The Best Things to do in Zurich, Switzerland - Zurich Travel Guide by The Planet D

We spent three days exploring Switzerland's largest city. From the charm of Old Town to the hip Zurich West neighborhood, these are the best things to do in Zurich that cannot be missed. We've arrived in Zurich. Well we're heading on a tour of the Lindt Chocolate Factory here in Zurich. It's going to be delicious. I think we get to taste a lot of chocolate so I'm looking forward to that. If you like chocolate you are going to love Lindt Home of Chocolate. This multimedia experience takes you through the history of chocolate to how it's made today. Pick up a complimentary audio guide in the language of your choice and walk through incredible exhibits until you reach the pièce de résistance, the ultimate chocolate tasting experience. We're on the chocolate tour and the best part of it is getting to taste the chocolate in these giant chocolate fountains. Is this heaven or what? I had to get a real big spoonful. Are you ready? Oh that's heavenly. So we've had the liquid chocolate now it's time to taste the bar. So they have these tasters set up where you taste it and then you get to guess what type it is and they'll tell you under there what the taste of the flavor is. It's time to taste. We have to guess which one this is. That's sweet and salty. Let's see if I'm right. I win. I'm right. I approve. The tour continues through more interactive displays and then ends at vats of Lindor chocolates that you can sample until your heart's content. Well this is a candy lover's dream. You can just pop in and get the Lindor chocolates. I could stay here all day. If you find yourself in Zurich, I highly recommend coming and doing the tour of the Lindt Chocolate Factory. It's fun, interactive and oh so delicious. There's one thing you got to do in Zurich. It's get on a paddleboard on Lake Zurich. It's awesome. Zurich has several public pools that you can go in and pay a fee to spend the afternoon enjoying the sun. There's swimming platforms. You can get a massage. You can do some stand-up paddleboarding and they have snacks and drinks and you can swim in the water. It's so clean and clear that you can drink out of it if you want. They even have swimming lanes. It's like this giant swimming pool in the middle of Lake Zurich. We're here at Bade Encke and we're heading out to do some paddleboarding. This is gonna be awesome man. So close to the city. I love it. The people of Zurich love to get outdoors and in this summer there's no better place than enjoying one of the bathing areas on Lake Zurich. Bade Encke is walking distance from downtown and you can spend a few hours enjoying the sunshine on the swim platforms or going for a swim in the lake while taking in the views of the city and the Swiss Alps. How cool is this? I'm on Lake Zurich. I can see the Alps today everybody. This is so cool. This is awesome. How beautiful is this? We're just paddleboarding on Lake Zurich. I have the Swiss Alps in the back. I have the beautiful city of Zurich in front of me. This is spectacular. All right we're gonna go in the river. Very exciting. Oh and there's a swan. Now this is an adventure. We're going in the river. The water isn't usually this high so you can usually just paddle right onto it but I find this more fun. I'm on my knees. It's a beautiful day in Zurich. All aboard. Let's go. One thing you cannot miss is going to the mountain overlooking Zurich. It's easy to get there using Zurich's fast and efficient public transportation system. Well the tram is a fantastic way to get around. We have the Zurich card and that gives us unlimited transportation for 72 hours. That includes trams, buses, boats and trains. It's fast and efficient. It's a great way to get around the city. All right we made it up here to Uttelberg. Let's go check out the view. I hear it's amazing. So when you get off the tram at the top of Uttelberg you have about a five to ten minute walk up to the tower. Now you can walk two hours to the other tram and take it back down and it would make for a great day hike to just enjoy all the views because they're very stunning. There's a four-star hotel up here that you can stay at as well and we are heading to the tower where we get the perfect lookout view. Ready to go for the best view of Zurich. Let's go. So it costs two euro to go up the tower and get the best view. You just tap your card. That's all it is. There we go. I'm in. Well this is absolutely stunning. We are at the top of Zurich and I don't think there is a more beautiful view. Look behind me. You have Lake Zurich. You have the Alps. You have the city. Make your way up here for sure. Make sure you spend the two Swiss francs to go up the tower for the best panoramic views. We're taking a beautiful boat cruise here on Lake Zurich. What a gorgeous way to spend the morning. I highly recommend it. It gives you a view of the whole city skyline and the harbors. It's just such a picturesque place to be. Check it out. If you take the boat to the first stop, what is Wulishofen, this is a really great walk along the lake. There's a lot of graffiti artists. It's an artist community so it's really cool. It's