Somewhere around nine, a puppet show stops cutting it and kids want to do the real thing. Everything here is pitched at ages 9 to 12: science workshops, stargazing, hands-on museums, building playgrounds, and theater and circus that don't talk down to them. Dated events sit next to places you can go any weekend, so there's always a plan.
The lights go out at Kulturama, Zurich's museum of humankind, and families explore the exhibits by flashlight. A guide leads the group through the dark rooms while kids try to work out what the objects are and where the strange noises come from.
The whole tour happens in darkness, so it suits curious kids who enjoy some suspense. It isn't for toddlers or kids scared of the dark.
X Labs is a hands-on science lab in Sihlcity, run by science and engineering students and graduates of Swiss universities. Kids do the experiments themselves rather than watch: dry ice, polymers, electric circuits, handmade soap.
The lab hosts booked themed workshops, private birthday parties and week-long school holiday camps. The camps are taught in English and German, so it suits curious kids who would rather build than sit.
Selma Lagerlöf's classic, staged as musical family theater. After a prank turns his world upside down, Nils takes off on the back of the gander Martin and joins a flock of wild geese led by Akka of Kebnekaise.
It's performed in Swiss German (Mundart), so it suits kids who follow the dialect, along with the parents and grandparents who come with them.
Two circus artists, a teeterboard and a stage of nonsense. GUGUS! is a dance piece inspired by Dada, the art movement that started here over a century ago. The performers fly through the air, dance, make music, invent sounds and turn into odd characters.
The name is Swiss German for both "hello" and "nonsense," and the show is pure play that doesn't need to make sense. Good for slapstick fans.
A breaking workshop where kids and their grown-ups learn first moves side by side. Dancers Kwangsuk «Issue» Park and Hyosung «Cho» Joo of eight2one lead simple movement tasks, partner exercises and a short group routine.
It borrows from the upcoming show Das Schwingfest, where a dog, a goat, a cow and a marmot try traditional Swiss wrestling, so moves from breaking, wrestling and the animal world all turn up.
Mühlerama is a museum of food culture inside the Tiefenbrunnen industrial mill from 1913, which still runs. Each afternoon a bell rings and the miller shows how the mill makes flour.
Kids grind wheat on several mills, including a stone grinder from the pile-dwelling era, then bake a roll from their flour in the baking workshop. A flour-mystery trail, a talking-house audio play and four mill models fill the floors.
Kids decorate their own gingerbread house in the kitchen of Atelier for Kids, a small art studio in Hottingen run by Belinda Chan Beaton. She shares tips for baking and icing, and LED lights go inside so the finished house glows as a table decoration through the holidays. Everyone gets an apron and baker's hat, and each house goes home wrapped. Grandparents and parents can join in too.
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.
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.
Urania Observatory is a 51-meter tower at the western edge of the Old Town, opened in 1907 as Switzerland's oldest public observatory. Tours take place in a creaking wooden dome that turns to open a slit to the sky.
Guides explain the planets with screens and computer simulations, and on clear nights kids look through the original 12-tonne Zeiss telescope.
Kunsthaus Zürich is Switzerland's largest art museum by area, spread across Karl Moser's 1910 building and David Chipperfield's sandstone extension, linked by a passage under Heimplatz. The collection runs from the Middle Ages to today, with Monet's huge water lilies, Giacometti sculptures and Swiss painters like Hodler.
Children get their own free audio guide: wherever a penguin marks a work, it tells stories and sets riddles about it.
Circus Monti's new show, Poussière d'étoiles (Stardust), centers on an odd fortune teller who reads the stars with his crystal ball. His big ambitions knock everything off balance: acrobatics fail, routines fall apart and even the most baffling magic tricks go wrong.
The mishaps are the point, turned into laughter and wonder. It suits kids who like acrobatics, magic and comedy.
Kerzenziehen is candle dipping: kids dip a wick into warm wax over and over, and a candle slowly grows. At Kirche Letten, run together with GZ Schindlergut, it happens in a roomy space with both paraffin and beeswax to choose from.
Kids and grown-ups are both welcome to dip. In the afternoon the Liechtblick café serves coffee and pastries, so a parent can sit down while the candles take shape.
Circus Conelli bills itself as Switzerland's first Christmas circus, and it comes back to the Bauschänzli in central Zurich every winter. The show mixes acrobatics, comedy, dreamy poetic numbers and music.
