Mid-range · 6-hour walk · Zurich
Zürich West and the Kunsthaus in six hours
The country's best picture collection, then the viaduct arches and the shipyard bar in the old industrial quarter.
The three-hour route does the Altstadt and the lake. This is the other Zürich: an art museum that holds the largest Giacometti collection anywhere, and then a former industrial district where the railway viaduct arches are now shops and a shipbuilding hall is a bar. It is where the city goes out, and it is a fifteen-minute tram ride from the guild houses.
The route, stop by stop
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Kunsthaus Zürich
Giacometti, Hodler, a strong Munch room and the Bührle collection in the new wing, whose provenance the city is still publicly arguing about. Free on Wednesdays.
100 min here Walk here → -
Lindenhof
The terrace on the old Roman fort site, above the river and the rooftops, and the natural place to stop before crossing to the tram.
25 min here Walk here → -
Im Viadukt
Arrive by tram from the previous stop
Thirty-six railway arches from 1894 turned into shops and a covered market hall. The food hall in the arches is the best lunch in the district.
45 min here Walk here → -
Frau Gerolds Garten
Stacked shipping containers, a garden bar and a rooftop, in the shadow of the Prime Tower. Summer only for the outdoor half.
40 min here Walk here → -
Schiffbau
A hall where lake steamers were built until 1991, now a theatre, a jazz club and a restaurant, with the gantry cranes left in place.
35 min here Walk here → -
Josefwiese
The neighbourhood lawn where Zürich West sits down. Beer garden at one end, paddling pool at the other, entirely local.
30 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.