all shaded with trees and fantastic pathway. So I'm a big fan of touring around Zurich and getting out of the old town because once you do you find all of these little pockets of really artistic communities like this one here on the river. There is a lot of graffiti. I know that it's been actually a planned place for people to be able to do their art and all of their crafts and everything here in an affordable space. This walkway out on Lake Zurich was built to allow access to the waterfront for the general public. There's been a new law passed that you're not allowed to build new homes on waterfront property because they want the public to have access to it. But of course the existing homes behind here they already had access. So to give people waterfront access they built this amazing walkway. When you come to Zurich you have to have fondue. It doesn't matter if it's summer, winter, who doesn't love cheese. This is Swiss Chutchi is where we're at on the patio and it is one of the best places in Zurich to have a fondue and I love it. We got our potatoes in a sack. We have our four cheese fondue. The only one I remember is from Grier and we have our breads for dipping. I'm so excited to eat this. Mmm fondue in Switzerland. Oh my goodness. This is not like fondue at home. It's so much better. When you come to Zurich you have to make your way to West Zurich. Now this used to be an industrial area in the 1800s and it has been transformed in the past 20 years. All of the factories have been transformed to some really cool and chic cafes and interesting art displays and there are these art displays that are all throughout. Right behind me is Anne Sophie. She's pretty impressive. I'm looking forward to seeing what else we find. The Zurich Viaduct is a 550 yard long walkway that is filled with shops and restaurants. It is made up of 36 arches and you can take a stroll along the top on the pedestrian path. This used to divide the old city and the new and the industrial city. So everyone would live over here and then they'd work over there. Now it's just an amazing raised walkway through the city of Zurich. We're at Frau Gero's Garten here and this is the coolest place. It's this whole outdoor atmosphere of bars and gelato and food and food stalls and I'm actually having my first beer in Switzerland. I think it's called Bugel. Now this is a cool place to hang out at. Another funky spot to go for a cocktail is right next door at Urban Surf. If you feel like hitting the waves you can do that too. One of my favorite things to do when I get to a new city is to just get out and walk. We highly recommend taking a city tour for an insider's guide to Zurich. Visit Zurich offers old-town walking tours to explore hidden alleyways and popular attractions as you learn about the history and famous residents of Zurich. No visit to Zurich would be complete without visiting its most important church, Großmonster. This was where the Reformation took place. It's the largest church and if you go up into the cathedral it has a great view of Zurich. Unfortunately it was closed when we were here so we didn't get to see it but there are several other great views here of Zurich that we've been able to see so this is just one of them. Zurich has two not-to-miss churches. Großmonster and its twin towers on one side of the Lammat River and Fraumonster is located across the bridge on the other side of the river. Their steeples dominate the skyline and they are not to be missed. One of the best viewpoints in all of Zurich is up here at Lindenhof. It overlooks the river and the old city and you get to see a panoramic view of all of the churches and steeples and the historic town. A great time to come up is at sunrise. First of all nobody's here and look at the view behind me. It's going to be spectacular so when you're walking around the old city keep an eye out for some art on the ground. There are 20 pieces of art all around the city and one is right in front of here by an artist Ben Wilson. He turned chewing gum that people spit on the ground and made a mess into works of art. It is a very very cool little piece of trivia. Sadly Cabaret Vauterre is under renovation right now but you must go in here when you visit Zurich and this is where the art movement of Dadaism was founded and it was founded when the cabaret opened up. When you come to Zurich make your way up to the Federal Institute of Technology. It's one of the best institutes in the world and if you come on up here to see this you also have a great view of the city. So an amazing thing about Zurich is that there are over a thousand fountains in the city and you can fill up your water bottles anywhere you want and have clean crisp and clear water. And finally don't forget to go window shopping on Bahnhofstrasse. This is where all the high-end stores are located and where you'll find some of those famous Swiss banks. When you're finished make your way to Paradeplatz for dinner. It's the place to enjoy a final cocktail on the patio. If you enjoyed our video on Zurich make sure you subscribe to our channel and click on that bell to get notifications in your inbox whenever a video goes live each week.