To be honest, you don’t need any routes to run in Zurich, because you will find everywhere some nice corners and sections.
Additionally, there are further running offerings available. The green marathon is a well signposted route around Zurich. Some of my routes run partly on the same trail.
All over Switzerland you will find so called “Vita Parcours“. This are some kind of forest fitness circles, interrupted by strength and skill exercises.
On this page (german only) you will find further signposted forest trail routes and also several woodchip trails. Some of them have public wardrobes nearby.
And for all of you looking for training tracks, this page lists all tracks in Zurich. They are open for public.
Every runner has its own running motivation. Some of you may have a very stressful job and need this “privacy time” to free up the mind or develop the next top selling product. Others may follow a training plan to reach the next personal running goal or just want to increase their quality of life. No matter what your very own motivation is it’s not primarily dependent on the running environment. Try the running route Zurich Elefant.
But even if the activity has its own intrinsic motivation, from time to time it’s good to have some diversity. In majority of cities I visited it is irrelevant to think about where to run, because one might be happy to accept whatever it offers. Even though in a city like Zurich, which offers plenty of different equivalent good routes, I stick to my 3 to 4 standard routes out of habit / routine or just because I don’t have enough time to move to rather remote routes. It’s somehow a strange behavior because I love alternative running routes.
Elephant
Why I like this run
This is one reason why I like the “Elephant Run”. It’s in a part of the city which is far a way of my usual sphere of activity. And therefore, often out of sight. It starts in the middle of crowded touristy Zurich. The boring start and end of the route escapes immediately from the crowds, by following a residential street. Just as fast as the route brought you out of the crowds it will bring you out of the city. By following a narrow path through a forested canyon with grazing sheeps in the steep pasture your focus shifts without noticing it. This strong contrast between busy city life and crazy mountain like nature is the special flair of this route. It is slightly hilly and brings you through a second canyon back to the base. The route got its name from a concreate elephant which is placed in the middle of the small river. Funny side story: this elephant has been built as a counterbalance to the very attractive house mountain Üetliberg. They tried to bring more tourists to the lesser known area of Zurich. Supporting this 100 year old idea, I contributed by offering you this as an running alternative.
Running Route Zurich District 2 could be named “Zurich running overture” considering the variety it leads through. It builds the bridge between different worlds and offers further some very nice unique supplements.
The route got its name from the city area “Kreis 2”. The district is bounded by the lake on its eastern side and by the river Sihl on its western side. In between lies a range of hills which were shaped during glacial period.
Before “Kreis 2” 1893 was incorporated into the city of Zurich many very famous industrialists like Otto Wesendonck (Silk production) or Johann Jacob Rieter (Textile production) and politicians like Alfred Escher (founder of the Swiss Railways, main driver behind the Gotthard tunnel, founder of the Federal Institute of Technology, Swiss Life and Credit Suisse) built their villas in the proximity of the beautiful lake Zurich. Today the villas and parks are mostly in possession of the city and are open for the public.
Lake Jetty
All my routes can be somehow organized in separate subject areas. Some of them are dominated by a river (Limmat / Sihl), some of them climb up a mountain (Üetliberg / Hönggerberg) and some are influenced by the lake or the city life. Caused by the fact, that each route has its own variety none of the routes offers a real combination of these themes.
Üetliberg from Almend
Why to run “Kreis 2”?
The differentiation of the route “Kreis 2” to the other routes is the missing predominant theme. But it provides a wide range of everything: urban quarters, hills, river and lake just to mention a few. Especially during the transits back and forth from the lake to the river you have the chance to run through outlying quarters with beautiful villas and parks. It gives you an idea of running along the river Sihl and along the lake shore of Zurich. Again and again you will enjoy breathtaking views on Üetliberg and over the lake with the silhouette of the city in the background. And if that were not virtuoso enough the route offers additional specialties like two footbridges, Rote Fabrik (youth culture area) and the shipyard of Zurich’s shipping line.
