A weekend in Zurich
Another free weekend was ahead of us and we were thinking about where we could go this time. Our choice was made pretty quickly: we want to visit the beautiful Swiss town Zurich. Since we still had a valid vignette and friends in the Zurich that we wanted to visit making that decision was even easier. So on friday afternoon after work we hit the road to the (so close) south.
Our first destination was our accommodation that was located approximately 20 km outside of Zurich in Baden in order to avoid Zurichs’ extremely high hotel prices. The Trafo Hotel is part of the former industrial area named Trafo Baden, conveniently located close to the train station. The building was completely reconstructed and the hotel now convinces with a modern design paired with classic industrial charm. It is a good alternative to the accommodations downtown Zurich and offers an unmistakable charm.
Uetliberg Zurich Alps panorama
After check-in we walked directly to the train station and hopped on the next train to Zurich. It takes about 20 minutes from Baden to the main train station in Zurich. Here we changed trains to get to the local mountain Uetliberg. Once on top of the mountain you can enjoy a great view over Zurich, the Zurich Lake and the surrounding area. In the distance we could even see the snow-covered tips of the Alps. Up there we let the day fade away and finally headed back to the hotel.
Lake Zurich
The next morning (after a very good breakfast) we took the train to Zurich another time. In Zurich we took a leisurely walk through the pedestrian area and witnessed the annual Limmatschwimmen. During the Limmatschwimmen a whole bunch of excited swimmers let themselves drift through town by the current of the river. This time we decide to stay on the dry side and walked to the Zurich Lake. Here we enjoyed the beautiful weather and Alp-panorama while eating lunch.
Downtown Zurich
On a sunny day like that we couldn’t totally resist to get into the water though. We decided to rent a paddleboat (Pedalo) and paddled out on the Zurich Lake. The weather was awesome and time just flew by. After we soaked up some sun and relaxed a little bit we went back to the train station and back to Baden. Since we wanted to meet friends in the evening we went to the hotel to freshen up a bit and went right back into town.
Lake Zurich
The following morning we got ready for our departure. On our way back home we took a little detour to see the waterfall Rheinfall in Schaffhausen. Rheinfall is one of the three biggest waterfalls in Europe and offers a beautiful spectacle of nature. As a visitor you can walk around, take little boat trips to waterfall itself, just sit and enjoy the view or even eat a little snack. The area gives you enough possibilities. Nevertheless we had a few hours of driving home ahead of us so we had to leave and end our short trip to Switzerland. But we were already looking forward to the next long weekend.
