Tourists will find Zürich, Switzerland’s largest city, a beautiful and fascinating location. Numerous museums, an old town full of well-preserved structures from the Renaissance and the Middle Ages, and enough artwork inside and outside of museums to satisfy art lovers for a week are just a few of the city’s many attractions and things to do.
Leading intellectuals, including Georg Büchner, Vladimir Lenin, James Joyce, C. G. Jung, and Thomas Mann, were drawn to Zurich because of its history of liberal thought and vibrant intellectual scene. Zürich is one of the best cities in Switzerland to visit and is well-suited for sightseeing on foot, even though it is humming with commercial activity.
The city is an excellent starting point for exploring other fascinating locations in Switzerland and the neighbouring German Black Forest region. Many of these are worthwhile day trips from Zürich.
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And on to Niederdorf!
Niederdorf and the Old Town
A neighbourhood with historic appeal is located in the middle of this contemporary financial hub of a city, with its winding streets rising steeply on the east side of the river. With shops, eateries, and cafés, the Niederdorf neighbourhood is one of the busy mediaeval streets and squares.
Lenin resided in a home on Spiegelgasse at number 17 in 1917. The Dada art movement was established in 1916 on this street at Cabaret Voltaire by Hans Arp and Tristan Tzara. The Hans zum Rech, which dates from the Middle Ages and demonstrates how decorative styles developed throughout the years, and the Shoemakers’ Guild House, which is now a theatre, may be found along Spiegelgasse, which runs east into the Neumarkt.
Ride the Train up the Uetliberg
Follow locals to the 871-meter Uetliberg, their favourite weekend hangout, for the city’s greatest views and the lake. The Uetliberg, the most northerly summit on the Albis range, is located southwest of Zürich and is easily accessible through the Uetlibergbahn. This mountain railroad runs throughout the year from Selnau station to the upper station. The summit is a 10-minute walk from here.
The summit restaurant is at the end of a wide promenade that is well-lit at night. The restaurant is wrapped in glass and offers stunning views of the city lights below. It takes about an hour to travel down a flat ridge to the Felsenegg, where a cable car lowers to Adliswil.
You can take the Sihltalbahn back to Zurich. One of the locals’ favourite winter activities in Zürich is riding to the Uetliberg for a fondue dinner and views of the city’s lights reflected in the snow.
Play on Lake Zürich
The long Lake Zürich is the centre of Zürich and a popular playground for visitors and locals. Promenades and parks along the entire shore provide inhabitants with places to relax, exercise, picnic, and swim in the lake.
The lovely Zürichhorn Park, created in 1939 for the National Exhibition, is located about 1.5 kilometres from Bellevueplatz. The Limmatschiff, a boat that travels from the National Museum along the river to the lake and ends at Zürihorn, has a boat dock here, a restaurant, a Chinese Garden, and other amenities.
A public beach called Strandbad Mythenquai is located on the other shore and is a part of the Seeuferanlage promenades, which were constructed between 1881 and 1887. The 820 feet of sandy shoreline has diving boards, kiddie pools, lawns for tanning, barbeque areas, and a self-serve paddleboard rental station.
Kunsthaus Zürich
The Kunsthaus is one of the best art museums in Europe, was established in 1787 as an association of artists and is currently operated by the Zürich Society of Arts. Although it houses sizable collections of artwork by several artists—including the greatest collection of Monet’s works outside of Paris in Europe and the most Charles Munch paintings outside of Oslo—the focus has always been on showcasing the best examples of a particular artist’s work.
Starting with the precursors and early Impressionists Delacroix, Corot, Courbet, and Manet, the Kunsthaus is particularly strong in the Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, and Modern schools. The centrepiece of the Monet exhibition consists of two of the most stunning huge water lily canvases. Van Gogh painted in his final days of life, and both Cézanne and van Gogh are represented by works from the end of their careers. Marc Chagall’s signature surreal artworks cover the entire space.
The Surrealist painters are represented through iconic pieces by Mir, Max Ernst, Magritte, and Salvador Dali, and Matisse is shown as a sculptor and painter. As you may anticipate, there are several pieces from the Dada school, which was founded in Zürich.
Bahnhofstrasse and the Bahnhof
The famous Bahnhofstrasse, which runs from Zürich’s central train station (Bahnhof) to the Bürkliplatz at the tip of the lake, is referred to as the city’s “Main Street.” The 1,200-meter street, enhanced by fountains, public art, trees, and notable buildings, is one of Europe’s most beautiful retail avenues.
Even though many of the stores lining it are stocked with furs, clothes, jewellery, and other expensive things, the buildings and their tastefully decorated windows make it a popular spot for people to wander. After an old moat, the Fröschengraben was filled in, and the centre section of the street was constructed in 1867; the portions leading to the lake and the station were built a few years later.
Several structures from the turn of the 20th century are noteworthy, including the Weber building (number 75), rebuilt in 1912 and 1928, and the Jelmoli department store complex at Seidengasse 1, which was first constructed with an iron skeleton.
Fraumünster
The name of the protestant Fraumünster, which is frequently mistranslated as “Church of Our Lady,” really refers to the convent that Emperor Ludwig founded for his daughter Hildegard here in 853 for noble ladies of Europe. Until the late Middle Ages, the convent’s superior was the city’s administrator.
In the undercroft, you can still see the crypt of the abbey church from the ninth century.
Even while the church is interesting, the stunning set of five stained-glass windows in the chancel, designed by Marc Chagall in 1970, makes it one of Zürich’s most well-known tourist destinations. The boldly coloured windows depict Moses, Jacob, events from Christ’s life, an angel trumpeting the end of the world, Elijah ascending to heaven, and, from left to right, Elijah ascending to heaven.
Marc Chagall also created the rosette in the southern transept. Another stunning stained glass window, The Heavenly Paradise, designed by Augusto Giacometti in the 1940s, may be found in the north transept. The abbey was destroyed in 1898 to make way for the Stadthaus, but the Romanesque and Gothic cloister still exist today.