The second sleeper train of Snoozing to Split (read about that here) had brought me to Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, situated on the Limmat river and the northern end of the Zürichsee (Lake Zuirch). With a previous visit to Zurich under my belt, although a good few years ago, I was looking forward to both seeing the city’s highlights and also perhaps doing a couple of things that were a bit different.
My first mission on arriving in Zuirch was to find a decent cup of coffee as I’d not had any caffeine provided with my breakfast, and so I headed down into the depths of Zurich Hauptbahnhof to drop my bag off at the luggage lockers and find a second breakfast. With these tasks successfully completed, I headed out to the tram stop, bought myself a day ticket for the Zurich zone and jumped on a tram to Paradeplatz, just a couple of stops away from the main station.
Paradeplatz was due to be the starting point for the walking tour I was booked on, however with 45-minutes until it started, I decided to have a wander, heading down to the Limmat and crossing it via the Quaibrücke where the river leaves Lake Zurich. Reaching the tram interchange at Bellevue, I hopped onboard another tram back towards Paradeplatz, stopping enroute to make sure I had some cash to tip the tour guide.
Our guide started the walking tour by telling us a bit about the city, including that the more than 1,200 water fountains all provide drinkable water and that a building on Bahnhofstrasse (Zurich’s main shopping street) sold for more than €400m! From Paradeplatz we headed back down towards the Limmat, stopping at the Fraümunster which dates back to 853AD, before then again pausing at the statue of Hanson Waldmann, Mayor of Zurich between 1435 and 1489 when he was beheaded during a peasant’s revolt.
As we crossed the Limmat and headed towards the Grossmünster, we discovered that ground floors of apartment buildings are legally required to be used as a shop, in an effort to ensure that shops are retained in the city centre and don’t all move to ‘out of town’ retail parks as in other places. Having headed up hill slightly from the Grossmunster, we reached the house that Lenin lived in whilst in exile from Russia, a house for which he paid the equivalent of 24CHF per month compared to the 4 to 5,000CHF that is now paid per month for an apartment in central Zuirch!
As I crossed the Lemmat for the third time that morning, this time using the 1970s concrete monstrosity next to the Rathaus, we were told the history of this crossing place which was the location of the city’s first bridge during Roman times. By the bridge is also the former Zum Schwert hotel (which was allegedly home to Cassonova for a while) and we were also able to see the large clocks on the tower of St Peter’s church which are the largest in Europe, 3cm larger than those on Big Ben.
With us coming towards the end of the walking tour, we headed up towards the last stop of the tour, Lindenhof, the former castle above the city. Having been the historic centre of the city since its beginning, Lindenhof is a ‘Swiss heritage site of national significance’ and is now home to park with stunning views out over the Limmat and the city.
As always, I enjoyed the walking tour and finding out about the city and some of its historic buildings. Unfortunately the tour guide on this occasion wasn’t as charismatic as on some tours I have taken part in and they were quite quiet, with me struggling to hear what was being said at times. Nonetheless, I will still always advocate for joining a walking tour when visiting somewhere as it’s a great way to see the sights and learn about the city!
From Lindenhof, I once again headed towards the river, crossing at the busy Rudolf-Brun-Brücke and jumping on a tram back towards Bellevue. A quick stop enroute to buy some souvenirs and it was time for lunch at Sternen Grill, a restaurant and takeaway at Bellevue recommended by Eurocheapo. I opted for the Fleischkäse (a traditional Swiss meat loaf) accompanied by Spätzli (a type of egg noodle common in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovenia and parts of Italy) and gravy. Whilst this wasn’t the most visibly appetizing meal, it was absolutely delicious, and I always try to have something ‘local’ when abroad. Even better was the amazing strudel I had to follow the main course!
Given I was at the southern end of the city, I took the opportunity to take in the Zurich Opera House, an ornate building with a neo-classical façade which has been home to the Zurich Opera since its opening in 1891 and is also home to the Zurich Ballet. The Opera House has also been the location for protests, notably in May 1980 when the young people of Zurich protested high subsidiaries for the opera whilst there was a lack of cultural programmes for the youth.
Being a stones throw from Stadelhofen station, the quickest was back to the Hauptbahnhof area was to jump on an S-bahn service that would take me back to the subterranean platforms at the main station. From here it was a short walk across the road to my next stop, the Landesmuseum or Swiss National Museum, located in a purpose built building dating from 1898 which was built in the style of a French Renaissance city chateau. As such it’s an imposing yet beautiful building with dozens of towers is one of the main sights in this area of the city.
Entry to the Landesmuseum is €13 and an audio guide costs an extra €5, although this can be avoided by downloading the free app which also doubles up as an audio guide and lets you use your own headphones! Aswell as some tours taking in the whole museum, the app also had some shorter 60 minute tours and so I decided to follow the one dedicated to the history of Switzerland.
The tour was interesting, although a lack of markers around the museum meant I wasn’t entirely sure where I was meant to be and sometimes couldn’t find the exhibition pieces that the guide was talking about. I also couldn’t get my head around how the museum was organised as at times I ended up walking through a new exhibition area to reach another part of the one I had been in. However, the museum is absolutely huge and if you are staying in Zuirch for a few days it is a great place to visit on a rainy day!
Deciding that the number of times I had visited Switzerland without heading up a mountain was now reaching an unacceptable number, I decided to head up Zurich’s own mountain, the Uetliberg. Thankfully Zuirch has got mountain climbing right and the Uetliberg has a railway climbing it, allowing you to reach almost the summit without much effort. Line S10 of the S-bahn departs from the subterranean platforms 21 and 22 of the Hauptbahnhof and takes around 40 minutes to reach the top.
Unfortunately, the great views that can be expected from the top of the Uetliberg were blocked by cloud, however this also meant the railway station at the top was covered in snow, leading to some rather picturesque train photos! Whilst the cloud was covering the top of the mountain, the views from the train on the way up and down were pretty amazing, especially when darkness fell and the city of Zurich was illuminated below.
Back at the Hauptbahnhof, it was almost time for me to leave the city of Zuirch on the third and final sleeper train of my trip. However, before that there was some time for some dinner and so I headed to the Brasserie Federal, located within one of the former waiting rooms of the station, providing an absolutely stunning setting for some food. This was recommended by The Man in Seat 61 as part of his Zurich station guide, which you can find here, along with a lot of other useful travel information.
For dinner I enjoyed a meal of Zurich style sliced veal served with a creamy mushroom sauce and a Swiss potato Rösti, all of which was delicious and after two filling meals I opted against a desert. Following my meal I headed back into the bowels of the station to find a supermarket to buy supplies for the next leg of my journey and to collect my bag, before heading to the platform ready to see my train arrive in from Zurich’s railway depot.
This visit to Zurich was my third proper visit to Switzerland and my second to the city and I this time I felt that the city ‘clicked’ with me a bit more than before. Having spent more time exploring the city’s history during this visit, I could see the efforts made to maintain the city’s beauty and character and to avoid becoming another soulless European financial capital. There’s plenty to do if you do decide to visit Zurich, or even just have a few hours between trains, so make sure to venture away from the Hauptbahnhof and discover some of the city’s amazing history!
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