With “along the Sihl” I present an alternative to the may be exhausting city running experience. Nonetheless it this route is part of the huge diversity which can be found around Zurich.
Even if a city can’t offer the most advanced running infrastructure (which is of course not true for Zurich) it’s a great experience to discover it in a running manner. The velocity increases the sheer number of sights you can visit, nevertheless it’s not too fast to don’t miss potential “side” treasures. Getting around by feet maintains the flexibility to stop easily where ever you like, lets you use short cuts and covers thereby city areas which are not on the standard tourist map. Funny side effect is the “runners invisibility”. Even in bad quarters the citizens dodge because of the runners velocity and bad guys are somehow less interested, may be because runners do not carry any valuables.
Running in the city center has also its downsides. Many (famous) places are crowded, what it makes very annoying, the dominance of the concreate and asphalt can be soul-burdening next to the stress for the joints and following a structured training plan is not possible because of the numerous interruptions.
Adliswil
The route
With the route “Along the Sihl” I present you an interesting alternative. Sihl is one of the two major rivers which flow through Zurich. Starting from the shopping center Sihl City right at the outskirts from Zurich brings you the path next to the Sihl back to nature and to one of Zurich’s best genuine training areas. You can go (very) long, you can go fast, or you can go up and down.
Allmend Zurich
The mostly good road surface invites you to run (there and back) 25 km and more. It’s your decision how far you want to run. If you only want to run one-way you select one of the numerous train stations along the route and take the train back.
I present you two routes suggestions:
The first one is a longjog along the Sihl. It’s very easy and you can’t get lost.
The second route includes altitude.
Therefore, if you are looking for a city running alternative, plan a tough training or just want to enjoy more nature, then this is may be the route you are looking for?
The beauty of running is its purity. You only need a pair of shoes and some kind of space and the journey can start. With that in mind you only have two “set screws” to influence your running experience. One is the environment of your “space” and the other one is your mindset itself. Both of them have factors which are only hard influenceable (e.g. rainy weather, heat or bad mood), but there are some, namely the choice of the route.
Even if you get the feeling during the run, that this route is the most beautiful and perfect one, it can be different the next day. The priorities change from day to day and from training to training. In my opinion, there is only one route with the potential to claim to be the best route: Limmat River Run.
Limmat very “rural”
Limmat River
Limmat is the biggest river flowing through Zurich. It starts right at the end of Lake Zurich in the middle of the city center. On both sides of the river you will find a path for pedestrians and cyclists. Starting from lake Zurich it’s may be disrupted by streets or other obstacles. But starting from Escher-Wyss Square direction Dietikon / Baden you will find one of the best running routes you can imagine. The scenery is breath taking and very diverse (from city to nature, with forests, island, dams, monastery, many bridges, great views and much more).
On the left-hand side (looking in the direction of the water flow) you find a wide and flat path. It is optimal for very hard and / or long training units. On the right-hand side you have a more trail like path, which is suitable to run as well, but it’s a little bit hillier with single trail parts. You could run a half-marathon all in all, starting from Escher-Wyss Square and turning in Dietikon. If you don’t like to run this far or you don’t know yet how far you want to go, there are each two to three kilometers a bridge, where you can cross the river and head back on the other side.
Jetty close to limmat
Why I like this route
I personally like the paths along Limmat, because of nature’s beauty and many route variants (e.g. route descriptions “Hönggerberg – Above the Roof Tops”, but also the fact, that it allows you to run all year through. During winter time the days with snow and ice are very rare and during summer time you can enjoy a refreshing bath after the run e.g. on Werdinsel in the publicly open river bath.
To be rewarded after an exhaustive effort is always an exhilarating feeling and mostly also part of the underlying motivation. This route is a place holder for the outlined universal law of life.
It’s easy to run along nearly flat paths next to rivers. It’s thrilling to explore new areas. The more beautiful the nature is the longer this feeling retains. With each usage the fascination wears out and the annoying factors increase. Beautiful spots easily accessible support the probability of many annoying people.
