Kids need fresh air whatever the season, and this city makes it easy to find. These are the outdoor places we'd send a family: neighborhood parks and playgrounds, farms with animals to visit, open-air ice rinks in winter, zoos, and day trips by train to lakes, waterfalls and mountains. Everything here is outside, so check the weather before you go and pack a spare layer.
Seebad Utoquai is a historic wooden lake bath, built in 1890, on the promenade between Bellevue and Zürichhorn. Kids can jump from a diving board and swim to the floats anchored about 30 meters out. Two small pools suit non-swimmers, one for men and one for women, and the sun terraces are partly separated by gender.
Seebad Enge is a wooden lake bath on Lake Zurich with a mixed area and a women-only area, both with direct lake access. Swim lanes 44 meters long are set into the lake, and the decks look out to the Alps. There is a kiosk with a grill and stand-up paddle boards to rent. In winter it runs as a sauna.
KEK is the town of Küsnacht's ice rink, up the hill by Itschnach. It has three parts: an open-air rink for public skating, an indoor ice hall that opens to the public for Chneble sessions at set times, and a four-rink curling hall.
The restaurant, Hosteria DeDi, has a terrace for warming up. Skating and hockey lessons, curling and Eisstock all run through the local clubs.
Winter World is the Wallisellen ice rink, with two rinks side by side: a roofed 30 x 60 m hockey field and an open skating field.
Beginners push polar bear or clown skating aids, older kids join open stick-hockey sessions, and groups can book lanes for Eisstockschiessen, a curling-style ice game. From mid-November, a mobile rink turns the mini golf course into Winterzauber.
A neighborhood park on the grounds of a former wool-dyeing works. Its landmark is a set of climbing towers with tube slides that rise into the tree canopy. A play lawn under shady trees is framed by seating steps on two sides.
Next to it sit an all-weather sports court, a bouldering wall and a rope climbing frame, plus a barbecue spot and an accessible toilet.
Locals call it the Bäcki: a 1.4-hectare neighborhood park near Langstrasse, framed by Stauffacherstrasse, Feldstrasse and Hohlstrasse. Kids head for the playground and the shallow wading pool, where splashing has been allowed since the 1939 redesign.
The Quartierzentrum Aussersihl community center stands in the park, with the Restaurant Bäckeranlage inside. On summer days the lawns fill with young families from the surrounding streets.
Josefwiese is a 1920s people's park beside the Viadukt arches in Zürich-West, laid out for play and sport rather than strolling. Kids get climbing frames and a paddling pool with water play.
The big lawn is for picnics, football and sunbathing, plus pétanque, table tennis, a beach volleyball court and a barbecue spot. A kiosk sells salads, grilled food and drinks.
Oerliker Park opened in 2001 on former factory land in Oerlikon. Its landmark is a blue lookout tower: a steel staircase spirals up through the treetops to a platform 35 meters up, with views toward the city center and the Uetliberg.
The park also has a large climbing frame, play equipment for small kids, a wooden deck and a long turquoise fountain with water play.
Fritschiwiese began as a cemetery in the late 19th century and became a public park in 1921, laid out together with local residents. Today it has a large play lawn, playgrounds, benches and a hilly landscape first designed as an adventure playground.
The paddling pool draws crowds on hot days, and neighbors use the open grass for picnics, games and small workouts.
Riedenholzhof is an organic family farm on city-owned land. Its herd of about 100 water buffalo, calves included, lives in a barn that visitors can walk into from the open farmyard. Dairy cows, boarding horses and, in spring and fall, a few pigs share the farm.
From about June into fall, families pick their own berries in a field by the farm shop.
Juckerhof is a working farm above Lake Pfäffikon, with a farm restaurant, a farm shop and views across the lake. Kids get a playground, a goat park, a straw bouncy castle and play tractors.
The ÖpfelGarte grows nearly 6,000 apple trees into two mazes and a labyrinth, beside a barefoot trail. Each autumn the farm fills with giant pumpkin sculptures.
GZ Bachwiesen is one of the city's community centers. Donkeys, ponies, goats, guinea pigs, rabbits and chickens live in pens that families can walk up to at any time, though visitors are asked not to feed them.
