When you enter Zurich, it feels like you are walking into a land of luxury. The city is clean and stunning, with a beautiful variety of architecture and an atmosphere of history. Everywhere you walk, you pass designer and luxury stores, even more than in New York or London it seemed. Zurich is also a hub for major banking and finance institutions. As I’ve mentioned in some of my other posts, Switzerland is very expensive, and we weren’t prepared to face that on our backpacker budget. We allowed ourselves several splurges in Bern (including a day trip hopping between Swiss villages by cable car) since we were celebrating Valentine’s Day and Daniel’s birthday, but we had to start cutting back for the rest of our time in this beautiful country. That said, we really want to go back and try out more restaurants and paid activities when we are prepared with a higher budget, but I think we did a pretty good job of exploring Zurich without spending too much. Today I’m sharing with you what we did and what we ate during our two-day stay to give you an idea of what Zurich on a budget can look like!
Boat Tour on Lake Zurich
With our Global Eurail Pass, we were able to get 50% off the public boat tours on Lake Zurich. The prices vary by tour but the full fare price without a discount looked to be about $10-11 per person. Our tour was nearly two hours, and it was the perfect way to see the lake and the surrounding Swiss towns….
Or to take a nap…. To give him some credit, we were both getting pretty exhausted at this point in the trip because we had not taken a break from exploring since we took our few relaxing days in Bruges a couple weeks earlier.
Our particular tour took the route shown in yellow below.
To be honest, it was freezing cold, so I stayed in the indoor cabin the whole tour. Daniel braved the cold to get this shot on the outside of the boat….
Zurich Card
After we checked into our hotel, the first thing we did was go back to the main train station to pick up our 24-hour Zurich Card. For about $25 per person, this card includes all Zurich public transportation and entrance to most of the city’s museums for 24 hours. We did the math and decided it was worth it for us. They also offer a 72-hour pass for a great deal if you are planning to stay in the city for at least three days.
Viaduct Market Hall
After picking up our Zurich Cards, we wanted to just wander the city, but we were also starving. We had eaten some grocery store food we brought on the boat with us, but we were ready for another snack. We read about the Viaduct Market Hall and thought it sounded perfect since it was indoor and would be a way for us to access some cheaper, local snacks. It ended up being one of the nicest indoor markets I’ve ever been to! The vendors were all local farmers, butchers, bakers, etc. It wasn’t crowded at all, and we were able to select a couple of affordable snacks and Swiss drinks after looking through all that the Swiss vendors and shops had to offer.
Around the corner from the market, there are more shops, boutiques, and restaurants under the 36 Viaduct Arches. The arches are a railway viaduct that was built in 1894! It was neat to see how the city is using this space, a very cool mix of historic and modern. It’s a great place to look around and window shop even if you don’t plan on spending any money.
We saw this sign outside of one of the restaurants and thought it was hilarious….
The Bite Gourmet Burgers
After going back to the hotel for a short rest, we asked the hotel front desk for a recommendation for a cheap, near-by dinner. They sent us to The Bite, a burger place in the city. This was an interesting cultural experience because not only was the restaurant nearly a half hour walk away (which was fine since we were able to explore the city, but it was SO COLD!), but it was also definitely NOT cheap. When we looked at the menu and saw that the cheapest burger was $25, we tried to find something cheaper nearby, but we couldn’t find anything. Yes, we could have gone back to the grocery store for dinner, but we had already done that for lunch that day and for dinner the night before, so we just went for it. The burgers were incredible, and it was a great, local atmosphere, but be prepared to shell out $25 and more if you go to The Bite! While a backpacker budget probably wouldn’t usually include a meal like this, it seemed to us that this is about as cheap as a sit-down dinner in Zurich gets!
Milch Bar
The next morning, after eating fruit and bread we had brought to our hotel for breakfast, we decided to get a cup of coffee before our walking tour. We went to Milch Bar, a great little shop that knows their coffee!
Free Walk Zurich Downtown Tour
For the morning and early afternoon, we did a free city walking tour. This was a great way to learn about the city and see different parts of it all without spending any money except for a tip at the end. We did enjoy our tour, but we found our guide’s accent difficult to understand, so we missed some of the information. I do still recommend the tour as a way to see parts of the city you probably wouldn’t know to go to otherwise. Other than wandering the gorgeous downtown streets, we also stopped at the Fraumünster, a church famous for housing Chagell’s Church Windows (no photos allowed inside, but they are beautiful!), and we stopped to take photos of the city view from Lindenhof Square. The Free Walk Zurich Downtown tour is only 1.5 hours, but it covers a lot of ground! It starts every day at 11am.
Lindenhof Square
Outside of the Fraumünster
Swiss National Museum
We got free entry into the Swiss National Museum with our Zurich Card. Without the Zurich Card, we wouldn’t have been able to fit this into our budget for the day. The museum offered an interesting way to spend an afternoon learning about Zurich and Swiss history.
Delish Cafe
After all that walking and learning, we needed to grab a bite to eat. We ran across the Delish Cafe that was recommended to us by our walking tour guide, so we went inside for a snack and afternoon coffee. We were delightfully surprised to see how affordable several items on the menu were, and I definitely recommend this as a place to stop for a bite in the middle of downtown Zurich!
Funicular to the Dolder Grand
Our walking tour guide had recommended we take the funicular (included in the Zurich Card) up to the Dolder Grand Hotel for a great view of Zurich. Always up for a good funicular ride, we decided to end our night doing just that. So, we hopped on the funicular from the city center and made our way up the hill to this stunning hotel. Once we arrived, it was a little stressful trying to figure out where to go. We found ourselves going in and out of the (very) fancy hotel lobby, but we couldn’t find the great viewpoint our guide told us about. We even asked the hotel concierge, and he directed us to a view of the city, but it was an obstructed view. It was still a nice trip up, but we don’t know that we ever found the view our guide was talking about.
Free City Water
One thing Zurich is known for is its excellent drinking water quality and its abundant fountains. Carry a water bottle around and feel free to refill it at any of the beautiful fountains you will see all over the city! Yes, it really is all drinkable!
That wrapped up our two days in Zurich! Next up, we headed to Lucerne for our second-to-last Swiss stop!
Our time in Switzerland was part of a 2.5 month trip across Western Europe. Click here to check out all of my posts from this adventure!
This article is now available as a mobile app. Go to GPSmyCity to download the app for GPS-assisted travel directions to the attractions featured in this article.
{Thanks for reading! Want to know a little more about me? I’m a CPA learning how to balance a career with frequent travel while planting roots at home in Austin, TX. When I’m not exploring my home city with my husband Daniel or cuddling with our chubby orange cat Banana, I’m probably planning, packing, traveling to, or daydreaming about our next adventure. After all, my travel mug collection is never complete. If you have wanderlust too, be sure to follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat (emilya89), or subscribe to my blog!}
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