It suits kids who can sit through a full show with an intermission. Daytime shows are the easy pick for younger children, while the gala dinner evenings are a separate, grown-up affair.
About 3,000 children march through central Zurich in traditional dress and historical costumes, lined up in the order of the eras they represent, from Romanesque noblewomen to Belle Epoque and Charleston. Youth bands play along the whole route, and a wagon carrying the Böögg closes the parade.
For kids watching from the curb, it is a walking history lesson to wave at. It suits anyone fine with crowds and drums.
Circus Knie is the Swiss touring circus run by the Knie family, and on its spring tour it pitches its big top in central Zurich. The show brings together international performers, modern show technology and the family's horses.
For 2027 the circus has a new tent and new seating. It suits kids who can stay seated through a full-length show and like horses and ring acts.
Once a year, many of Zurich's museums keep their doors open long after closing time, and families hop between them by shuttle bus, bike or boat. Kids can see zoo animals that only wake up at night, visit the Urania observatory in the dark and play football late at the FIFA Museum.
It suits school-age kids who can stay up past bedtime. A couple of stops lean spooky.
Studio Roka is a pottery studio near Wiedikon station that runs wheel classes, hand-building workshops and ceramic painting by appointment. Kids can choose a pre-fired mug, plate or vase and paint it, or shape clay by hand at the table.
The studio also hosts kids' pottery birthday parties. Painted and handmade pieces are fired and glazed on site, then collected a few weeks later.
Flavia Horat's ceramics studio runs pottery birthday parties and afternoon holiday courses for kids. After a playful start, children hand-model what they choose (animals, bowls, little monsters, napkin rings) and paint it.
Flavia, a longtime children's and yoga teacher, can tell a story while they work or mix in kids' yoga. Holiday courses add a museum visit for inspiration, plus balancing games and stories.
The Swiss Children's Museum fills an 1896 villa with 300 years of childhood and toys. Kids test spinning tops of wood, tin and plastic, build with construction toys from different centuries and stage shows at small puppet theaters.
Upstairs are five-senses experiments, a mirror room and a children's library. Historic classrooms play pupils' stories at old school desks.
NONAM is the City of Zurich's museum of Native American, First Nations and Inuit cultures. The collection route leads through six regions, from the Plains and the Arctic to the Northwest Coast and the US Southwest. A gallery shows works by Zurich painter Karl Bodmer, and special exhibitions look at contemporary Indigenous art and life.
The program includes family afternoons, workshops and holiday activities for kids.
focusTerra is the Earth and Science Discovery Center of ETH Zurich, set in a three-floor exhibition tower inside the university's NO building. The floors cover how the Earth moves, the treasures it holds and the history stored in its rocks.
Kids can try interactive exhibits and look at the Omniglobe, the Indergand Crystal, minerals, meteorites, fossils and historical reliefs of the Alps.
A football museum on three floors, right by Bahnhof Enge. Kids stand next to the original FIFA World Cup Trophy, walk along a 35-meter rainbow of national-team shirts from all 211 FIFA member associations, and watch World Cup finals footage on a 180-degree cinema screen.
The visit ends at a giant pinball where kids test their ball skills in five games and chase a spot on the leaderboard.
The PBZ Express is an exhibition at PBZ Affoltern. It needs no German, so it works for any family.
Each fall, Richterswil on Lake Zurich carves about 30 metric tons of turnips into lanterns, and its old village center glows by candlelight. Brass bands play on the squares while families wander between market stalls.
The highlight is the evening parade, when local schools and clubs carry dozens of glowing turnip sculptures through the streets. It suits kids happy to stay out on a cold, dark evening.
Every Advent, the Weihnachtsmarkt Dörfli fills the lanes and squares of Zurich's Niederdorf with about 70 decorated market huts and festive lights. Kids can dip their own colored candles at the Märlibaracke, watch the Fortuna Fire Crew's fire shows, and snack on crêpes, churros and Dutch mini pancakes.
It is a browsing market spread through old-town lanes, so it suits families happy to wander, snack and stop for a show.
Six evenings a season, the outdoor Dolder rink turns into a disco: a light show, DJs Steven Sander and Marvellous80 playing hits, and a theme for each night, from a Halloween ghost ride to a Frozen night and a fireworks edition.