Inside, a café serves homemade cake and syrup for kids, and the wood workshop lets children build their own projects with staff showing them the machines, no course or sign-up needed.
GZ Heuried is a neighborhood community center run by the Zürcher Gemeinschaftszentren foundation. Its Erlebnisgarten (adventure garden) keeps llamas, alpacas, goats, dwarf sheep and rabbits.
Inside, the open workshop stocks soapstone, wood, fabric, plaster, paint, beads and clay, so kids can bring an idea or pick a material and start. The cafeteria welcomes families whether or not they order.
GZ Wipkingen is a city community center on a meadow beside the Limmat. Kids run the lawn, climb the rope playground, swing, and dig in a sandpit with a conveyor belt.
The Wipkihof farm keeps mini pigs, dwarf goats, guinea pigs and chickens. On open-stable afternoons kids help in the barn, feed and pet some of the animals, and usually bake stick bread over a fire.
GZ Buchegg is one of the city's community centers, a short walk over the footbridge from Bucheggplatz. Donkeys, ponies, llamas and goats live in pens that families can stop by and watch, and visitors can help with the morning feeding.
Inside there's a self-run play room, a café with homemade cake where nobody has to order, and a stage for dance and theater made for young audiences.
The University of Zurich's botanical garden spreads over 5.3 hectares of themed beds, a pond, a Mediterranean garden and an alpine rockery, plus three glasshouses with lowland rainforest, mountain rainforest and savanna plants.
For kids there's an adventure garden, tucked between the crop and medicinal plant beds, with stations on tree rings, wood weight and roots, a barefoot trail, and a covered spot with tables.
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.
Rieterpark is a 19th-century landscape garden laid out by Theodor Froebel around Villa Wesendonck, now home to Museum Rietberg. Its 6.8 hectares of wide lawns climb gently south from the villa under old trees, with views to the Glarus Alps on clear days.
Kids can run the open lawns, hunt for the bronze sculptures and the old dolphin fountain dotted through the grounds, and stop at the park's playground.
Blatterwiese, which locals call Chinawiese after the Chinese Garden next door, is a wide lawn on the shore of Lake Zurich. Its fenced playground has a large sand area, a climbing wall, swings and water fountains for hot days.
Around it, families picnic, use the public grills nearby, kick a ball or swim in the lake, and a kiosk sells ice cream and cold drinks.
A high-ropes park in the Hardwald forest at Kloten, with 210 obstacles and about 2.5 km of ziplines strung between the trees. Courses are graded from a low green route for the youngest climbers to hard ones for teens and adults, and the newest, Melody, opened in 2024. Every climb starts with a safety briefing.
The park also runs archery, and has a kiosk and grill spots for guests.
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.
ZSG runs the public boats on Lake Zurich and the River Limmat: 17 ships calling at 31 landing stages, all part of the ZVV transit network. Lake round trips leave from the Bürkliplatz pier, from a short loop to a half-day cruise. River boats on the Limmat start at the Landesmuseum. The «ZSG Tour» audio guide app narrates the mini lake and river cruises.
The Dolderbahn is a cogwheel railway that climbs 1.3 km from Römerhof up the Adlisberg in about six minutes, rising 162 m on a gradient of roughly 19%. It is one of the few rack railways inside a city.
The red cars, new in 2024, pass grand houses and woodland on the way to the Dolder top station, the stop for the Dolder ice rink, wave pool and woods.
The Felseneggbahn is the only public aerial cable car in canton Zurich. Two cabins, each holding 30 passengers, climb 307 meters from Adliswil to the Felsenegg viewpoint at 804 meters, swinging up to about 60 meters above the ground.
At the top, the Panoramaweg trail along the Albis ridge has barbecue spots, restaurants and lookouts over Lake Zurich and the mountains.
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.
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 5,500 m² city-run bike park on the Allmend Brunau, just south of Sihlcity, and the biggest of Zurich's public bike facilities.
The courses come in three difficulty levels: an Urban-BMX layout with two lines from a 4-meter start hill, a jump track with curves and bowls, a pump track with waves and banked turns, and a balance-bike track with gentle waves and curves for toddlers from age 2.
