h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

SWISS NATIONAL MUSEUM
(Schweizerisches Landesmuseum)
Location: Museumstrasse 2.
Hours: Tue-Sun 10:30am-5pm.

This museum, build like a pseudo-Gothic castle, covers Swiss life and culture from the prehistoric to the present. Plenty of art and artifacts. Not all signs in the museum are in English, but free tours are given in English at 10:30am on Thursdays from June to September.
Entry to the permanent collection is free, special exhibits may have fee.

The following museum is free only on Sundays:

KUNSTHAUS (Fine Art Museum)
Location: Heimplatz 1.
Sunday Hours: 10am-5pm.

Switzerland's best gallery includes artists such as Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Picasso, Chagall, Man Ray, Manet, Dali, Bacon, Arp, Giacometti, Füssli, Hodler, and the largest collection of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch outside Scandanavia.

JOHANN JACOBS MUSEUM OF COFFEE
Location: Seefeld-Quai 17, at Feldeggstrasse, on the shore of the Zurichsee.
Hours: Fri-Sat 2-5pm, Sun 10am-5pm.
Telephone: 388 61 51

This free museum covers the cultural history of coffee, displaying all kinds of wares & utensils related to coffee, artwork depicting coffee, and historical facts and artifacts. Free coffee offered throughout.

THE BEYER WATCH MUSEUM
(Museum der Zeitmessung Beyer)
Location: Bahnhofstrasse 31.
Hours: Mon-Fri 2-6pm.

Largest privately owned clock collection in Switzerland. Primitive timepieces, sundials, sandclocks, waterclocks, jewel-studded pieces, all-ivory pieces, and much more.

WAX-MODEL COLLECTION
(Moulagensammlung)
Location: Haldenbachstrasse 14, north of the center.
Hours: Unknown, but only open on Wednesdays when last visited.

Lifelike models of human body parts with skin diseases and other afflictions. Originally begun for the purpose of study into such things when live patients are unavailable.

LINDT AND SPRÜNGLI CHOCOLATE FACTORY
Location: Seestrasse 204, a few kilometers south of the center of the city; take bus #165 to Kilchberg or the S-Bahn No.1 or No.8 to Kilchberg.
Hours: Wed-Fri 10am-Noon & 1-4pm.

This free museum is all about the factory and chocolate. Visitors receive a free box of Lindt chocolate at the end.
All exhibits are in German but extensive English notes are available upon request.

MEDICAL HISTORY MUSEUM
(Medizinhistoriches Museum)
Location: In the Zürich University on Rämistrasse 71.
Hours: Tue-Fri 1-6pm, Sat-Sun 11am-5pm
This free museum covers all aspects of European medicine, good and bad, from prehistory to the present. Included is an interesting replica of an 18th-century pharmacy with all the supplies and exibits on modern medical technology.

ARCHEOLOGICAL COLLECTION
(Archäologische Sammlung)
Location: In the basement of the university on Rämistrasse 73.
Hours: Tue-Fri 1-6pm, Sat-Sun 11am-5pm.
This free museum contains artifacts mainly from southern Europe and the Middle East, including a multitude of replicas of the great ancient classical statues. No English notes.

ZÜRICH TOY MUSEUM
(Zürich Spielzeugmuseum)
Location: Fortunagasse 15.
Hours: Not sure, but it is closed mornings and Sundays.
Admission: free.

ZUNFTHAUS ZUR MEISEN Guildhall
Location: Münsterhof 20.
Hours: Unknown, but it is closed on Mondays.
The building is 18th century and it has a collection of ceramics.

The following info was true as of 1998, so let the reader beware.

MUSEUM OF SWISS HOTELS AND TOURISM
(Museum Schweizer Hotellerie und Tourismus)
Location: Trittligasse 8, in the Old Town; museum is in basement.
Hours: Unknown.
Changing exhibits of lodging at this free museum focus on different regions, cities, mountains and trends in Swiss tourism. Much hotel silverware, china and furniture.