It suits kids who can already skate on their own and teens out with friends. Families can book a fondue table in the restaurant overlooking the ice.
Rapperswil's Christkindlimärt turns the medieval old town into a Christmas market. During the big market week, more than 200 stalls stretch from the lakeshore along Marktgasse to Hauptplatz, making it one of the largest in Switzerland.
It is a place to stroll, browse and look at the lights rather than a program of activities, so it suits kids happy to wander alongside a parent.
Once a year Küssnacht turns off its street lights for a St. Nicholas parade. First come up to 250 Iffelen, some over 2.5 meters tall, slipping past in silence. St. Nicholas follows with torch bearers, then about 1,100 Klausjäger swinging cowbells in time and some 200 horn players.
It is dark and loud, so it suits kids who love a spectacle more than kids who startle at noise.
Züri Carneval is Zurich's winter carnival, and this is the part built around children. Kids come in costume to a party in the festival tent on Münsterhof in the Old Town, and the next afternoon the carnival parade winds through the city center.
It suits preschool and primary-school kids who like dressing up and a lively crowd. Children who find loud, packed streets hard may prefer the tent party alone.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Laser Arena Zürich is a 750 m² laser tag arena on a single floor, filled with fog, fluorescent light, sound effects and obstacles to hide behind. After a short briefing, players wear sensor vests and tag opponents with infrared markers in team games of 12 minutes each. A hit switches a vest off for about six seconds.
Bistro with lounge, changing room and free parking out front.
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.
This is the main building of the Zurich University of the Arts' museum of design and visual communication. Changing exhibitions cover graphic design, posters and textiles, and many include a hands-on station where kids can experiment and make things.
There is also an education studio, the Swiss Design Lounge, a café and a design shop.
Kulturama tells the story of life over 600 million years, through fossils, skeletons, hand axes and mummies. A second strand follows the human body from conception to death, showing how it works and changes.
Much of it is hands-on: kids can touch a mammoth's tooth, compare a shrew's heartbeat with their own, and try listening stations, computers and experiments. Special exhibitions pick one theme about human life.
The Swiss National Museum fills a turreted 1898 building, styled like a French Renaissance chateau, beside the Platzspitz park. Its galleries run from prehistory to the 21st century, with a section on knights, an Armoury Tower and a diorama of the Battle of Murten.
The family exhibition has three themed rooms (an Oriental Palace, a sailing ship and a railway) where kids solve puzzles, dress up and listen to stories.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Hallenbad Bläsi is a small, city-run indoor pool with a family feel. The 25-meter pool has five lanes, water at 29 °C, and a movable floor that sets the depth.
Kids get a play afternoon, when the 1-meter diving board opens. Outside there is a terrace for lying in the sun between swims, and the city runs water sports courses here.
Theater PurPur is a theater for young audiences that pairs professional shows with kids making theater themselves. Visiting companies stage puppet and story plays for families on a stage that seats about 60.
Between shows, kids join play afternoons on the empty stage, weekly drama and art courses, and holiday weeks. Shows and story sessions are told in Swiss German.
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 bouldering gym in a brick hall, open since 2013, with about 800 m2 of walls and blocks over thick mats. The 200-plus problems are reset every week in every grade, so first-timers and strong climbers share the space.
A passage leads to a second room of about 200 m2 for warming up, stretching and training boards.
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.
Technorama is a hands-on science center where most exhibits are built to touch and try. Kids spin tops and pendulums in Mechanikum, kick and crank wooden marble runs, play with magnets and currents, and build machines from everyday materials in Tinkering.
Staffed labs let kids run their own chemistry, physics and biology experiments, and an outdoor park opens from late March to late October.
The museum sits next to the historic Lindt factory, where chocolate has been made since 1899. A 9.3-meter fountain holding 1,400 kg of chocolate greets visitors as they arrive.
The audio-guided route follows cocoa from farms in Ghana to the Swiss chocolate pioneers, with tasting stations along the way and a pilot plant showing how bars are made. Kids get an audio tour of their own.
Museum Rietberg holds art from Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania, some 32,600 objects, most of them on show in the galleries or the open storeroom. It spreads across historic villas in Rieterpark and an underground extension entered through a glass pavilion called the Emerald.
Kids can roam the park between buildings, and on Sundays the Open Workshop has families making their own pieces inspired by the collection.