For this purpose, secrets only accessible under great effort, are on various levels, very appealing. The enjoyment is upgraded for free. The fact that’s linked with effort makes it difficult for most people and the difficulty is a welcome variety for the experienced runner.
Zurich Waid
The route
Hönggerberg – above the rooftops shows these exact features. Starting along the Limmat, the route shows soon its uncomfortable side, when the steep ascend starts. Always keep in mind, that in the end the reward of the best view over Zurich pays multiple times back. Really it does, believe me. But to be honest, it’s no secret and it isn’t only accessible over this very route. On the contrary you can drive up by car or by bus, but no one has the combination of the still resonating sweet release by mastering the ascend and the unexpected uncovering beauty of Zurich.
Not interested in the standard tourist paths? You already finished the first page of Tripadvisor tips and don’t know what to do? I’ll show you the real Zurich.
Maybe you had the chance to visit the gorgeous city center, eventually leaded by my “power tourist” route. Hopefully you could fill you backpack with beautiful pictures; many new impressions combined with good weather and are astonished about the busy masses of people.
But the city center of Zurich is mainly used for business, shopping and tourists. Ok, many people live in the city, but most of the people do not live in Zurich’s very center (around Bahnhofstrasse) at all. Asking travelers what they like about travelling, you often get the answer to get in contact with locals and experience their way of life. Apart of the meaning of this statement, some say this will be difficult to achieve with swiss people and for sure not easier in the center of Zurich.
I only can give you suggestions for a route with a different perspective of the city. A route showing you hip areas and places where people really live.
Viadukt
The route
Starting from national museum you enjoy a path built on decommissioned rail tracks (cheap version of NY’s high line) after running through the former train station Letten. If you are interested in near past, this was the sadly famous international known open drug scene during the 90’s. Today it is a vibrant and mostly crowded hip public river bath. Feel free to jump in for a short cool down during hot summer days.
Industry Quarter
Next high light is the former industry quarter, which is partly converted (e.g. Puls5) with integrating old structures and keeping the old charm or replaced by high-rises (Prime Tower) and new parks.
On the opposite of the many tracks is a very nice residential area which changed during the last few years dramatically (traffic re-routings, opening new cafés, restaurants, bars and chilling squares (e.g. Idaplatz).
I personally like this route, because it’s full of history and shows a future oriented development of my city. Maybe it appears a little bit boring for a cosmopolitan (especially the “sky-scrapers” part), but I think the diversity within this small area from old to new, from touristy to hip makes it worthwhile to visit.
The beauty of a city is often marked by its waters. Lake Zurich is one of the most impressive and probably the most visited. This route follows the shore and reveals a surprising variety.
The present form of the promenade was completed in 1887. Arnold Bürkli was the chief engineer and gave his name to the place where the start and the end of the route is. New land has been won over many years and at great expense. Among other things, the park Arboretum was created through which the route leads right at the beginning.
After the park (the route takes a different route through the park on the way back) you reach the small beautiful port of Enge. The route turns at the end of the park Landiwiese. On the way there, the route passes the lido Mythenquai. This is onlyone of three official seaside resorts along this stretch. Seebad Enge (one of the most beautiful in my opinion, the route leads past it on the way back) and Strandbad Tiefenbrunnen are the other two. During the winter months these two facilities are open to the public and you can walk through them. In summer the run must lead around it.
The other side
On the way to the other side of the lake, the Quai Bridge offers a breathtaking view of the old town. The route leads along the lake past beautiful villas to Blatterwiese and the China Garden, where the second turning point is located.
Generally, it must be noted to this route that it has large crowds when the weather is nice. It can be quite exhausting to walk through the crowds. However, this track can also be suitable for hard training, especially during the winter, when everything else is full of snow and ice.
Preparing a trip to Zurich brings you sooner or later to the “house mountain” Üetliberg. The top offers breath taking views over the city of Zurich and its lake. If the weather plays along the glorious vista gets its finish by the glowing Alps in the background.