A public playground at the Horn, the lakeside park where Küsnacht's Dorfbach stream runs into Lake Zurich. The centerpiece is a big green octopus that kids clamber over and slide down, with a nest swing alongside.
It suits confident climbers best. The play area sits right on the water, so toddlers need a close eye.
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.
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.
Lindenhof is a gravel square under lime trees on a moraine hill above the Old Town, with a view across the Limmat to the university buildings. People play chess under the trees, and the square hosts pétanque tournaments and theater.
It was a Roman fort from 15 BC. The fountain recalls the legend of Zurich women who, in 1292, dressed in armor to fool a Habsburg army.
Platzspitz is the wedge of parkland where the Sihl and Limmat rivers meet, next to the Swiss National Museum. Paths run under tall plane trees, some of the city's oldest, to an iron gazebo and a statue of the poet Salomon Gessner.
There is a playground and an accessible toilet, and at the northern tip two bridges cross the rivers to the neighboring quarters.
A walled Chinese temple garden on the lake's east shore by the Blatterwiese, a gift from Zurich's partner city Kunming, opened in 1994. Inside, winding paths and ornate bridges circle a pond with a small island, past pavilions, a palace, an artificial mountain and a zigzag bridge.
It's a quiet stroll, not a play space, so it suits kids happy to explore slowly.
Zürichhorn is a lakeside park on the east shore of Lake Zurich, where the wide Chinawiese lawn runs down to the water under old trees. Kids head for the big playground, hop the stepping stones across the pond, and look up at Jean Tinguely's Heureka sculpture.
The Chinese Garden and the Pavillon Le Corbusier sit at the park's edges, and lake boats stop at the Zürichhorn landing.
Dolder Wellenbad is an open-air pool at the top of the Dolderbahn, by the edge of the woods. Next to the 50-meter pool are a paddling pool, a separate shaded children's pool, a slide tower and a play area. The wave pool runs again from 2027.
Around the water there is room for table tennis, volleyball and football, and the Dolder Minigolf course sits next door.
A city-run outdoor pool near Frankental with a 50-meter pool, a non-swimmer pool, a learner pool and 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards. Small children get a paddling pool under a sun sail with a little slide and water play, plus a sandpit, bouncy cushion and playground.
Older kids find a beach volleyball court, table tennis and a lawn for games, and families can use the grill spot.
A family pool run by the City of Zurich. There's a seven-lane 50-meter pool, a separate non-swimmer pool, 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards and a 75-meter water slide. Little ones get a paddling pool with a Schifflibach, a small boat stream.
Between swims there are barbecue spots, table tennis, beach volleyball, a basketball court, a Pestalozzi library book box, and a restaurant and kiosk with hot food all day.
Freibad Heuried is a city-run outdoor family pool near Triemli. It has a 50-meter pool, a separate non-swimmer pool, 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards, and a 132-meter water slide.
Toddlers get a paddling pool with water play under a sun sail and a wide wave slide. Between swims, kids can play table tennis, soccer or pickleball on the grounds.
Freibad Allenmoos is a city-run family pool set in park-like lawns, designed by the architects Haefeli and Moser. There is a 50-meter swimming pool, a large non-swimmer pool with play equipment, 1- and 3-meter diving boards and a 72-meter slide.
Toddlers get two paddling pools under sunshades and a big playground with a sandpit. Beach volleyball courts, table tennis, garden chess and grill spots fill the rest.
Freibad Letzigraben is a city outdoor pool designed by writer and architect Max Frisch in the late 1940s, set in park-like gardens beside Letzigrund stadium. Older kids swim the 50-meter pool, ride the wave pool and jump from a diving tower up to 10 meters. Younger ones get a current channel, water play, a small slide, a shaded paddling pool and a playground.
A city-run river bath on the Limmat, open since 1909. Strong swimmers ride the current down a 100-meter channel beside the old wooden bathhouse and climb out at a catch rail at the end.
Kids who can't swim stay on the lawn side: a non-swimmer pool, a round paddling pool with a small slide, a playground and a kiosk with food.
Seebad Katzensee is a city-run lake bath on the Katzensee, set inside a nature reserve in Affoltern. It has a large sunbathing lawn, barbecue spots, a kiosk, and a children's area with water play.
