What to see in Zurich, one-day itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest of the largest city in Switzerland, washed by the lake of the same name.
Tourist information
Crossed by the Limmat River, Zurich in Roman times was a fairly important customs station due to its geographical position.
Even today its railway station welcomes considerable national and European traffic.
Grossmunster, 9th century cathedral enlarged between the 12th and 15th centuries, was once Catholic while now it is Protestant.
Externally it looks like a grandiose building located in the center of the city.
According to a legend, Charlemagne, after having found the tombs of Felix and Regula, patron saints of the city, decided to have the church built exactly at the place where it was found.
Inside the Cathedral, the stained glass windows of Sigmar Polke and Augusto Giacometti stand out for their extraordinary beauty.
Also worthy of attention are the bronze doors made by Otto Münch and the Romanesque crypt.
Climbing the Karlsturm bell tower is recommended, to get a panoramic view of Zurich seen from above.
What see
Other places of interest in Zurich include Fraumunster, the ancient ninth-century Benedictine women's abbey, founded by Ludwig the Germanic and renovated in the thirteenth century.
Inside, the colorful windows stand out, those of the choir are the work of Marc Chagall, while those of the transept by Augusto Giacometti.
Recommended readings- Bern (Switzerland): what to see in the capital
- Gorges of the Aare: the power of water between Meiringen and Innertkirchen
- Lucerne (Switzerland): what to see
- Geneva (Switzerland): what to see in 1 day
- Lake Lucerne: tour of the villages of Lake Lucerne
The organ, which is the largest in the area, deserves to be mentioned, being equipped with almost six thousand pipes.
Kunsthaus is a museum of modern art, where there are some paintings by Swiss painters from the 1800s, paintings by Italian painters from the 1500s and 1600s.
There are also many other works by famous authors, including Monet, Segantini, Van Gogh and Chagal, as well as masterpieces of impressionism, surrealism and futurism.
The Church of San Pietro is famous, as well as for being the oldest medieval parish, also because on the bell tower there is the largest quadrant in Europe, with a diameter of 8.7 meters.
Bahnhofstrasse is the elegant street of the city, where you can stroll peacefully admiring the windows of the exclusive clubs and shops.