The Üetliberg peak belongs clearly to the top attractions in Zurich. My experience is, that Tourists often go to nice places. Unfortunately, they show this behavior in Zurich too, which means it’s crowded. The main reason behind this overfilled situation is the easiness to reach the top. Take the train at the main station. Drive 30 minutes up. Walk 500 meters. There you are.
If you are more into lonely / exclusive moments, then you have several options to improve the Üetliberg experience:
Don’t go up there
Choose a bad weather day (hoping for less people)
Combine it with a run
Because you are reading scribaruns and not scribatakesthetrain I recommend you of course the last option.
Disclaimer: This is a strenuous run and not suitable for beginners, due to the altitude to be overcome. If you are not familiar with the area, please stick to the route, because there’s a path labyrinth, which of course is not dangerous, but may be not as satisfying as it could be.
The route
The Üetliberg experience run starts at Zurich’s periphery (Tram / Train Station Triemli). It takes you through longer lonely forested parts, moor landscapes, let’s you overtake heavy breathing downhill bikers looking for their trail all the way up and unifies you in the end with the standard tourist for the last few meters.
Uetliberg with fog
The effort will be rewarded immediately by the breath-taking view. I am 100% sure that the enjoyment is much more conscious with the completed distance and altitude. I claim that this impact is so high, that you will enjoy the view even though the weather is not post-card like. Sometimes fog and dark clouds have their own rough beauty.
If the weather is great you see the swiss alps panorama
The downhill part brings you again your privacy back and may triggers the feeling, that you are far away from any civilization somewhere in the alps. After enjoying Zurich’s aesthetics from a different angle you may conclude that scribaruns was right, that the combination of diverse nature, beautiful view combined with a challenging altitude run completes the Üetliberg experience to the max.
The Idea behind this route is mainly to catch the famous beauty of Zurich. The main reason why tourists come to Zurich. Even I know roughly what the top spots in Zurich are, I started a quick research about Zurich as I would do, when I visit a new town. Asking Google about the “Top 10 sights in Zurich” gives me the number one result from Tripadvisor with “The 15 best things to do in Zurich” back.
I am not a big fan of this website because it’s always somehow cumbersome. No difference this time: I spontaneously have some questions using the website: Why do I have to scroll down one third of the page to reach the promised “Top things to do” and why do the underlying pictures do not match with the attraction title? Why do the website lists 30 things to do while promoting 15?
Polybahn
The sights
First things first Museums (Zoo is also some kind of museum) I didn’t consider. Anyways, let’s focus on the proposed sights and start with the only four sights which are not covered by the route. Bad for me the number one suggestion “Uetliberg Mountain” is not part of the power tourist route. Good for me, that I designed avery own route for it. Also covered by aspecial route is the “Parkanlage Zurichhorn”. The two funiculars (Dolderbahn & Seilbahn Rigiblick) are substituted with the much more scenic “Polybahn” just before the finish line. You may have to wait for a while to see it running over the bridge from Central to ETH. All the remaining suggested tips are covered by this route (see the list below).
Schanzengraben
And if you are not yet convinced I can add even more points of interests e.g. the footbridge along the “Schanzengraben”, which was part of the old town defence, the “Paradeplatz”, home of the big swiss banks or the “Schipfe”, a special path along the Limmat river. Anyways after finishing it’s for sure, that you can tick the Zurich as a tourist bucket list item.
Sightseeing Bucketlist:
Lake Zurich
Old Town
Lindenhofplatz
Lindenhof
Limmat
Hauptbahnhof
Opernhaus Zurich
Niederdorf
Botanical Garden (old)
Limmatquai
Seebad Enge
Bahnhofstrasse
Fraumünster
Grossmünster
Bürkliplatz
Bellevue Square
St. Peter Church
Route Infos
Start – End: Zurich Main Station
Feasible for hard Trainings: No
Altimeter / Difficulty of the running course: Easy
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