Snow on the hills around the city comes and goes, so when it lands, kids want a sled and a slope that same afternoon. We gathered the closest runs, plus winter outings that still work when the snow is thin, like the wolves and bison at Langenberg. Here's what we checked, from the forest toboggan run on the Uetliberg to the sledding run at Atzmännig.
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.
Atzmännig is a family leisure area in the Goldingertal valley, with a chairlift up to Alp Atzmännig at 1,200 m. The leisure park has a 700 m toboggan run with tunnels and banked curves, a slide tower with six chutes, mini electric cars, a petting zoo, a playground, and a rope park with eight courses plus three for kids.
Winter brings ski lifts, a sledding run and a snowshoe trail.
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.
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.
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.
Snow on the hills around the city comes and goes, so when it lands, kids want a sled and a slope that same afternoon. We gathered the closest runs, plus winter outings that still work when the snow is thin, like the wolves and bison at Langenberg. Here's what we checked, from the forest toboggan run on the Uetliberg to the sledding run at Atzmännig.
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.
Atzmännig is a family leisure area in the Goldingertal valley, with a chairlift up to Alp Atzmännig at 1,200 m. The leisure park has a 700 m toboggan run with tunnels and banked curves, a slide tower with six chutes, mini electric cars, a petting zoo, a playground, and a rope park with eight courses plus three for kids.
Winter brings ski lifts, a sledding run and a snowshoe trail.
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.
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.
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.
