Zurich

Switzerland's largest city and the arrival point for the non-stop flights from India. The Old Town (Altstadt) climbs both banks of the Limmat to the Grossmünster and the Fraumünster with its Chagall windows; Bahnhofstrasse is the shopping street, the lakeshore promenades and summer lake baths are where the city relaxes, and Uetliberg gives the view over the lake to the Alps. Trains from Zurich HB reach Lucerne in 45 minutes and most of the country in under three hours. Indian restaurants are easy to find.

Highlights

• Old Town lanes on both banks of the Limmat
• Chagall windows at the Fraumünster
• Grossmünster tower view
• Lake Zurich promenade and summer lake baths
• Bahnhofstrasse shopping
• Swiss National Museum
• Uetliberg view of the lake and Alps
• Lindt Home of Chocolate
• Kunsthaus Zürich

Things to do

• Old Town walk: Grossmünster, Fraumünster and LindenhofMorning · 2h 30m
• Swiss National MuseumAfternoon · 2h
• Lake Zurich promenade and a lake steamerAfternoon · 2h
• Uetliberg train and ridge walk for the Alps viewMorning · 3h
• Lindt Home of Chocolate, KilchbergAfternoon · 2h
• Niederdorf evening and a fondue dinnerEvening · 2h
• Museum Rietberg: Indian, Asian and African art in a lakeside parkMorning · 2h
• Kunsthaus ZürichAfternoon · 2h

Tours & tickets

When to go

Best time: May – September

• Sechseläuten — Zurich's spring festival, usually the third Monday of April: the guilds parade in costume and the Böögg, a snowman packed with fireworks, is burned on the Sechseläutenplatz; how fast its head explodes is said to foretell the summer.
• Swiss National Day — 1 August is the national holiday: bonfires on the hills, fireworks and lantern parades, and brunch on farms. The biggest display is over the Rhine Falls on the evening of 31 July; book the viewing tickets and trains ahead.
• Street Parade — Zurich's huge techno parade round the lake basin on a Saturday in August: hundreds of thousands of people, full trains and dear rooms that weekend.
• Christmas markets — From late November to just before Christmas: Basel's on Barfüsserplatz and Münsterplatz, Zurich's in the station hall and on Sechseläutenplatz, Montreux Noël along the lake. Weekend crowds; mulled wine and raclette stalls.

Part of a longer route

Zurich is a stop on a curated circuit through Switzerland.