Zurich

Switzerland is one of the most beautiful – and expensive! – countries I’ve been to. It’s definitely worth the cost, but here’s a few of my tips after visiting Zurich, Lucerne, Schwyz, and Basel this Thanksgiving break with my friend Kate.

Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, can seem daunting to navigate. However, I found that the easiest way to get around was to buy a day pass (less than $10 a day) and ride the trams.

Transportation Map Zurich

Included in your transportation pass is the Polybahn, a fun way to get up to the University of Zurich. The views from the Polyterrasse at the top are amazing!

Polybahn to the University of Zurich

To all my architecture nerds out there, if you’re in Zurich you HAVE to go to the University of Zurich Law Library by Santiago Calatrava and ride the elevator up and down to really experience this marvel of engineering.

University of Zurich Law Library by Santiago Calatrava

While you’re up at the University of Zurich, check out their Zoological Museum. It’s free! And they have a very well designed display of animals from around the world. Often, zoological museums are creepy or stuffy but this one is in a beautiful modern building.

University Of Zurich Zoological Museum

Before heading back down the hill, we stopped for some caffeine and sketching at Buchmann Beck, a cute little coffee shop near the university.

Sketching at Buchmann Beck

Back down by the lake is a pavilion designed by Le Corbusier. It was closed when I was there in winter but it was still fun to see.

Pavilion Le Corbusier in Zurich

In the center of the city, we walked around Bahnhofstrasse and went to some Christmas markets and we had the most delicious macaroons at Confiserie Sprüngli!

Macaroons from Confiserie Sprüngli

At one of the Christmas markets, we saw a performance by the Singing Christmas Tree, an adult choir group that sings in a giant tree! Sadly, they sang pop songs not Christmas carols which I thought was kinda strange.

The Singing Christmas Tree

We got raclette from a market stand and it was so delicious! It’s a Swiss dish where they melt cheese over potatoes, pickles, and onions. Sampling local foods is one of my favorite things about traveling.

A funny thing that happened on this trip is that we had problems with the towels in our AirBnB, and then when we were walking around downtown, we did a spin-the-wheel thing at one of the booths and I won a towel!

If walls could dream… they’d dream of Calatrava’s feats of engineering.

Hannah

Hi, I'm Hannah! I got my Bachelor of Architecture at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where my thesis project was a humanitarian agricultural training center in Zimbabwe with Journeyman International. In my free time, I like watercoloring, photography, and camping!