10 itineraries to discover Zurich
I don't like to call Zurich a tourist city, because it is not a place that can captivate you at a glance. It does not have majestic churches, solemn squares or glittering skyscrapers. It takes a keen eye and some time to explore it to fall in love with its atmosphere and its modern and historical facets combined. With these itineraries, you can get to know its every face and put together the pieces of a fascinating and varied puzzle.
Its lakeside part offers a sparkling viveur atmosphere, with fine restaurants and cafes, gardens, and elegant 20th-century buildings. The old town retains the charm of old buildings, old walls, austere Protestant cathedrals, and neat Parisian-style cobbled streets. The river that runs through Zurich will take you through lively alternative neighborhoods, including children's parks, underground clubs, reclaimed architecture and bathing infrastructure. Going up the Uetliberg hill, on the other hand, will feel like leaving the city far behind and immerse you in beautiful forests and nature trails in every season.
1. NIEDERDORF AND THE UNIVERSITY DISTRICT
Zurich's Old Town, with its guild houses, small squares that open up between neighborhood buildings with stone fountains embellished with sculptures, and quiet alleys with historic cafes and stores. From Central, take the eponymous Niederdorfstrasse and occasionally veer left or right in the alleys that most inspire you. Continue in a southerly direction until you cross Rindemarkt, which flows into Neumarkt: the narrow streets that intersect this main thoroughfare are full of atmosphere and very pretty arts and crafts stores.
From here you can take a detour to the university district to take in a couple of interesting sights. First, you can continue walking on Künstlergasse, between school buildings and those of the University of Zurich (which also offers an interesting natural history museum with free admission) until you reach Polyterrasse, a beautiful square belonging to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) with a beautiful view of the city. If you want easier but equally picturesque access, at the beginning of the Niederdorf district, in Central, you can take the Polybahn, a funicular railway that will take you directly to the top of the Polyterrasse (the ticket is the same as city transportation, or there is a much cheaper specific ticket for exclusive use). In the opposite direction, on the other hand, you can reach the UB Recht, i.e., the law university library, the work of architect Santiago Calatrava, where you can freely enter and browse.
We return to the heart of Niederdorf, where, past the famous Cabaret Voltaire, a historic café and meeting place for artists where Dadaism was founded, we take Münstergasse to Zurich's iconic cathedral, Grossmünster. Continuing on Oberdorfstrasse, among interesting little stores and a few bakeries, you reach Rämistrasse, which borders the Old Town.
A short walk away is the Kunsthaus Zurich, with its historic headquarters, and the beautiful new building by David Chipperfield. You can spend a full day among the permanent collections and temporary exhibitions. Remember that admission to the Kunsthaus is free on Wednesdays!
You can end your visit to Niederdorf by heading back along the Limmatquai riverfront, lingering on the small squares to its right, strolling under the arcades of the guild houses, or sipping a coffee overlooking the river.
2. LINDENHOF & BAHNHOFSTRASSE
Starting at Bahnhofplatz, you can take Bahnhofstrasse and lose yourself among the stores and department stores nonstop, all the way to Bürkliplatz and the lakefront. The first stretch of Bahnhofstrasse, up to Paradeplatz, is more commercial; near this square, it begins to be dotted with jewelry stores, exclusive watch windows, and high-fashion brands. The neighborhoods west of Bahnhofstrasse are elegant but mostly devoted to offices, while the area between this street and the river to the east is the historic part of Lindenhof, and my favorite neighborhood in the city.
The triangle crossed by Fraumünsterstrasse is denoted by imposing 19th-century buildings with beautiful hidden courtyards. The Münsterhof square serves as the entrance to the neighborhood, a swarm of narrow streets that rise and fall, opening into squares with churches and fountains, and crossing river arcades with elegant cafes, or quiet alleys with stores and art galleries. The beautiful Frau Münster Cathedral is well worth a visit, with its stained-glass windows decorated by Marc Chagall, and a beautiful adjoining courtyard.
There's just to get lost here, crossing the district from the river to Bahnhofstrasse and back, until you meet the actual Lindenhof, a park on a fortified rampart that gives a beautiful view of the old town across the river. Don’t miss the Augustinergasse, the most beautiful alley in this neighbourhood.
3. ENGE AND THE LAKEFRONT
From Bürkliplatz, you can take a walk on the west side of the lake along the Mythenquai in the Enge neighborhood. This is mostly an office district, toward downtown, and residential toward the lake, but it is an area of elegant buildings and green spaces, where you can take a pleasant walk on a sunny day. Reaching Belvoirpart, one can climb the hill that leads to the Rietberg Museum, visit it, or simply spend time in the green garden that surrounds it. Especially beautiful in the spring, during the blossoming of the cherry trees and magnolias, the neighborhood that slopes down to Enge Cathedral is also a pleasant place for a stroll, and the elevated location offers nice visual vistas.
