Short excursion (4h – light to medium strenuous uphill – light strenuous downhill in reverse): 40 – 50min boat ride, up to 2h hike with 300m altitude and 20min train ride
Short excursion (4h – light to medium strenuous uphill – light strenuous downhill in reverse):
40 – 50min boat ride, up to 2h hike with 300m altitude and 20min train ride
Do you have an afternoon to kill in Zurich with little more than comfortable shoes and clothes? Here is one short trip to take you out of the city effortless:
Take the “Kleine Seerundfahrt” boat at Bürkliplatz to travel to Erlenbach (one way). They leave every half an hour and takes 40 or 50 minutes depending on boat’s direction (on the hour, the boat travels clockwise and on half the hour, the cruise takes you counter clockwise and uses 50 minutes. In both cases, you have enough time to enjoy a coffee or sample a glass of nice Swiss white wine on board.
Once arriving at Erlenbach, you follow the yellow marks to the station (skipping the boat ride and travel to Erlenbach by train is a quicker option) and on towards the Erlenbach Tobel (a little gem of a canyon) up the hill towards Forch. After roughly 30minutes through this fairytale like canyon you can make a little detour towards Restaurant Blüemlisalp for a short break. Thereafter, back on the trail toward Forch with a few stairs to take. This is a steepest part of the hike, but you will be nicely compensated with a stunning view by the old giant Oaktree (see picture).
At Würzbrunnen, approx. 1h into your hike, you need to follow the yellow sign towards Tobelmüli and there you walk towards the little hamlet of Wangen where you turn left at the only cross road and straight up under passing the highway and arriving at Neue Forch which has the stop (need to press the red HALT button) for the Forchbahn back to Zurich-Stadelhofen). However, depending on time of the day, the excellent Italian Restaurant Neue Forch and its garden might want to lure you in for a nice meal before taking the S20 which runs every 20minutes back to the City.
Back at Zurich Stadelhofen, you are just minutes away from Bellevue square and across the bridge to Bürkliplatz where you started your excursion away from it all.
