What to do during a Zurich Airport layover
Zurich Airport is one of the better places in Europe to have time to kill. The terminal is calm, well-organised and genuinely pleasant to be in, and the city centre is ten minutes away by train. Whether you have a couple of hours or a full day, here is exactly what to do: we cover 3 hours (stay in the terminal), 6 hours (get into the city) and 24 hours (sleep and explore).
3 hours: stay in the terminal
Three hours sounds like a lot and isn’t. Factor in passport control, baggage, getting back to your gate and the security check for the observation deck, and you have less time than you think. The good news is you don’t need to leave.
Observation Deck B
Entrance at Check-in 2, Zurich Airport
One of the most-visited attractions in Switzerland, which tells you something. Observation Deck B sits on the roof of Terminal B, open-air, with a direct view of the runways and the Alps on a clear day. You can watch pilots go through pre-flight checks from close enough to feel like you’re somewhere you probably shouldn’t be. Flight information pillars explain the aircraft and routes, and there is a restaurant if you want to sit down. Entry requires a security check at the entrance to Check-in 2 (no ID needed, just empty your pockets) and is free with a same-day boarding pass, with a small fee otherwise. Summer hours run 08:00 to 21:00, winter hours 09:00 to 18:00. Go before it gets busy. The light is better in the morning anyway.
Alpine Bar
Capsule Hotel Zurich Airport, in front of Check-in 1
What’s better than drinking a cold beer at the airport? The Alpine Bar is open 24 hours a day, every day, with local craft beer, Swiss spirits, coffee and food whenever you need it. It’s in the public area of the terminal, so bear in mind you’ll still need to go through security when it’s time to board. Non-guests are welcome.
- Capsule Hotel Zurich Airport is the only capsule hotel inside the Zurich Airport terminal, located in front of Check-in 1. The Alpine Bar is open 24/7 and available to non-guests.
6 hours: get into the city
Six hours is the threshold where leaving the airport becomes genuinely worthwhile. The train to Zurich Hauptbahnhof takes 10 to 15 minutes, runs every few minutes and costs CHF 6.80 for a single adult ticket. Leave your bags in the SBB lockers at Level 01 before you go. Give yourself an hour to get back and through security, and you have a comfortable three hours in the city.
Lindenhof Hill
Start here. A small hill in the middle of the Old Town with a square at the top, a view over the rooftops and the Limmat River, and locals playing oversized chess on the paving stones. It has been a significant spot since the Romans used it as a military stronghold, which you wouldn’t necessarily guess from how unhurried it feels today. No entry fee, no queue, five minutes walk from Hauptbahnhof.
Grossmünster and Fraumünster
Grossmünster: Grossmünsterplatz, 8001 Zurich
Fraumünster: Münsterhof 2, 8001 Zurich
The two churches face each other across the Limmat and are worth seeing as a pair. The Grossmünster has twin Romanesque towers you can climb for a view over the city: 187 steps, a small entry fee and a view that earns both. The Fraumünster across the river has stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall that most people walk past without going inside, which is a mistake. They are unexpectedly moving in a building most tourists treat as a backdrop.
Lake Zurich
From the Old Town it is a short walk south to the lake, and the scale of it surprises most people when they first see it. The quai between the opera house and Zürichhorn park is one of the better urban walks in Switzerland: swans, a clear view down the water and, on a good day, the Alps sitting at the far end in a way that looks almost unreasonable. The water is clean enough to swim in summer if you didn’t plan that far ahead.
Sprüngli, Paradeplatz
Bahnhofstrasse 21, 8001 Zurich
If you are going to buy Swiss chocolate in Switzerland, this is where to do it. Sprüngli on Paradeplatz has been on the same corner since 1859 and their Luxemburgerli (small cream-filled macarons that have been made here since 1957) are better than anything sold at the airport. Pick some up before you take the train back.
24 hours: sleep, explore, repeat
A full day in Zurich is worth it, and overnight at the airport makes the logistics effortless. Everything listed in the 6-hour section is worth doing here too, at a more relaxed pace: Lindenhof Hill, the Grossmünster and Fraumünster, the walk along the lake, Sprüngli. With a full day you can fit all of it and still have room for what’s below.
Capsule Hotel Zurich Airport
Check in when you land, sleep properly, leave your bags and start the day with a coffee at the Alpine Bar. The city is ten minutes away and you already know you don’t have far to walk to your gate in the morning. This is the cleanest version of a long layover.
Uetliberg
Train from Zurich HB, line S10
Zurich’s own mountain, about 25 minutes by train from Hauptbahnhof and a ten-minute walk from the station at the top. The view over the city, the lake and the Alps is the kind that makes you glad you came. Free, well-signposted and quiet enough on a weekday morning that you’ll want to stay longer than you planned.
Lake cruise
ZSG departure point, Bürkliplatz, 8001 Zurich
The short cruise from Bürkliplatz takes about an hour and a half and gives you a view of Zurich from the water that you simply can’t get on foot: the Old Town receding behind you, the Alps appearing ahead, and the lake stretching out further than it ever looks from the shore. ZSG runs several departures throughout the day. If you have already walked the lakefront in the morning, do the cruise in the afternoon when the light is different and the mountains tend to be clearer.
Zürich Geschnetzeltes
Zunfthaus zur Waag, Münsterhof 8, 8001 Zürich
Thinly sliced veal in a cream and white wine sauce, served with Rösti. This is the dish Zurich is known for and one of the things worth eating once in the city where it comes from. The Zunfthaus zur Waag has been serving it in a guild house on the Münsterhof since 1636. Book ahead for dinner; the lunch service is easier to walk into.
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