Opened in March 2024, the museum brings the university's zoology, paleontology, botany and anthropology collections under one roof, with more than 1,500 animals and fossils on show. A touchable, life-size Plateosaurus greets kids at the entrance, and the dinosaur rooms add tactile reconstructions.
Other rooms cover Swiss wildlife, fossils from Monte San Giorgio, Ice Age life with the Neanderthal Orsa, and how plants communicate. A cinema runs nature films.
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.
Knabenschiessen is a custom more than 100 years old and Zurich's biggest folk festival. Young shooters compete in a shooting contest, and the winner is crowned Schützenkönig or Schützenkönigin and paraded along Uetlibergstrasse.
For most families the draw is the Chilbi, the huge funfair that fills the grounds around it. With around 850,000 visitors, it suits kids who like a busy, loud fair.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Prestige Bowling is a 1,700 m² leisure center with 12 bowling lanes, pool tables, darts, air hockey, table football, pinball and a boxing machine. For kids from age 5, lanes get bumpers so the ball stays on track.
A burger diner sits on site, with a veggie burger on the menu, and three Hidden escape rooms run in the same building. The whole center is air-conditioned.
A family-friendly indoor pool run by the City of Zurich. There is a 25-meter lap pool with five lanes kept at 29°C, a separate paddling pool at 31°C and a 1-meter diving board.
On sunny, warm days the rooftop terrace opens as a water playground. The building also has a Finnish sauna, a bio sauna and a steam room.
Hallenbad Oerlikon is a city-run indoor pool by the Hallenstadion and the open-air velodrome. An eight-lane, 50-meter pool sits next to a diving pool with boards at 1, 3, 5, 7.5 and 10 meters.
Younger kids get a learner pool and a paddling pool with water toys, both kept at 30°C, plus an outdoor paddling pool in summer. On dry land there's a playground, a foosball table and a lawn.
An indoor pool hall with a 25-meter lap pool, a learner pool up to 1.5 meters deep, and a 4-meter-deep diving pool with boards at 1, 3 and 5 meters. The 110-meter tube slide is the longest in any indoor pool in the canton of Zurich.
Outside, a big lawn has a wading pool and a grill area for warm days. Private swim schools run children's classes here.
Somewhere around nine, a puppet show stops cutting it and kids want to do the real thing. Everything here is pitched at ages 9 to 12: science workshops, stargazing, hands-on museums, building playgrounds, and theater and circus that don't talk down to them. Dated events sit next to places you can go any weekend, so there's always a plan.
The lights go out at Kulturama, Zurich's museum of humankind, and families explore the exhibits by flashlight. A guide leads the group through the dark rooms while kids try to work out what the objects are and where the strange noises come from.
The whole tour happens in darkness, so it suits curious kids who enjoy some suspense. It isn't for toddlers or kids scared of the dark.
X Labs is a hands-on science lab in Sihlcity, run by science and engineering students and graduates of Swiss universities. Kids do the experiments themselves rather than watch: dry ice, polymers, electric circuits, handmade soap.
The lab hosts booked themed workshops, private birthday parties and week-long school holiday camps. The camps are taught in English and German, so it suits curious kids who would rather build than sit.
Selma Lagerlöf's classic, staged as musical family theater. After a prank turns his world upside down, Nils takes off on the back of the gander Martin and joins a flock of wild geese led by Akka of Kebnekaise.
It's performed in Swiss German (Mundart), so it suits kids who follow the dialect, along with the parents and grandparents who come with them.
Two circus artists, a teeterboard and a stage of nonsense. GUGUS! is a dance piece inspired by Dada, the art movement that started here over a century ago. The performers fly through the air, dance, make music, invent sounds and turn into odd characters.
The name is Swiss German for both "hello" and "nonsense," and the show is pure play that doesn't need to make sense. Good for slapstick fans.
A breaking workshop where kids and their grown-ups learn first moves side by side. Dancers Kwangsuk «Issue» Park and Hyosung «Cho» Joo of eight2one lead simple movement tasks, partner exercises and a short group routine.
It borrows from the upcoming show Das Schwingfest, where a dog, a goat, a cow and a marmot try traditional Swiss wrestling, so moves from breaking, wrestling and the animal world all turn up.
Mühlerama is a museum of food culture inside the Tiefenbrunnen industrial mill from 1913, which still runs. Each afternoon a bell rings and the miller shows how the mill makes flour.
