Mid-range · 12-hour walk · Zurich
Zurich in a day: old town, lake and mountain
The national museum, the old town's churches, lunch in the Niederdorf, a boat on the lake, the chocolate factory on its shore and the Uetliberg at sunset.
Zurich is compact enough to walk in a morning, which leaves the rest of the day for the lake and the hills around it. The museum and the old town go first, lunch is in the Niederdorf, and then the city is left behind: a boat on the lake, a train to the Lindt factory on its shore, and the train up the Uetliberg, Zurich's own mountain, for sunset over the water and, on a clear evening, the Alps.
The route, stop by stop
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Swiss National Museum
Behind the main station in a building that looks like a castle, and was built in 1898 to. Swiss history from the Stone Age on, with a new wing that is better than the old.
75 min here Walk here → -
Lindenhof
Up the hill to the terrace on the old Roman fort site, above the river and the rooftops.
20 min here Walk here → -
Fraumünster
Five stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall in the choir, installed in 1970. Small, ticketed, and extraordinary in the morning light.
25 min here Walk here → -
Grossmünster
Across the river, the twin-towered church where Zwingli began the Swiss Reformation in 1519. Climb the Karlsturm for the view up the lake.
30 min here Walk here → -
Niederdorf
Lunch in the lanes of the old town's east bank. Zürcher Geschnetzeltes — veal in cream with rösti — is the dish, and it is heavier than it sounds.
60 min here Walk here → -
Lake Zurich Cruise
Down to Bürkliplatz for the short round trip on the lower lake: ninety minutes past the villas of the Gold Coast, with the Glarus Alps at the end of the water.
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Lindt Home of Chocolate
Arrive by train from the previous stop
A short S-Bahn ride south along the lake to Kilchberg, where the tour ends at a nine-metre chocolate fountain and a tasting room that is close to unlimited.
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Uetliberg
Arrive by train from the previous stop
Back through the main station and up the S10, which climbs to the top of Zurich's own mountain in about twenty minutes. The tower on Uto Kulm looks over the whole lake and, on a clear evening, the Alps in a line along the horizon.
75 min here Walk here →
More in Zurich
Every walking route in Zurich, or the full Zurich guide for where to stay and what a day costs.