Swimming is allowed only inside the bath, since the lake and shore outside it are a protected zone. Air mattresses, rubber boats and paddleboards are banned on the whole lake.
Strandbad Wollishofen is a family lido on Lake Zurich with a non-swimmer area in the lake, two swimming rafts and a diving tower with 1 m and 3 m boards.
On land there is a lawn for lying out, a terrace with a wooden deck, a water play area and Blasio play equipment. Table tennis, foosball, sand football and a restaurant round out the day.
A city-run lake lido on the Zürichsee with a big lawn, a 62-meter slide and diving boards at 1, 3 and 5 meters. Younger kids get a shaded paddling pool, water play, a playground and a roped non-swimmer ring 22 meters across, out in the lake.
Away from the water there are grill spots, table tennis, volleyball, a basketball hoop, small soccer goals, garden chess and stand-up paddleboards.
A city-run lido on Lake Zurich with a sandy beach, rafts to swim out to, a non-swimmer area in the lake and a diving tower with 1, 3 and 5 meter boards. Younger kids get a paddling pool with sun umbrellas and water play, plus a playground.
A big lawn, barbecue spots, table tennis, slacklines, stand-up paddleboarding and food from Hiltl am Strand fill the rest.
A city-run outdoor ice rink for public skating, next to an indoor hall used by clubs. Skates, push-along skating aids and small sliders for toddlers are for rent at the rink, and toddler helmets are lent free against a deposit.
Some sessions are set aside for open pick-up hockey, including a parent-and-child slot. Restaurant Stadiönli is on site for a warm-up between laps.
Sportzentrum Heuried is a City of Zurich ice rink with an outdoor ice field, an indoor ice hall and a 300-seat stand. Public skating runs on the outdoor field, with set evening slots for pickup hockey.
Skates, sliders for toddlers, skating aids and hockey sticks can be rented at the rink, and the Vrenelisgärtli restaurant is on site.
One of Switzerland's largest open-air ice rinks, 6,000 square meters set in the Dolderwald forest. There is room for free skating, ice hockey and Chneble, and you can try Bavarian curling or Lättlischiessen. Rental skates, free kids' helmets and polar bear skating aids help beginners.
Ice discos run with live DJ sets, and a self-service restaurant and winter market sit beside the ice.
A large climbing gym on the Gaswerk industrial site, with about 330 rope routes on walls up to 17m and around 260 boulders, indoors and outside.
Kids can drop in to boulder on the 4.5m walls; climbing on a rope needs belay skills, so first-timers book a taster course. All gear rents at the desk, and there's a bistro and lounge.
Milandia is a sports and leisure park beside a nature reserve near the old town of Greifensee. Kids get two playgrounds, one with a big tower and four slides, an 18-hole minigolf course, and a chemical-free natural pool with a paddling area.
A fitness club, climbing center, padel courts and football pitches share the site, and staff in the Kinderparadies mind small children while parents stay on site.
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.
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.
Kyburg is a medieval castle that has been a museum for about 160 years. Inside the Grafenhaus and Ritterhaus, kids find suits of armor, a wooden block prison from 1529, room models with one hidden object that doesn't belong, and six short cartoons on the castle's story.
On the third floor, a castle building site lets them clamp stones, date beams by tree rings and build with wooden blocks.
Sauriermuseum Aathal shows real dinosaur skeletons, six of them from the museum's own digs, alongside trilobites, a crocodile, flying and marine reptiles, 290 pieces of amber and 108 meteorites. Replicas and models fill in the rest of the age of dinosaurs.
Outside, the DinoGiardino garden has dinosaur models, a dig pit, a slide, a small carousel for toddlers, two grill spots and covered picnic tables.
Zoo Zürich covers 27 hectares on the wooded Zürichberg. The Masoala Rainforest is a miniature Madagascar rainforest under one roof, with red ruffed lemurs, Aldabra giant tortoises and an 18-meter treetop walkway.
The Lewa Savanna holds giraffes, white rhinos and Grévy's zebras around baobab trees that double as feeding stations. At the Kaeng Krachan Elephant Park, kids can watch Asian elephants swim past an underwater viewing window.