Kids grind wheat on several mills, including a stone grinder from the pile-dwelling era, then bake a roll from their flour in the baking workshop. A flour-mystery trail, a talking-house audio play and four mill models fill the floors.
Kids decorate their own gingerbread house in the kitchen of Atelier for Kids, a small art studio in Hottingen run by Belinda Chan Beaton. She shares tips for baking and icing, and LED lights go inside so the finished house glows as a table decoration through the holidays. Everyone gets an apron and baker's hat, and each house goes home wrapped. Grandparents and parents can join in too.
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.
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.
Urania Observatory is a 51-meter tower at the western edge of the Old Town, opened in 1907 as Switzerland's oldest public observatory. Tours take place in a creaking wooden dome that turns to open a slit to the sky.
Guides explain the planets with screens and computer simulations, and on clear nights kids look through the original 12-tonne Zeiss telescope.
Kunsthaus Zürich is Switzerland's largest art museum by area, spread across Karl Moser's 1910 building and David Chipperfield's sandstone extension, linked by a passage under Heimplatz. The collection runs from the Middle Ages to today, with Monet's huge water lilies, Giacometti sculptures and Swiss painters like Hodler.
Children get their own free audio guide: wherever a penguin marks a work, it tells stories and sets riddles about it.
Circus Monti's new show, Poussière d'étoiles (Stardust), centers on an odd fortune teller who reads the stars with his crystal ball. His big ambitions knock everything off balance: acrobatics fail, routines fall apart and even the most baffling magic tricks go wrong.
The mishaps are the point, turned into laughter and wonder. It suits kids who like acrobatics, magic and comedy.
Kerzenziehen is candle dipping: kids dip a wick into warm wax over and over, and a candle slowly grows. At Kirche Letten, run together with GZ Schindlergut, it happens in a roomy space with both paraffin and beeswax to choose from.
Kids and grown-ups are both welcome to dip. In the afternoon the Liechtblick café serves coffee and pastries, so a parent can sit down while the candles take shape.
Circus Conelli bills itself as Switzerland's first Christmas circus, and it comes back to the Bauschänzli in central Zurich every winter. The show mixes acrobatics, comedy, dreamy poetic numbers and music.
It suits kids who can sit through a full show with an intermission. Daytime shows are the easy pick for younger children, while the gala dinner evenings are a separate, grown-up affair.
About 3,000 children march through central Zurich in traditional dress and historical costumes, lined up in the order of the eras they represent, from Romanesque noblewomen to Belle Epoque and Charleston. Youth bands play along the whole route, and a wagon carrying the Böögg closes the parade.
For kids watching from the curb, it is a walking history lesson to wave at. It suits anyone fine with crowds and drums.
Circus Knie is the Swiss touring circus run by the Knie family, and on its spring tour it pitches its big top in central Zurich. The show brings together international performers, modern show technology and the family's horses.
For 2027 the circus has a new tent and new seating. It suits kids who can stay seated through a full-length show and like horses and ring acts.
Once a year, many of Zurich's museums keep their doors open long after closing time, and families hop between them by shuttle bus, bike or boat. Kids can see zoo animals that only wake up at night, visit the Urania observatory in the dark and play football late at the FIFA Museum.
It suits school-age kids who can stay up past bedtime. A couple of stops lean spooky.
Studio Roka is a pottery studio near Wiedikon station that runs wheel classes, hand-building workshops and ceramic painting by appointment. Kids can choose a pre-fired mug, plate or vase and paint it, or shape clay by hand at the table.
The studio also hosts kids' pottery birthday parties. Painted and handmade pieces are fired and glazed on site, then collected a few weeks later.
Flavia Horat's ceramics studio runs pottery birthday parties and afternoon holiday courses for kids. After a playful start, children hand-model what they choose (animals, bowls, little monsters, napkin rings) and paint it.
Flavia, a longtime children's and yoga teacher, can tell a story while they work or mix in kids' yoga. Holiday courses add a museum visit for inspiration, plus balancing games and stories.
The Swiss Children's Museum fills an 1896 villa with 300 years of childhood and toys. Kids test spinning tops of wood, tin and plastic, build with construction toys from different centuries and stage shows at small puppet theaters.
Upstairs are five-senses experiments, a mirror room and a children's library. Historic classrooms play pupils' stories at old school desks.
