City & Lindenhof is the left-bank half of Zürich's old town, bounded by the Limmat to the east, the Hauptbahnhof to the north, and the lake shore to the south. It holds the oldest layer of the city — the Roman hill fort on the Lindenhof, the medieval silk-weavers' lane of Schipfe below it, and the twin landmarks of Fraumünster and St. Peter's Church whose spires anchor the skyline.
Bahnhofstrasse cuts a clean kilometre from the station to the lake, passing Paradeplatz — the heart of Swiss private banking — on the way. At the opposite extreme, Schipfe is a single curving lane below the Lindenhof hill where you can still find artisan jewellers, small studios, and the medieval street plan unchanged. The Lindenhof square on the hilltop above Schipfe is where the Romans built their customs post on the river crossing; today it is a quiet terrace of linden trees and the best view of Grossmünster and the Niederdorf rooftops across the water.
Fraumünster has the most celebrated interior in the city — five Chagall windows in the chancel flooding the Gothic nave with jewelled light. Around it, the left bank is dense with guild history: the Swiss National Museum occupies a purpose-built neo-Gothic castle beside the Hauptbahnhof, and the Zeughauskeller restaurant on Bahnhofstrasse occupies a 15th-century armory.