Kids need fresh air whatever the season, and this city makes it easy to find. These are the outdoor places we'd send a family: neighborhood parks and playgrounds, farms with animals to visit, open-air ice rinks in winter, zoos, and day trips by train to lakes, waterfalls and mountains. Everything here is outside, so check the weather before you go and pack a spare layer.
Seebad Utoquai is a historic wooden lake bath, built in 1890, on the promenade between Bellevue and Zürichhorn. Kids can jump from a diving board and swim to the floats anchored about 30 meters out. Two small pools suit non-swimmers, one for men and one for women, and the sun terraces are partly separated by gender.
Seebad Enge is a wooden lake bath on Lake Zurich with a mixed area and a women-only area, both with direct lake access. Swim lanes 44 meters long are set into the lake, and the decks look out to the Alps. There is a kiosk with a grill and stand-up paddle boards to rent. In winter it runs as a sauna.
KEK is the town of Küsnacht's ice rink, up the hill by Itschnach. It has three parts: an open-air rink for public skating, an indoor ice hall that opens to the public for Chneble sessions at set times, and a four-rink curling hall.
The restaurant, Hosteria DeDi, has a terrace for warming up. Skating and hockey lessons, curling and Eisstock all run through the local clubs.
Winter World is the Wallisellen ice rink, with two rinks side by side: a roofed 30 x 60 m hockey field and an open skating field.
Beginners push polar bear or clown skating aids, older kids join open stick-hockey sessions, and groups can book lanes for Eisstockschiessen, a curling-style ice game. From mid-November, a mobile rink turns the mini golf course into Winterzauber.
A neighborhood park on the grounds of a former wool-dyeing works. Its landmark is a set of climbing towers with tube slides that rise into the tree canopy. A play lawn under shady trees is framed by seating steps on two sides.
Next to it sit an all-weather sports court, a bouldering wall and a rope climbing frame, plus a barbecue spot and an accessible toilet.
Locals call it the Bäcki: a 1.4-hectare neighborhood park near Langstrasse, framed by Stauffacherstrasse, Feldstrasse and Hohlstrasse. Kids head for the playground and the shallow wading pool, where splashing has been allowed since the 1939 redesign.
The Quartierzentrum Aussersihl community center stands in the park, with the Restaurant Bäckeranlage inside. On summer days the lawns fill with young families from the surrounding streets.
Josefwiese is a 1920s people's park beside the Viadukt arches in Zürich-West, laid out for play and sport rather than strolling. Kids get climbing frames and a paddling pool with water play.
The big lawn is for picnics, football and sunbathing, plus pétanque, table tennis, a beach volleyball court and a barbecue spot. A kiosk sells salads, grilled food and drinks.
Oerliker Park opened in 2001 on former factory land in Oerlikon. Its landmark is a blue lookout tower: a steel staircase spirals up through the treetops to a platform 35 meters up, with views toward the city center and the Uetliberg.
The park also has a large climbing frame, play equipment for small kids, a wooden deck and a long turquoise fountain with water play.
Fritschiwiese began as a cemetery in the late 19th century and became a public park in 1921, laid out together with local residents. Today it has a large play lawn, playgrounds, benches and a hilly landscape first designed as an adventure playground.
The paddling pool draws crowds on hot days, and neighbors use the open grass for picnics, games and small workouts.
Riedenholzhof is an organic family farm on city-owned land. Its herd of about 100 water buffalo, calves included, lives in a barn that visitors can walk into from the open farmyard. Dairy cows, boarding horses and, in spring and fall, a few pigs share the farm.
From about June into fall, families pick their own berries in a field by the farm shop.
Juckerhof is a working farm above Lake Pfäffikon, with a farm restaurant, a farm shop and views across the lake. Kids get a playground, a goat park, a straw bouncy castle and play tractors.
The ÖpfelGarte grows nearly 6,000 apple trees into two mazes and a labyrinth, beside a barefoot trail. Each autumn the farm fills with giant pumpkin sculptures.
GZ Bachwiesen is one of the city's community centers. Donkeys, ponies, goats, guinea pigs, rabbits and chickens live in pens that families can walk up to at any time, though visitors are asked not to feed them.