NONAM is the City of Zurich's museum of Native American, First Nations and Inuit cultures. The collection route leads through six regions, from the Plains and the Arctic to the Northwest Coast and the US Southwest. A gallery shows works by Zurich painter Karl Bodmer, and special exhibitions look at contemporary Indigenous art and life.
The program includes family afternoons, workshops and holiday activities for kids.
focusTerra is the Earth and Science Discovery Center of ETH Zurich, set in a three-floor exhibition tower inside the university's NO building. The floors cover how the Earth moves, the treasures it holds and the history stored in its rocks.
Kids can try interactive exhibits and look at the Omniglobe, the Indergand Crystal, minerals, meteorites, fossils and historical reliefs of the Alps.
A football museum on three floors, right by Bahnhof Enge. Kids stand next to the original FIFA World Cup Trophy, walk along a 35-meter rainbow of national-team shirts from all 211 FIFA member associations, and watch World Cup finals footage on a 180-degree cinema screen.
The visit ends at a giant pinball where kids test their ball skills in five games and chase a spot on the leaderboard.
The PBZ Express is an exhibition at PBZ Affoltern. It needs no German, so it works for any family.
Each fall, Richterswil on Lake Zurich carves about 30 metric tons of turnips into lanterns, and its old village center glows by candlelight. Brass bands play on the squares while families wander between market stalls.
The highlight is the evening parade, when local schools and clubs carry dozens of glowing turnip sculptures through the streets. It suits kids happy to stay out on a cold, dark evening.
Every Advent, the Weihnachtsmarkt Dörfli fills the lanes and squares of Zurich's Niederdorf with about 70 decorated market huts and festive lights. Kids can dip their own colored candles at the Märlibaracke, watch the Fortuna Fire Crew's fire shows, and snack on crêpes, churros and Dutch mini pancakes.
It is a browsing market spread through old-town lanes, so it suits families happy to wander, snack and stop for a show.
Six evenings a season, the outdoor Dolder rink turns into a disco: a light show, DJs Steven Sander and Marvellous80 playing hits, and a theme for each night, from a Halloween ghost ride to a Frozen night and a fireworks edition.
It suits kids who can already skate on their own and teens out with friends. Families can book a fondue table in the restaurant overlooking the ice.
Rapperswil's Christkindlimärt turns the medieval old town into a Christmas market. During the big market week, more than 200 stalls stretch from the lakeshore along Marktgasse to Hauptplatz, making it one of the largest in Switzerland.
It is a place to stroll, browse and look at the lights rather than a program of activities, so it suits kids happy to wander alongside a parent.
Once a year Küssnacht turns off its street lights for a St. Nicholas parade. First come up to 250 Iffelen, some over 2.5 meters tall, slipping past in silence. St. Nicholas follows with torch bearers, then about 1,100 Klausjäger swinging cowbells in time and some 200 horn players.
It is dark and loud, so it suits kids who love a spectacle more than kids who startle at noise.
Züri Carneval is Zurich's winter carnival, and this is the part built around children. Kids come in costume to a party in the festival tent on Münsterhof in the Old Town, and the next afternoon the carnival parade winds through the city center.
It suits preschool and primary-school kids who like dressing up and a lively crowd. Children who find loud, packed streets hard may prefer the tent party alone.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Laser Arena Zürich is a 750 m² laser tag arena on a single floor, filled with fog, fluorescent light, sound effects and obstacles to hide behind. After a short briefing, players wear sensor vests and tag opponents with infrared markers in team games of 12 minutes each. A hit switches a vest off for about six seconds.
Bistro with lounge, changing room and free parking out front.
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.
This is the main building of the Zurich University of the Arts' museum of design and visual communication. Changing exhibitions cover graphic design, posters and textiles, and many include a hands-on station where kids can experiment and make things.
There is also an education studio, the Swiss Design Lounge, a café and a design shop.
Kulturama tells the story of life over 600 million years, through fossils, skeletons, hand axes and mummies. A second strand follows the human body from conception to death, showing how it works and changes.
Much of it is hands-on: kids can touch a mammoth's tooth, compare a shrew's heartbeat with their own, and try listening stations, computers and experiments. Special exhibitions pick one theme about human life.
The Swiss National Museum fills a turreted 1898 building, styled like a French Renaissance chateau, beside the Platzspitz park. Its galleries run from prehistory to the 21st century, with a section on knights, an Armoury Tower and a diorama of the Battle of Murten.
