as a strange animal :-). 90% of the adults do either dance or adult synchro. In Oerlikon they do have a lady in her late forties that lands all her double jumps though :bow: .

[Verena]

Thank you all for the information!

.. I feel a little disappointed. I thought that Zurich would be a great place to figure skate, since the sport is really advanced there and many athletes come from Switzerland.
Since I am thinking about living there for some time, I would really like to hear details from people that know life and figure skating there.. Is there a big adult community? I do freestyle and am working on doubles (whenever I can find ice) - so I would really like to go to a friendly environment where people are nice and helpful and enjoy the sport.... Is it hard to find a good coach that wants to deal with an adult?
Also, how is life in Zurich? How are the people?

V.

[skatingpanda]

I sent you a PM.

[Verena]

I sent you a PM.

Hi! What exactly do you mean by PM??

Thanks, for replying!

[skatingpanda]

It's a private message, you should see it if you look (while logged in) at the top right corner of the page.