Inside, a café serves homemade cake and syrup for kids, and the wood workshop lets children build their own projects with staff showing them the machines, no course or sign-up needed.
GZ Heuried is a neighborhood community center run by the Zürcher Gemeinschaftszentren foundation. Its Erlebnisgarten (adventure garden) keeps llamas, alpacas, goats, dwarf sheep and rabbits.
Inside, the open workshop stocks soapstone, wood, fabric, plaster, paint, beads and clay, so kids can bring an idea or pick a material and start. The cafeteria welcomes families whether or not they order.
GZ Wipkingen is a city community center on a meadow beside the Limmat. Kids run the lawn, climb the rope playground, swing, and dig in a sandpit with a conveyor belt.
The Wipkihof farm keeps mini pigs, dwarf goats, guinea pigs and chickens. On open-stable afternoons kids help in the barn, feed and pet some of the animals, and usually bake stick bread over a fire.
GZ Buchegg is one of the city's community centers, a short walk over the footbridge from Bucheggplatz. Donkeys, ponies, llamas and goats live in pens that families can stop by and watch, and visitors can help with the morning feeding.
Inside there's a self-run play room, a café with homemade cake where nobody has to order, and a stage for dance and theater made for young audiences.
The University of Zurich's botanical garden spreads over 5.3 hectares of themed beds, a pond, a Mediterranean garden and an alpine rockery, plus three glasshouses with lowland rainforest, mountain rainforest and savanna plants.
For kids there's an adventure garden, tucked between the crop and medicinal plant beds, with stations on tree rings, wood weight and roots, a barefoot trail, and a covered spot with tables.
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.
Rieterpark is a 19th-century landscape garden laid out by Theodor Froebel around Villa Wesendonck, now home to Museum Rietberg. Its 6.8 hectares of wide lawns climb gently south from the villa under old trees, with views to the Glarus Alps on clear days.
Kids can run the open lawns, hunt for the bronze sculptures and the old dolphin fountain dotted through the grounds, and stop at the park's playground.
Blatterwiese, which locals call Chinawiese after the Chinese Garden next door, is a wide lawn on the shore of Lake Zurich. Its fenced playground has a large sand area, a climbing wall, swings and water fountains for hot days.
Around it, families picnic, use the public grills nearby, kick a ball or swim in the lake, and a kiosk sells ice cream and cold drinks.
A high-ropes park in the Hardwald forest at Kloten, with 210 obstacles and about 2.5 km of ziplines strung between the trees. Courses are graded from a low green route for the youngest climbers to hard ones for teens and adults, and the newest, Melody, opened in 2024. Every climb starts with a safety briefing.
The park also runs archery, and has a kiosk and grill spots for guests.
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.
ZSG runs the public boats on Lake Zurich and the River Limmat: 17 ships calling at 31 landing stages, all part of the ZVV transit network. Lake round trips leave from the Bürkliplatz pier, from a short loop to a half-day cruise. River boats on the Limmat start at the Landesmuseum. The «ZSG Tour» audio guide app narrates the mini lake and river cruises.
The Dolderbahn is a cogwheel railway that climbs 1.3 km from Römerhof up the Adlisberg in about six minutes, rising 162 m on a gradient of roughly 19%. It is one of the few rack railways inside a city.
The red cars, new in 2024, pass grand houses and woodland on the way to the Dolder top station, the stop for the Dolder ice rink, wave pool and woods.
The Felseneggbahn is the only public aerial cable car in canton Zurich. Two cabins, each holding 30 passengers, climb 307 meters from Adliswil to the Felsenegg viewpoint at 804 meters, swinging up to about 60 meters above the ground.
At the top, the Panoramaweg trail along the Albis ridge has barbecue spots, restaurants and lookouts over Lake Zurich and the mountains.
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.
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 5,500 m² city-run bike park on the Allmend Brunau, just south of Sihlcity, and the biggest of Zurich's public bike facilities.
The courses come in three difficulty levels: an Urban-BMX layout with two lines from a 4-meter start hill, a jump track with curves and bowls, a pump track with waves and banked turns, and a balance-bike track with gentle waves and curves for toddlers from age 2.
