9 Best Sights in Zürich, Switzerland

Of the church spires that are Zürich's signature, the Fraumünster's is the most delicate, a graceful sweep to a narrow point. It was added to the Gothic structure in 1732; the remains of Louis the German's original 9th-century abbey are below. Its Romanesque choir is a perfect spot for meditation beneath the ocher, sapphire, and ruby glow of the 1970 stained-glass windows by the Russian-born Marc Chagall, who loved Zürich. The Graubünden sculptor Alberto Giacometti's cousin, Augusto Giacometti, executed the fine painted window, made in 1930, in the north transept.

This impressive cathedral, affectionately known to English speakers as the "Gross Monster," features plump twin towers (circa 1781) on which are classical caricatures of Gothic forms bordering on the comical. The core of the structure was built in the 12th century on the site of a Carolingian church dedicated to the memory of martyrs Felix and Regula, who miraculously carried their own severed heads to the spot. Charlemagne is said to have founded the church after his horse stumbled over their burial site. On the side of the south tower an enormous stone Charlemagne sits enthroned; the original statue, carved in the late 15th century, is protected in the crypt. In keeping with what the 16th-century reformer Zwingli preached from the Grossmünster's pulpit, the interior is spare, even forbidding, with all luxurious ornamentation long since stripped away. The only artistic touches are modern: stained-glass windows in the choir by Augusto Giacometti, in the western nave by Sigmar Polke, and ornate bronze doors in the north and south portals dating from the late 1940s.

With a varied and high-quality permanent collection of paintings—medieval, Dutch and Italian baroque, and Impressionist—the Kunsthaus is Zürich's best art museum. The collection includes some fascinating Swiss works; others might be an acquired taste. Besides works by Ferdinand Hodler, with their mix of realism and stylization, there's a superb room full of Johann Heinrich Füssli paintings, which hover between the darkly ethereal and the grotesque. And then there's Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Edgar Degas, Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, and Edvard Munch, all satisfyingly represented. A breathtaking modernist expansion of the museum by British architect David Chipperfield was added just across the street in 2021; the two buildings are linked by an underground tunnel. The new wing houses contemporary works and installations.

On the site of this quiet square, overlooking both sides of the river, a Roman customhouse and fortress and a Carolingian palace once stood. It's believed that Hallstatt-era Celts first built the site from glacial remains and turned it into a fortified oppidum long before the Romans took over. The fountain was erected in 1912, commemorating the day in 1292 when Zürich's women saved the city from the Habsburgs. As the story goes, the town was on the brink of defeat as the Habsburg aggressors moved in. Determined to avoid this humiliation, the town's women donned armor and marched to the Lindenhof. On seeing them, the enemy thought they were faced with another army and promptly beat a strategic retreat. Today, the scene could hardly be less martial, as locals play bocce and chess under the trees.

Dancing Indian Shivas, contemplative Tibetan thangkas, late 18th-century literary paintings from China, and royal Benin bronzes from Nigeria—these are just a few of the treasures in the prodigious gathering of non-European art on view. This is the only museum of its kind in Switzerland, with the main focus on Asia, Africa, and ancient America. The main collection is on view in the huge underground Smaragd building. The Villa Wesendonck, the famous neoclassical jewel that was once a fabled home to Richard Wagner (it was for the lady of the house that he wrote his Wesendonck Songs) houses objects from India, the pre-Columbian Americas, Australia, and the Pacific Islands; there's more Indian, Islamic, and Asian art in an adjacent museum, the Park-Villa Rieter.

Lucas Cranach's Portrait of Johannes Cuspinian, Pieter Breugel the Elder's Adoration of the Magi in the Snow, Peter Paul Rubens's Decius Mus, Edouard Manet's Au Café, Toulouse-Lautrec's Clownesse Cha-U-Kao—you get the picture. This is one of the greatest private art collections in Switzerland, perhaps rivaled only by the Sammlung E. G. Bührle in Zürich. The jewel in the crown of Winterthur's art museums, Am Römerholz is virtually wallpapered with legendary paintings. Private collector Oskar Reinhart's most magnificent treasures are housed in his former villa Am Römerholz, built in 1915 on the hill overlooking town. The collection ranges across five centuries, with pride of place going to 16th-century German and early Dutch paintings, 17th-century French and Flemish paintings, and impressionist masterworks. Works by Gerard David, Nicolas Poussin, Honoré Daumier, Vincent van Gogh, and nearly 200 other artists stagger the eye.

An original neo-Gothic building dating from 1889 paired with a new sculptural wing comprises the Swiss National Museum, which displays an enormous collection of objects dating from the Stone Age to modern times. It also has a library, bistro, and gift shop. A renovation in 2019 gave the museum a fresh look and an outdoor courtyard connecting it to the Limmat River.

This historic 19th-century wooden badi (lido) on Lake Zurich is arguably the city’s most popular summer spot. Perfectly placed on the sun-kissed Goldküste (Gold Coast), it’s a charming and inclusive spot bursting with local character, where swimmers glide alongside SUP boarders and swans. The bathhouse itself dates back to 1890 and is today divided into three sections: men-only (especially popular with gay men), women-only, and a mixed section popular with couples and families. It’s also equipped with a diving board, hot showers, and a café and bar where you can start your morning with a hot coffee and cold lake plunge followed by a bowl of birchermuesli. Or wait for the midday crowds to disperse around 5 pm and sip a glass of rosé during sunset.

One of Switzerland's most delicate late-Gothic structures, this church displays stained glass by Augusto Giacometti. Both the church and the Helmhaus stand on what was once an island where martyrs Felix and Regula supposedly lost their heads.