The family exhibition has three themed rooms (an Oriental Palace, a sailing ship and a railway) where kids solve puzzles, dress up and listen to stories.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Hallenbad Bläsi is a small, city-run indoor pool with a family feel. The 25-meter pool has five lanes, water at 29 °C, and a movable floor that sets the depth.
Kids get a play afternoon, when the 1-meter diving board opens. Outside there is a terrace for lying in the sun between swims, and the city runs water sports courses here.
Theater PurPur is a theater for young audiences that pairs professional shows with kids making theater themselves. Visiting companies stage puppet and story plays for families on a stage that seats about 60.
Between shows, kids join play afternoons on the empty stage, weekly drama and art courses, and holiday weeks. Shows and story sessions are told in Swiss German.
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 bouldering gym in a brick hall, open since 2013, with about 800 m2 of walls and blocks over thick mats. The 200-plus problems are reset every week in every grade, so first-timers and strong climbers share the space.
A passage leads to a second room of about 200 m2 for warming up, stretching and training boards.
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.
Technorama is a hands-on science center where most exhibits are built to touch and try. Kids spin tops and pendulums in Mechanikum, kick and crank wooden marble runs, play with magnets and currents, and build machines from everyday materials in Tinkering.
Staffed labs let kids run their own chemistry, physics and biology experiments, and an outdoor park opens from late March to late October.
The museum sits next to the historic Lindt factory, where chocolate has been made since 1899. A 9.3-meter fountain holding 1,400 kg of chocolate greets visitors as they arrive.
The audio-guided route follows cocoa from farms in Ghana to the Swiss chocolate pioneers, with tasting stations along the way and a pilot plant showing how bars are made. Kids get an audio tour of their own.
Museum Rietberg holds art from Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania, some 32,600 objects, most of them on show in the galleries or the open storeroom. It spreads across historic villas in Rieterpark and an underground extension entered through a glass pavilion called the Emerald.
Kids can roam the park between buildings, and on Sundays the Open Workshop has families making their own pieces inspired by the collection.
Opened in March 2024, the museum brings the university's zoology, paleontology, botany and anthropology collections under one roof, with more than 1,500 animals and fossils on show. A touchable, life-size Plateosaurus greets kids at the entrance, and the dinosaur rooms add tactile reconstructions.
Other rooms cover Swiss wildlife, fossils from Monte San Giorgio, Ice Age life with the Neanderthal Orsa, and how plants communicate. A cinema runs nature films.
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.
Knabenschiessen is a custom more than 100 years old and Zurich's biggest folk festival. Young shooters compete in a shooting contest, and the winner is crowned Schützenkönig or Schützenkönigin and paraded along Uetlibergstrasse.
For most families the draw is the Chilbi, the huge funfair that fills the grounds around it. With around 850,000 visitors, it suits kids who like a busy, loud fair.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Prestige Bowling is a 1,700 m² leisure center with 12 bowling lanes, pool tables, darts, air hockey, table football, pinball and a boxing machine. For kids from age 5, lanes get bumpers so the ball stays on track.
A burger diner sits on site, with a veggie burger on the menu, and three Hidden escape rooms run in the same building. The whole center is air-conditioned.
A family-friendly indoor pool run by the City of Zurich. There is a 25-meter lap pool with five lanes kept at 29°C, a separate paddling pool at 31°C and a 1-meter diving board.
On sunny, warm days the rooftop terrace opens as a water playground. The building also has a Finnish sauna, a bio sauna and a steam room.
Hallenbad Oerlikon is a city-run indoor pool by the Hallenstadion and the open-air velodrome. An eight-lane, 50-meter pool sits next to a diving pool with boards at 1, 3, 5, 7.5 and 10 meters.
Younger kids get a learner pool and a paddling pool with water toys, both kept at 30°C, plus an outdoor paddling pool in summer. On dry land there's a playground, a foosball table and a lawn.
An indoor pool hall with a 25-meter lap pool, a learner pool up to 1.5 meters deep, and a 4-meter-deep diving pool with boards at 1, 3 and 5 meters. The 110-meter tube slide is the longest in any indoor pool in the canton of Zurich.
Outside, a big lawn has a wading pool and a grill area for warm days. Private swim schools run children's classes here.