A public playground at the Horn, the lakeside park where Küsnacht's Dorfbach stream runs into Lake Zurich. The centerpiece is a big green octopus that kids clamber over and slide down, with a nest swing alongside.
It suits confident climbers best. The play area sits right on the water, so toddlers need a close eye.
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.
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.
Lindenhof is a gravel square under lime trees on a moraine hill above the Old Town, with a view across the Limmat to the university buildings. People play chess under the trees, and the square hosts pétanque tournaments and theater.
It was a Roman fort from 15 BC. The fountain recalls the legend of Zurich women who, in 1292, dressed in armor to fool a Habsburg army.
Platzspitz is the wedge of parkland where the Sihl and Limmat rivers meet, next to the Swiss National Museum. Paths run under tall plane trees, some of the city's oldest, to an iron gazebo and a statue of the poet Salomon Gessner.
There is a playground and an accessible toilet, and at the northern tip two bridges cross the rivers to the neighboring quarters.
A walled Chinese temple garden on the lake's east shore by the Blatterwiese, a gift from Zurich's partner city Kunming, opened in 1994. Inside, winding paths and ornate bridges circle a pond with a small island, past pavilions, a palace, an artificial mountain and a zigzag bridge.
It's a quiet stroll, not a play space, so it suits kids happy to explore slowly.
Zürichhorn is a lakeside park on the east shore of Lake Zurich, where the wide Chinawiese lawn runs down to the water under old trees. Kids head for the big playground, hop the stepping stones across the pond, and look up at Jean Tinguely's Heureka sculpture.
The Chinese Garden and the Pavillon Le Corbusier sit at the park's edges, and lake boats stop at the Zürichhorn landing.
Dolder Wellenbad is an open-air pool at the top of the Dolderbahn, by the edge of the woods. Next to the 50-meter pool are a paddling pool, a separate shaded children's pool, a slide tower and a play area. The wave pool runs again from 2027.
Around the water there is room for table tennis, volleyball and football, and the Dolder Minigolf course sits next door.
A city-run outdoor pool near Frankental with a 50-meter pool, a non-swimmer pool, a learner pool and 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards. Small children get a paddling pool under a sun sail with a little slide and water play, plus a sandpit, bouncy cushion and playground.
Older kids find a beach volleyball court, table tennis and a lawn for games, and families can use the grill spot.
A family pool run by the City of Zurich. There's a seven-lane 50-meter pool, a separate non-swimmer pool, 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards and a 75-meter water slide. Little ones get a paddling pool with a Schifflibach, a small boat stream.
Between swims there are barbecue spots, table tennis, beach volleyball, a basketball court, a Pestalozzi library book box, and a restaurant and kiosk with hot food all day.
Freibad Heuried is a city-run outdoor family pool near Triemli. It has a 50-meter pool, a separate non-swimmer pool, 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards, and a 132-meter water slide.
Toddlers get a paddling pool with water play under a sun sail and a wide wave slide. Between swims, kids can play table tennis, soccer or pickleball on the grounds.
Freibad Allenmoos is a city-run family pool set in park-like lawns, designed by the architects Haefeli and Moser. There is a 50-meter swimming pool, a large non-swimmer pool with play equipment, 1- and 3-meter diving boards and a 72-meter slide.
Toddlers get two paddling pools under sunshades and a big playground with a sandpit. Beach volleyball courts, table tennis, garden chess and grill spots fill the rest.
Freibad Letzigraben is a city outdoor pool designed by writer and architect Max Frisch in the late 1940s, set in park-like gardens beside Letzigrund stadium. Older kids swim the 50-meter pool, ride the wave pool and jump from a diving tower up to 10 meters. Younger ones get a current channel, water play, a small slide, a shaded paddling pool and a playground.
A city-run river bath on the Limmat, open since 1909. Strong swimmers ride the current down a 100-meter channel beside the old wooden bathhouse and climb out at a catch rail at the end.
Kids who can't swim stay on the lawn side: a non-swimmer pool, a round paddling pool with a small slide, a playground and a kiosk with food.
Seebad Katzensee is a city-run lake bath on the Katzensee, set inside a nature reserve in Affoltern. It has a large sunbathing lawn, barbecue spots, a kiosk, and a children's area with water play.
