Swiss kids grow up roasting a cervelat on a stick over a fire in the woods, and public fire pits dot the forests and parks around town, some stocked with free wood. Pack sausages, bread and matches. Here's what we checked, from the wild beech forest at Sihlwald to a building playground where the fire is always lit. Dry summers can bring a fire ban, so check before you go.
Sihlwald is a beech forest along the Sihl river that has been left unmanaged since 2000, and at 970 hectares it is the largest natural forest reserve on the Swiss Central Plateau.
By the visitor center, a wilderness playground has branch nests, rope bridges, a hollow fir trunk to crawl into and a water play fountain. Fire pits and a 2.6 km forest adventure trail start there.
Switzerland's oldest zoo, founded in 1869, is also the country's largest by area. It keeps 19 native and formerly native mammal species in large, near-natural forest enclosures: brown bears, wolves, lynx, moose, European bison, Przewalski's horses, wild boar, ibex, otters and marmots.
Between enclosures there are two playgrounds, one with swings and a zip line and a smaller one with climbing for young children.
Zurich's local mountain rises to 871 meters, with forest trails, a 70-meter observation tower at the summit (178 steps) and views over the city, the lake and, on clear days, the Alps. The Planet Trail is an easy two-hour walk to Felsenegg through a scaled-down solar system.
In winter a toboggan run drops through the forest toward Triemli, and in November the top often sits above the fog.
A ridge walk from Uetliberg to Felsenegg that maps the solar system to scale: every meter of path stands for 1 million kilometers. Kids follow it from the Sun past the eight planets to dwarf planet Pluto.
At Felsenegg the view stretches over Lake Zurich to the Alps, and the IceAgeCam next to the restaurant gives an interactive look at the same view through the ice ages.
Irchelpark is a naturalistic park of about 32 hectares wrapped around the University of Zurich's Irchel campus. Paths loop past a lake with fish, ducks and herons, two streams, wildflower meadows and Monte Diggelmann, a small viewpoint hill.
Kids can play in the sand and boulder playground by the lake and follow the Irchel Nature Trail, whose 20 boards cover birds, frogs, bees and dragonflies.
Werdinsel is an island of about eight hectares in the Limmat, between the river and a power-station canal. Once a parking lot and a car scrapyard, it is now open lawns with a playground, a soccer field, public grill spots, a restaurant and an accessible toilet.
The Flussbad Au-Höngg river bath sits here, using the old Strickler spinning mill from 1817 as its changing rooms.
Wildpark Bruderhaus is a forest wildlife park on the Eschenberg, just south of Winterthur, founded in 1890 and run by the city. Around 90 animals of ten native or once-native species live in large wooded enclosures: wolves, lynx, European bison, Przewalski's horses, wild boar, red deer and mouflon.
Info boards and nature trails line the gravel paths, and there is a playground, a restaurant and picnic spots with fire pits.
A supervised building playground run by the local association VAA, where kids hammer, saw and climb on wooden huts built by earlier visitors. Tools and materials are handed out free, two people to a toolbox, and staff show how to use them. Regulars can build a hut of their own. A fire is always lit for grilling, and parents can build along or sit by it.
Swiss kids grow up roasting a cervelat on a stick over a fire in the woods, and public fire pits dot the forests and parks around town, some stocked with free wood. Pack sausages, bread and matches. Here's what we checked, from the wild beech forest at Sihlwald to a building playground where the fire is always lit. Dry summers can bring a fire ban, so check before you go.
Sihlwald is a beech forest along the Sihl river that has been left unmanaged since 2000, and at 970 hectares it is the largest natural forest reserve on the Swiss Central Plateau.
By the visitor center, a wilderness playground has branch nests, rope bridges, a hollow fir trunk to crawl into and a water play fountain. Fire pits and a 2.6 km forest adventure trail start there.
Switzerland's oldest zoo, founded in 1869, is also the country's largest by area. It keeps 19 native and formerly native mammal species in large, near-natural forest enclosures: brown bears, wolves, lynx, moose, European bison, Przewalski's horses, wild boar, ibex, otters and marmots.
Between enclosures there are two playgrounds, one with swings and a zip line and a smaller one with climbing for young children.
Zurich's local mountain rises to 871 meters, with forest trails, a 70-meter observation tower at the summit (178 steps) and views over the city, the lake and, on clear days, the Alps. The Planet Trail is an easy two-hour walk to Felsenegg through a scaled-down solar system.
In winter a toboggan run drops through the forest toward Triemli, and in November the top often sits above the fog.
A ridge walk from Uetliberg to Felsenegg that maps the solar system to scale: every meter of path stands for 1 million kilometers. Kids follow it from the Sun past the eight planets to dwarf planet Pluto.
At Felsenegg the view stretches over Lake Zurich to the Alps, and the IceAgeCam next to the restaurant gives an interactive look at the same view through the ice ages.
Irchelpark is a naturalistic park of about 32 hectares wrapped around the University of Zurich's Irchel campus. Paths loop past a lake with fish, ducks and herons, two streams, wildflower meadows and Monte Diggelmann, a small viewpoint hill.
Kids can play in the sand and boulder playground by the lake and follow the Irchel Nature Trail, whose 20 boards cover birds, frogs, bees and dragonflies.
Werdinsel is an island of about eight hectares in the Limmat, between the river and a power-station canal. Once a parking lot and a car scrapyard, it is now open lawns with a playground, a soccer field, public grill spots, a restaurant and an accessible toilet.
The Flussbad Au-Höngg river bath sits here, using the old Strickler spinning mill from 1817 as its changing rooms.
Wildpark Bruderhaus is a forest wildlife park on the Eschenberg, just south of Winterthur, founded in 1890 and run by the city. Around 90 animals of ten native or once-native species live in large wooded enclosures: wolves, lynx, European bison, Przewalski's horses, wild boar, red deer and mouflon.
Info boards and nature trails line the gravel paths, and there is a playground, a restaurant and picnic spots with fire pits.
A supervised building playground run by the local association VAA, where kids hammer, saw and climb on wooden huts built by earlier visitors. Tools and materials are handed out free, two people to a toolbox, and staff show how to use them. Regulars can build a hut of their own. A fire is always lit for grilling, and parents can build along or sit by it.