To spend a little more time in this area, you can continue the lakefront promenade between parks (some are not passable in summer, as they become bathing establishments) and boardwalks over the water, admiring the lake and the crown of mountains on the backdrop, even beyond the city limits. One of my favorite places on the lake is the Cassiopeiasteg footbridge in Wollishofen.
4. BELLEVUE TO ZURICHHORN
The east side of the lake is split down between the Seefeld neighborhood and Seefeldstrasse, filled with stores and restaurants in stately buildings, and the placid tree-lined lakefront, where you can stroll among swans and chestnut trees to the large Zürichhorn Park, which in summer becomes a hangout for barbecues, relaxing in the sun, enjoying an outdoor movie night, or playing barefoot Frisbee.
The entire area east of Seefeldstrasse is exclusively residential, with 19th-century villas and tree-lined gardens.
The opera square, Sächseleuteplatz, is a large esplanade that marks the beginning of the neighborhood, where events such as the film festival, the Sächseleute spring bonfire, or Christmas markets alternate throughout the year.
5. EUROPAALLEE & SCHANZENGRABEN
Europaallee is the latest addition to downtown Zurich: a beautiful street lined with modern office buildings, state-of-the-art stores, and excellent restaurants. Street food festivals, fairs, Christmas markets, and other events alternate at different times of the year. Continue along the station, down to the river, and follow its path down the Schanzengraben, a beautiful canal that follows the old city's star-shaped walls to the lake. In summer you will come across bars on the water, barefoot people cooling off in the crystal-clear waters of the canal, sportsmen rowing.
6. THE SIHLFELD NEIGHBORHOOD
Sihlfeld is a fairly alternative but very lively neighborhood. It is especially beautiful in spring, when the streets between the twentieth-century residential buildings are tinged with the pink of cherry trees. It is a particularly enjoyable neighborhood in the evening, full of clubs, restaurants and people gathering on the street to sip a beer. The choice of restaurants is enviable, from cafes with burlesque shows, to Japanese izakaya, to traditional taverns serving exclusively Swiss cordon-bleu. Sihlfeld Cemetery, is a beautiful park in which to stroll in spring or fall to enjoy the colors of the trees.
7. ALONG THE LIMMAT RIVER
From the Swiss National Museum and Platzspitz Park, you can follow, now on the right bank, now on the left, the entire course of the Limmat River. This is a particularly enjoyable activity in summer, when the riverfront is bustling, especially in the late afternoon, with people sipping beer, people playing beach volleyball, and bathers taking a dip in the free river waters or in the bathing establishments, where you can also sit down to dinner or watch a movie open-air. There are nice parks to stop and sunbathe on the steps leading down to the river, such as Wipkingerpark, or places to stop for a drink, such as the Spheres library café or the Tanzhaus café. You can follow the entire course of the river to Werdinsel Park, where in summer you will struggle to find a place to sit in the sun.
8. INDUSTRIEQUARTIER
It is easy to imagine the vocation of this neighborhood, formerly an industrial suburb, now a residential area that is gradually being redeveloped. Around the Hardbrücke train station, there are modern buildings such as the Prime Tower, the tallest building in Zurich, where you can have coffee or dine in the top-floor restaurant with a view of the entire city, and old redeveloped buildings, such as the Viadukt, a railway viaduct under whose arches have been built stores and restaurants, and on whose old railroad track runs a promenade with a bicycle path.
9. A SCENIC WALK ALONG LYRENWEG
This route, outside the city center, runs along the ridge of Uetliberg Hill, which watches over Zurich on the southwest side. It is a scenic route through a rural area and a residential area with half-timbered houses. It offers a beautiful view of the city and a non-urban walk among farms and community gardens.
Near this road, the Eichbühl cemetery is a beautiful park in which to stroll, especially in the fall, with tree-lined avenues of chestnut trees, pavilions with singular architecture, and a beautiful cherry orchard, which is of course especially appreciable in the spring.
10. UETLIBERG
Zurich's hilltop is a green oasis on the edge of the city, where it seems as if you have completely escaped from the cityscape, until you reach the top, with the Uto Kulm hotel's viewing terrace that will have you admiring Zurich and the lake from above.
You can go up by a train that climbs up from the central station, or you can take one of the many trails that wind through the woods. These are very picturesque walks both in summer, if you are looking for some coolness, and in autumn, among the chestnut trees and foliage, and in winter, when it really becomes an enchanted forest shrouded in snow.
One of our favorite walks is the one that starts from Feldermoos and reaches the summit, also crossing the railway with the little red train that goes up the ridge.
