Odeon

Café bar · Zurich Bellevue

An Art Nouveau café from 1911 at Bellevue, birthplace of Dadaism and a meeting place of Zurich’s gay scene since the 1970s. Today a grand café for everyone, from early morning until well after midnight.

• ★ 4.6 on Google (2,516)
• Since 1911
• Open daily
• Historic Art Nouveau interior

Address

Limmatquai 2
8001 Zürich

Opening hours

Mon–Thu 7 am–midnight
Fri 7 am–2 am
Sat 9 am–2 am
Sun 9 am–midnight

Crowd

mixed: creatives, regulars, tourists, many gay guests

Programme

Champagne Wednesday every 1st Wednesday of the month, 5:30 to 8 pm

What makes the Odeon special

The Grand Café Odeon opened on 1 July 1911 in the style of Viennese coffee houses; its Art Nouveau interior is now a listed monument. From 1915 Hans Arp, Sophie Taeuber, Tristan Tzara and Hugo Ball met here, and the Odeon is considered the birthplace of Dadaism. Later Lenin, Einstein, James Joyce and Klaus Mann sat at its marble tables. And the Cüpli, the glass of champagne, is said to have been invented here.

The Odeon became important for the scene after 1972: Fred Tschanz took over the run-down, closed café and made it a refuge for gay guests, including in the years when fear of HIV fuelled prejudice. The film Der Kreis shows the Odeon as a meeting place of Zurich’s early gay scene. Fred Tschanz Gastgewerbe still runs the house today.

Crowd and atmosphere

Today the Odeon isn’t a gay venue as such but a café for everyone: croissants and coffee in the morning, a set lunch at midday, tartare, burgers and drinks in the evening. The kitchen is open all day. The crowd ranges from creatives and regulars to tourists, and gay guests have been part of it for decades.

In the evening the bar gets livelier, and on Fridays and Saturdays the Odeon stays open until 2 am. On the first Wednesday of every month there’s Champagne Wednesday with free-flowing Cüpli. Its location at Bellevue makes it a good meeting point before moving on to the Niederdorf.

Contact

Researched by our editors, as of October 2026. Sources: Google reviews (4.6 stars, 2,516 reviews), odeon.ch (history), Zürich Tourism (zuerich.com), hellozurich.ch, Time Out Switzerland. Opening hours, prices and programme may change, please check before you go.