2024 Edition
Itinerary for Zürich as a base including day trips to Lucerne, the Rheinfalls, Appenzell’s famous Äscher mountain restaurant, and lots of activities in Zürich. 
Restaurant, hotels, trains and transportation passes recommendations included.

Zürich, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland 5 day itinerary: Zürich based

Train to Zurich HB (we highly recommend downloading the SBB app)

Go on a river cruise from the Landesmuseum stop and Stop at Bellevue. Then walk to Bauschänzli.

During the afternoon, walk to the Grossmünster cathedral. You can walk up in the tower and see the view from the top of the tower.	

After Bauschänzli, go to Zurich’s town hall that is nearby, the Stadthaus. 

We also recommend walking along the lake and the Limmat river, on the same side as the Bauschänzli entrance. 

For this day, you might want to rest a little bit after a long flight too, but if you have the energy to continue, you could visit the Landesmuseum which is about Swiss history, geography and culture that we find very well done, on top the building itself, a beautiful castle with a cool interior courtyard.

For the sunset, try the Polybahn, a funicular that links the stop Central (close to the main train station) to the ETH University and the Polyterrasse that offers a beautiful view of Zurich. 

Finally, go to Metzg for amazing meat on Langstrasse, the area where people then go out.

Bauschänzli. Restaurant/Beer Garden on the island with outdoor seating and a great view on the Limmat river. 

Recommendation: Frau Gerolds Garten for drinks and possibly food.

Enter and go at the Archeological windows to get one or multiple keys. We love the blue key. 

Archaeological Windows

This will lead you with a map around the old town to find secret passages and uncover secret doors and learn about past Zurich while exploring the city as you would normally do. We particularly recommend the secret pass in Lindenhof. 

Then, you can get back by train from Kilchberg to Zurich HB for a late lunch, or eat lunch at the café of the Lindt Home of Chocolate. 		

After this, we recommend you go discover Hardbrücke neighborhood. To get there, take a train to Hardbrücke (lots of them), then go have a look at the Viadukt shops, Markthalle, and the Urban Surf Club.

You can have a drink at the Urban Surf Club, and we also love Frau Gerolds Garten laid back atmosphere for drinks and even food. 

Take the train from Zurich HB to Kilchberg. 

Lunch at the café of the Lindt Home of Chocolate, or back in Zürich at the Dynamo bar, seeing people swimming in the river. 

Recommendations: Swim in the Limmat river (by the Dynamo bar). You can have food and drinks there too.

For dinner, we recommend either the combination of drinks in Jules Verne Panoramabar and dinner at the Brasserie Lipp downstairs, or Kronenhalle if you would like a very traditional and more upscale restaurant. 

Alternatively, you can take the boat from Bürkiplatz to Kilchberg at 10:30am. Then walk about 10 minutes to the Lindt Home of Chocolate and experience, learn about and taste chocolate in one of the largest chocolate museums in the world. 

Discover Zurich’s cool nightlife scene in Langstrasse and Hardbrucke.

Walk to the Rheinfalls from the train station (5 minutes) and enjoy this side of the waterfalls. 

Possibility to take a boat to see the Rheinfalls from even closer.

Walk to the other side using the Rheinbrücke bei Laufen bridge. 

Once you have seen enough, you can take a train from the stop “Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall” to Schaffhausen. (trains every 10-15 minutes).

Walk in the old town of Schaffhausen which is extremely cute. 

Then, you can either go back to Zurich from Schaffhausen, or discover another beautiful village on the Rhein, Stein am Rhein.

Take the train from Schaffhausen (every ‘19 & ‘49) to Stein am Rhein. 

When you arrive in Stein am Rhein by train, walk for 5-10 minutes to cross the Rhein and reach the old town. The old town is relatively small, but extremely pretty everywhere you go.

We recommend going to the Rathausplatz and continuing inside the city rather than by the river as all the buildings are so pretty. Walk all the way towards the Clock Tower Gate. Then try different streets still in the old town.

Once you have seen enough, you can head back to Zurich. Take either a train to Schaffhausen (every ‘16 & ‘46), or to Winterthur (every ‘03 & ‘43), and then take a train to get back to Zurich. 

Train to Neuhausen Rheinfall from Zurich HB (direct every hour: ‘07)

Lunch either at the restaurant in the castle by the falls, or in Schaffhausen.

After lunch, explore the cute Schaffhausen old town and its castle "Munot".

Take the train to Uetliberg from Zurich HB (platform 22) (trains every 20 min). In Uetliberg, walk 10 minutes to the top to see the amazing view on lake Zurich and the city. Dinner at the UTO Kulm restaurant with a great view on Zurich and the lake.

Change in Gossau SG. Take the S23 to Wasserauen. 

Take the Ebenalp gondola from Wasserauen to the top. 

Hike down to the famous Äscher restaurant (about 20 minutes downhill).

Once at the lake Seealpsee, you can hike around with a view of the Santis mountain and a perfect picturesque Swiss landscape. You can also take a rowboat on the lake by asking at the restaurant and paying 5 francs.

Then hike back down to Wasserauen (about an hour). 

Alternatively, instead of the Seealpsee hike, you can hike the Schäfler ridge hike from Ebenalp. For this, after your lunch, go back up to Ebenalp. Then continue towards Füssler and Schäfler. You will have a 300 meters positive ascent to get to the Schäfler mountain restaurant and see beautiful ridge views. Then walk back down to Ebenalp, and take the gondola down to Wasserauen. 

From Wasserauen, take the train (every ‘18 & ‘48) back to Gossau SG, and then to Zurich. 

Switzerland 5 day itinerary: Zürich based

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