Zurich Open-Top Bus Sightseeing Tour with Optional Lake Cruise

Zurich Main Station and the Swiss National Museum

The tour departs from Limmatstrasse 4, right behind Zurich Main Station, the largest railway station in Switzerland, whose grand stone hall dates from 1871. Next door rises the Swiss National Museum, a fairy-tale building of towers, turrets and courtyards that opened in 1898 and was extended with a striking modern wing in 2016. Its collections trace Swiss history from prehistoric times to the present, with armour, painted rooms, costumes and craft.

From the open deck you see the museum's castle-like silhouette and the park behind it where the Limmat and Sihl rivers meet. If you plan to visit afterwards, the Swiss National Museum opening hours are usually Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00, with later opening on Thursdays and closure on most Mondays. The bus stop is so close that you can easily combine both on the same morning.

Bahnhofstrasse and Paradeplatz

Bahnhofstrasse, one of the most exclusive shopping streets in the world, runs from the station to the lake for about 1.4 kilometres. It was laid out in the 1860s over the filled-in medieval moat known as the Fröschengraben, the frog ditch, and is lined with lime trees, flagship watch and jewellery stores, department stores and traditional chocolate shops. Trams glide down its centre, but private cars are banned along most of it.

Halfway along lies Paradeplatz, once a livestock market and military parade ground and now the heart of Swiss banking, with the headquarters of the country's largest banks around the square. Your audio guide shares the stories and legends of the vaults beneath the street. Many visitors start their things to do in Zurich list here, with a stroll and a visit to one of the historic confectioners.

The Fraumünster and the Old Town Churches

The Fraumünster, with its slim green spire on the left bank of the Limmat, was founded in 853 as a convent for noble women, and for centuries its abbesses held real power over the city, even minting coins. Inside, the church is world famous for its 20th-century stained-glass windows, glowing in deep blues, greens and reds. Across the river rise the twin towers of the Grossmünster, the symbol of Zurich.

Nearby, the tower of St. Peter's Church carries the largest church clock face in Europe, almost nine metres across. From the bus you see how these three churches shape the skyline of the old town. The Fraumünster is usually open to visitors daily, with an entry fee for the windows, and is a short walk from Paradeplatz if you want to return after the tour.

The Lakeside: Rotes Schloss, Belvoir Park and the Rietberg Museum

South of the city centre, the bus follows the lakeshore past the Rotes Schloss, a red-brick apartment building from the 1890s designed to look like a French Renaissance château. Next comes Belvoir Park, a 19th-century landscape garden with old trees, lawns sloping to the water and a famous collection of irises and daylilies that bloom in early summer, one of the loveliest green spaces along the lake.

Just above lies the Rietberg Museum, set in a leafy park around a neoclassical villa from 1857 and a modern underground wing. It is the only art museum in Switzerland dedicated to the arts of Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania, with sculptures, masks, paintings and textiles. The open-top view of these lakeside streets shows a calmer, greener side of Zurich that many visitors miss.

Lake Zurich Cruise

The default option adds a cruise on Lake Zurich, a long crescent of clear water stretching about 40 kilometres south-east from the city toward the Alps. From the boat you see the lakeside promenades, summer bathing houses, elegant villas and the green hills above, and on clear days the snowy peaks of the Glarus Alps on the horizon. The eastern shore, sunnier and lined with grand houses, is known locally as the Gold Coast.

A Lake Zurich cruise is the perfect follow-up to the bus loop: you rest your feet, enjoy the fresh air and see the city skyline from the water, with the towers of the Grossmünster and Fraumünster above the quays. The best time for the lake is from May to September, when boats run most often and the water sparkles, but the views are beautiful in every season.