We”ll be in Zurich for 6-8 hrs…what to do?

  • Removed user
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    72625 posts
    13 September 2018 at 12:38:08 #818337

    Hello fellow Travellers. Was wondering if anyone has some advice about what we can do and see while in Zurich for a limited amount of time. We’ll be travelling from the US and our arrival will be approximately 9 AM in the morning on Sept 24th. I’m hopeful we’ll have slept on the plane a little bit so that when we arrive we won’t be zombies.

    So, we’ll have about 6-8 hrs to spend roaming around Zurich until we’ll need to catch the train to travel to Chur for the night, where the following morning we’ll be boarding the Bernina Express to Tirano.

    In scoping out what to do in Zurich I found information about a Limmat Cruise but I’m a little confused. Some info I read says these are 50-60 minute cruises but then other info I see say there are “medium” 2-3 hour trips. So, is it arranged in such a way that we board a boat, buy a ticket for the length of time we want to cruise on it, or do we buy a ticket based on an end destination? Do all the Limmat cruises end up on Lake Zurich itself? If I’ve read things correctly, a Limmat boat dock, the Zürich Landesmuseum, is within a 3 min walk from the Zurich HBF train station, which is where we’ll store our luggage for the day, so it sounds like this would be an easy access option and a way for us to see some of the riverside communities. Does the boat make stops along the way, or does it just simply cruise the river to the lake? I’m thinking it makes stops because I saw a tip where someone suggested that we buy a ticket to a destination such as Rapperswil and then take the train back to the HBF station, rather than take the boat back to our starting point.

    Another option might be a trip to Uetliberg Mountain. I read where travelling to and from the mountain will take about an hour, but is that one hour there and one hour back? What is there to do once on the mountain? I read where there is a “Path to the Planets” walking path. Is this something that takes a few hours to do? And once we complete the path is there a train to get us back down to the HBF train station or do we have to retrace our steps to get back to the starting point in order to pick up the train to take us back?

    I’ve read where Lindenhof is about a 10 min walk from the HBF and has great views of the city. Is there anything else there to do or see other than the city view? Are there any other top spots close to Lindenhof that combined with walking around there would provide us a day of top must see stops?

    Also, would we be better off buying the Zurich Card (is there more than one type?) seeing that we’ll only be there for a few hours. Would the card grant us access to the boat and the various trains we’ll be traversing on? Or would we be better off to just purchase tickets as we go based on where we want to go?

    Trying to decide on a boat trip, a city walking tour, or going to the mountain is a difficult choice. I can imagine the views no matter what we do will be stunning. I do tend to lean towards the boat trip because the train trip from Chur to Tirano will surely shows us our share of mountain tops and stunning vistas. But immersing ourselves with city walks might be a great way to “feel” Zurich.

    So, I’m just curious to hear what others would choose if you only had 6-8 hours to spend around the Zurich area. And any advice on the best option for tickets would be appreciated.

    I am so looking forward to our upcoming trip and can’t wait to begin our adventure!!!

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    Removed user
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    72625 posts
    14 September 2018 at 7:18:24 #896117

    Hi Ak3e and welcome to MySwissAlps!

    You can see some of the activitiy options in Zurich that we suggest here: http://www.myswissalps.com/zu rich/activities – including the lake cruise and Uetliberg hiking path.

    The Limmat river cruises are different from the Lake Zurich cruises.

    The River cruise is about 25 minutes one-way starting at the Landes (National country) musuem and end on Lake Zurich (but don’t explore the lake).

    The Lake cruises can be anywhere from 2-8 hours depending on how far you go. Both lake and river cruises are explained on the Zurich boat page on our activity link above.

    I’d also look at a river or lake cruise and exploring Zurich during your time in the city. We also have a walking tour route on the activity link to help you get around and explore the downtown center.

    I think the Zurich Card is more than you need for your limited time. You can read more about it and traveling around Zurich here: http://www.myswissalps.com/zu rich/travel

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