How many days do you need in Zurich?
Three days. That is the length of the itinerary we built for Zurich.
Here is what each day holds. Every stop below carries its time, and every gap says how to get to the next stop, with the walk or drive time wherever both stops are mapped.
Zurich · 3 days Switzerland
Best time: June to September brings warm days and lake swimming.
The Old Town (Altstadt)Day 1
📍9:00 AMBahnhofstrasse
The city's elegant main promenade, running from the main station down to the lake past banks, watchmakers, and department stores.
🚶 ~3 min · 🚗 ~1 min · 0.1 mi
📍12:30 PMLindenhof
A tree-shaded square on the site of a Roman fort, with an open terrace looking across the Limmat to the Old Town roofs.
🚶 ~7 min · 🚗 ~1 min · 0.3 mi
📍6:00 PMGrossmünster
The twin-towered Romanesque church where Zwingli launched the Swiss Reformation, at the edge of the lively Niederdorf lanes.
The Lakefront & MuseumsDay 2
🖼️9:00 AMSwiss National Museum
A fairy-tale castle of a building behind the station holding the country's largest collection of Swiss cultural history.
🚶 ~18 min · 🚗 ~2 min · 0.7 mi
📍12:30 PMKunsthaus Zürich
Switzerland's most important art museum, strong on Giacometti, Munch, and modern European painting.
🚶 ~11 min · 🚗 ~1 min · 0.4 mi
📍6:00 PMLake Zurich
Board a lake boat tour from Bürkliplatz for an evening cruise with the Alps rising beyond the far shore.
Uetliberg & the WestDay 3
📍9:00 AMUetliberg
The city's own mountain, a short train ride and a walk to a lookout tower over Zurich, the lake, and the distant Alps.
🚗 ~10 min · 2.7 mi
📍12:30 PMFraumünster
A former abbey church famous for its five stained-glass windows designed by Marc Chagall.
🚶 ~47 min · 🚗 ~6 min · 1.7 mi
📍6:00 PMZürich-West
The old industrial district reborn under railway viaducts, its former factories now full of bars, studios, and market stalls.
This is how Petrel lays out a trip. Upload your own confirmations and it builds this for your dates: flights and hotels included, with live flight status and the travel time between stops.
This is one of 126 free itineraries. Open it, change anything you want, and it becomes your trip.