Swimming is allowed only inside the bath, since the lake and shore outside it are a protected zone. Air mattresses, rubber boats and paddleboards are banned on the whole lake.
Strandbad Wollishofen is a family lido on Lake Zurich with a non-swimmer area in the lake, two swimming rafts and a diving tower with 1 m and 3 m boards.
On land there is a lawn for lying out, a terrace with a wooden deck, a water play area and Blasio play equipment. Table tennis, foosball, sand football and a restaurant round out the day.
A city-run lake lido on the Zürichsee with a big lawn, a 62-meter slide and diving boards at 1, 3 and 5 meters. Younger kids get a shaded paddling pool, water play, a playground and a roped non-swimmer ring 22 meters across, out in the lake.
Away from the water there are grill spots, table tennis, volleyball, a basketball hoop, small soccer goals, garden chess and stand-up paddleboards.
A city-run lido on Lake Zurich with a sandy beach, rafts to swim out to, a non-swimmer area in the lake and a diving tower with 1, 3 and 5 meter boards. Younger kids get a paddling pool with sun umbrellas and water play, plus a playground.
A big lawn, barbecue spots, table tennis, slacklines, stand-up paddleboarding and food from Hiltl am Strand fill the rest.
A city-run outdoor ice rink for public skating, next to an indoor hall used by clubs. Skates, push-along skating aids and small sliders for toddlers are for rent at the rink, and toddler helmets are lent free against a deposit.
Some sessions are set aside for open pick-up hockey, including a parent-and-child slot. Restaurant Stadiönli is on site for a warm-up between laps.
Sportzentrum Heuried is a City of Zurich ice rink with an outdoor ice field, an indoor ice hall and a 300-seat stand. Public skating runs on the outdoor field, with set evening slots for pickup hockey.
Skates, sliders for toddlers, skating aids and hockey sticks can be rented at the rink, and the Vrenelisgärtli restaurant is on site.
One of Switzerland's largest open-air ice rinks, 6,000 square meters set in the Dolderwald forest. There is room for free skating, ice hockey and Chneble, and you can try Bavarian curling or Lättlischiessen. Rental skates, free kids' helmets and polar bear skating aids help beginners.
Ice discos run with live DJ sets, and a self-service restaurant and winter market sit beside the ice.
A large climbing gym on the Gaswerk industrial site, with about 330 rope routes on walls up to 17m and around 260 boulders, indoors and outside.
Kids can drop in to boulder on the 4.5m walls; climbing on a rope needs belay skills, so first-timers book a taster course. All gear rents at the desk, and there's a bistro and lounge.
Milandia is a sports and leisure park beside a nature reserve near the old town of Greifensee. Kids get two playgrounds, one with a big tower and four slides, an 18-hole minigolf course, and a chemical-free natural pool with a paddling area.
A fitness club, climbing center, padel courts and football pitches share the site, and staff in the Kinderparadies mind small children while parents stay on site.
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.
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.
Kyburg is a medieval castle that has been a museum for about 160 years. Inside the Grafenhaus and Ritterhaus, kids find suits of armor, a wooden block prison from 1529, room models with one hidden object that doesn't belong, and six short cartoons on the castle's story.
On the third floor, a castle building site lets them clamp stones, date beams by tree rings and build with wooden blocks.
Sauriermuseum Aathal shows real dinosaur skeletons, six of them from the museum's own digs, alongside trilobites, a crocodile, flying and marine reptiles, 290 pieces of amber and 108 meteorites. Replicas and models fill in the rest of the age of dinosaurs.
Outside, the DinoGiardino garden has dinosaur models, a dig pit, a slide, a small carousel for toddlers, two grill spots and covered picnic tables.
Zoo Zürich covers 27 hectares on the wooded Zürichberg. The Masoala Rainforest is a miniature Madagascar rainforest under one roof, with red ruffed lemurs, Aldabra giant tortoises and an 18-meter treetop walkway.
The Lewa Savanna holds giraffes, white rhinos and Grévy's zebras around baobab trees that double as feeding stations. At the Kaeng Krachan Elephant Park, kids can watch Asian elephants swim past an underwater viewing window.
