
City life, lakeshore and wine country around Switzerland's largest city
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and yet close to nature. From Bellevue it is only a few steps to the lake, and from the main station a short ride up the Uetliberg. In summer locals swim in the Limmat and the lake baths, in winter everyone warms up with mulled wine in the lanes of the old town.
Around the city the canton is surprisingly rural. In the Zurich wine country grapes ripen between half-timbered houses, in the Zurich Oberland trails lead up the Hörnli and the Bachtel, and in the Knonaueramt quiet hamlets lie among orchards. On the upper part of the lake, Rapperswil, the town of roses, is well worth a visit.
Parkn'Sleep shows you pitches by the lake, in the wine country and in the hills around Zurich. That way you combine a day in the city with a quiet night.
Lake baths from the 19th century, an old town with guild houses and the vineyards of the wine country. The pile dwellings on Lake Zurich are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps.
Cross the lake by boat, swim in the Unterer Letten river bath, cycle along the shore and hike through the Töss valley. The wine country invites you on wine walks, the Oberland on mountain bike trails.
May to September for lake baths and boat trips, autumn for the grape harvest in the wine country. In December Christmas markets transform the old town. Zurich is a good destination all year round.
There are only a few places in the city itself. By the lake, in the wine country or in the Knonaueramt you will find quiet pitches with good train connections.
It is possible but not recommended. Car parks are usually too low, and many neighbourhoods have resident-only parking. Better take the S-Bahn or the tram.
At many lake baths such as Mythenquai, Tiefenbrunnen or Utoquai, and in the villages along the shore.
The spring festival of the guilds. At the end a snowman made of cotton wool, the Böögg, is burned. The faster its head explodes, the better the summer is supposed to be.