Zurich
Zürich
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📷 Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de· CC BY-SA 3.0 deZüri, wie neui | Zurich, as if new
About
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. As of the end of 2024, the municipality had a population of 436,551, while the urban area was home to 1.45 million people (2020), and the Zurich metropolitan area had a total population of 2.1 million (2020). Zurich is a hub for railways, roads, and air traffic. Both Zurich Airport and Zurich's main railway station are the largest and busiest in the country.
Wikipedia →Summary excerpted from the Wikipedia article Zurich, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text may be clipped or paraphrased to fit this page.
Why visit
Visit Zurich for music, theater, and performance, archaeology and older urban layers, markets, streets, food, and public squares. For Zurich, the useful material is practical and visible: museums, streets, religious buildings, markets, performance spaces, food, and nearby landscapes. A good itinerary should stay selective. Use one main anchor in Zurich, then build outward only to places that sit naturally nearby. In Zurich, the route gains clarity when the spaces between formal stops are allowed to matter. For Zurich, nearby landscapes and day trips should explain the city, not turn the itinerary into transit work.
When to avoid
Do not visit Zurich expecting every useful stop to be close together or easy to improvise. Do the practical reading of Zurich first: hours, routes, weather, crowds, and how far the neighborhoods really sit from one another. For Zurich, check the practical conditions first, then decide whether walking, transit, or a taxi makes sense for each move. If the main interest is one nearby site, it may be better to treat Zurich as a base rather than the whole destination.
Summer
The warmer period in Zurich generally falls in June through August. Warm weather in Zurich can be useful, but humidity and storms may decide the pace. In Zurich, use the longer light carefully rather than filling every hour. For Zurich, put outdoor sites at the cooler edges and let interiors keep the route readable.
Winter
In Zurich, the cooler part of the year usually means December through February. For Zurich, the cooler season is useful for interiors, but the walking plan still needs weather flexibility. In Zurich, plan fewer outdoor sections and let interiors carry more of the visit: museums, churches, libraries, performances, and cafes. Use Zurich with fallback options close to the main route.
The next week in Zurich
7-day forecast from Open-Meteo. UV badges flag days when sun protection matters (3 and above is moderate; 8 and above is risk territory for unprotected fair skin within 30 minutes).
Today
Showers
11° / 6°
5.4 mm
UV Moderate
Sat
Showers
12° / 6°
1.3 mm
UV High
Sun
Rain
17° / 6°
UV High
Mon
Showers
13° / 9°
5.1 mm
UV Moderate
Tue
Fog
18° / 7°
UV Moderate
Wed
Showers
18° / 12°
2.1 mm
UV High
In May 16
JFMAMJJASOND
Air quality
No monitoring station within 25 km.
Weather
28° / -1°
Typical high / low
5 mm rainfall this month
Daylight
15.1h
05:50 – 20:53local
Year-round climate
Monthly highs, lows, and rainfall (long-term averages, NASA POWER).
Airports near Zurich
5 commercial airports within 100 km. Closest is Zürich Airport (ZRH) at 9 km.
Getting around Zurich
Public-transit operators within 8 km of the city center. Click through to each operator’s site for routes, fares, and tickets.
Local transit operators
VectareNiederländische BahnenRBS/FMORVSDolderbahn Betriebs AGZürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft AG (ZSG)Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich INFO+ForchbahnTHURBOVerkehrsbetriebe GlattalSihltal-Zürich-Uetliberg-BahnPostAuto AGAutomobildienst SZUSchweizerische Südostbahn (sob)Verkehrsbetriebe ZürichLEXAargau Verkehr AGFlixBus-euRhön-ZügleErfurter Verkehrsbetriebe AG
Operators and modes aggregated by TransitLand from individual transit-agency GTFS feeds. Route classifications (subway / tram / rail / bus / etc) come from each feed’s GTFS route_type codes.
Sister cities
Sources
This page blends public reference data, climate/elevation services, and personal notes. Travel requirements can change, so visa and entry details should be checked again before booking.
- Wikipedia →
Summary, canonical article, and some image fallbacks.
- Wikidata →
Population, area, image, coordinates, and linked identifiers where available.
- NASA POWER →
Monthly temperature and rainfall climatology.
- Open-Meteo historical weather →
1991-2020 temperature and precipitation cross-check for compact climate fields.
- Open-Elevation →
Coordinate-based elevation backfill.
- tz database →
Coordinate-based IANA timezone lookup.
- City flag source →
Public domain, Original: Unknown author Vector: SpinnerLaserzthe2nd.
- Site credits →
Global source notes, map tiles, flags, licenses, and attribution policy.