06
Oct
11 Minute Read
11 Minute Read
Growing up, and only until recently, I don’t think I could have found Zürich directly on a map without much help. I always knew about it, of course, but I never had any real occasion to visit or know much about the area. I certainly didn’t realize that the primary language in the region is Swiss-German!
But after having visited, flying in and out of there from San Francisco, I definitely have grown to love it. Maybe not in the way that people say they fall in love with Paris or London, but there’s definitely something very unique about that place. It has history there, for sure, but not as much that’s so prevalent in today’s society when it comes to French or English history.
Its tech presence is there, but is not overly pronounced like it is in San Francisco, and people generally seem to really like their lives there, despite the high cost of living. Nature abounds a lot more than you may think it would for being a world class city, but it remains small enough to feel small.
After all of the traveling I had done on this trip, I opted to spend several days in Zürich to get a sense for what it was like there as a city, and not necessarily as a cycling destination. I’ve always been curious about this region of the world, and more so especially since it has a tech influence there that, perhaps one day, I could consider myself a part of.
It’s a quiet place, an expensive place, with a lot of pedestrian friendly boulevards, fantasic public transit access, and fancy cars and chalets.
And, as it turns out, some really fantastic cycling!
Besides utilizing my usual tips and tricks, I heavily relied on a the website for a local bike shop, Cycle Store Zürich. Their website is fantastic, and they regularly host social group rides for those in town.
Unfortunately my riding plans didn’t quite align with one of the shop rides, but I did stop in once at the beginning of my trip in 2024 as well as again when I came back to Zürich solo. So naturally I got to talking to some of the staff there as to which rides to narrow in on, since they have so many listed on their site in the “ride like a local” section.
After a day of travel and recovery from Lugano, and a random afternoon downpour of rain, I had time for three days of riding in Zürich. One of which I was able to coordinate with a friend who happened to also be in Zürich at the same time as me!
Amazing to think that despite being thousands of miles apart from others, we can still somehow stay in touch and connect when we all cross paths in this great big, beautiful world of ours.
The rides:
Despite all the riding I had already done across various parts of the country, this one defintely still managed to surprise me. I left the city pretty quickly, as it’s quite accessible by bike, and ventured out to see Zürich’s “Gold Coast”, which happens to be on the east side of Lake Zürich.
This area, as far as I can tell, is often called the “Gold Coast” because of the wheat fields that blanket the countryside. They quite literally shine in the sun and sway in the breeze. It’s also a clever pun of sorts, as the houses in this region are also incredibly nice and I’m sure are very expensive.
So many times during this ride I stopped and audibly said something to the effect of “no way” or “this can’t be real”.
Seriously, how is there this much geographical diversity in one country?
The overall ride was only 51 km (32 miles) and about 883 meters (2900 feet) of elevation climbed, but I thoroughly enjoyed simply exploring the countryside. Each side of Lake Zürich seems to slope upwards from the lake itself, making for some spectacular roads that just meander up the ridge and over towards the next section of country to explore. This route in particular took me through a few forest preserves, and up and down several rolling hills, right through the wheat fields.
There are several frontage roads along the lake front on either side of the lake, often a large thoroughfare for traffic, but I never felt too out of place or unsafe when riding along them. And they’re surprisingly effective at getting you back into the downtown, touristy part of Zürich!
Which, of course, means that you’ll have plenty of time to come back and enjoy an amazing bratwurst at Zeughauskeller! It’s a giant, German styled beer hall with bench and circular seating that just feels so communal.
Worth it!
I love traveling with my bike over international borders. It’s a funny thing to get excited about, but given foreign relations and my experience as an American, it’s something that feels very foreign to me. Although I guess that’s implied by it being an international border.
So when I found a route on Cycle Store Zürich’s “ride like a local” page that included a route into Germany, I had to go for it. Germany is a country I had never stepped into, so this was an absolute must on my list.
The small section of Germany that I rode through, after taking the long way north out of the city, is apparently an area that’s traditionally been Swiss, regardless of what the actual political situation is.
An example of this kind of relationship can be seen from Wikipedia:
Trains which pass through Jestetten without stopping at any of the stations on the line in Germany, are not subject to any customs formalities or restrictions of either country, despite the train and its passengers technically leaving the Swiss Customs Area, entering the European Union customs area and entering Swiss customs territory again. An agreement in this respect was entered into by the two countries and became law in 1936.
So despite Switzerland not being part of the EU, there is no formal border crossing here that I saw! In fact, the only way I could tell that I was in another country was noticing the road signs were another color and included the ẞ character in “Straẞe” instead of “Strasse” like it was all over Switzerland (that’s the German / Swiss-German word for “street”).
Oh, and my phone suddenly wouldn’t connect! I wasn’t in the same country I had purchased an eSIM card for! Not a big deal in my case, as luckily my route guided me through the country without issue.
A pleasant surprise on this trip was coming across the Rhine river! I had not expected that, nor had noticed that when doing the initial route review. I had always heard of this river being one of the most notable ones in all of Europe in my history classes and history books, but it was just so surreal seeing it in person!
People were out in the sun, on boats, having picnics, all just enjoying the day out on the river. And it’s a real river, too! It’s huge and definitely moves. I can see why there are multi-day river cruises along this river.
The route taking me back to Zürich definitely took me a while, but it was so scenic just riding through the countryside, crossing into and out of so many small German / Swiss towns that all just looked so traditional.
Definitely a day I won’t forget any time soon. It took me a lot longer than a normal 107 km (67 mile) ride would typically take me, but with as many stops and things to see along the way, it made sense why it would take me longer.
My final day of riding in Switzerland was a special one, as I was able to ride it with a friend of mine who I had ridden recently with when he visited me in San Francisco! He was spending an extended amount of time in Europe following a change of life plans and was in Zürich when I was as well. So cool!
We took a ride to the “egg” as I believe a few locals call it (Buchenegg is the full name), and out beyond to Lake Ägerisee.
The climb up Buchenegg wasn’t so bad if you forget about the unnecessary 20% “shortcut” Waldistrasse that the route had us take to get to it! It’s a fairly short, not too steep climb that winds around and twists back on itself.
It was super entertaining to ride and we got to loop back around several cows who seemingly were living better lives than the rest of us usually do.
Descending down the other side took us to a small lake with some amazing views southward towards the big mountains that I was in a few days earlier.
Just amazingly beautiful, but difficult to capture from so far away and on a phone.
Leading out to the final destination of Lake Ägerisee took us out through some really quite rural areas. Areas basically that only had farms and people who didn’t really understand English. It was absolutely amazing to see just how different things were outside of Zürich, as it was basically worlds apart from being around the expensive, flashy cars of the city.
At one point, right as we began to descend towards the lake, a view opened up and we both just stopped. Luckily, there was a bench there, and both of us just sat there and chatted for a good 30 minutes or so. It was a beautiful moment of introspection and simple reflection of the sheer magnitude of beauty that this country was affording us that day.
When we finally made our way down to the lake itself, we noticed that it was a local getaway destination, likely for people escaping the city life of Zürich. It had a resort feel to it and added to the sense of calm and relaxation that we had been experiencing earlier in the ride.
After some more ascending up away from the lake, we headed back along a parallel route towards the city, which happened to be mostly downhill. And a glorious downhill it was!
I don’t have too many pictures of it because we were just ripping down it. So fun. We made it back in what felt like record time, and even managed to find a few bike specific paths on the opposite side of the road that got us off the road as it got larger and busier the closer we got into town.
The Swiss really have been good about providing reasonable bike paths for these areas, and apparently in some cases, require you to use them. I guess they can ticket you if you instead use the road!
Getting back into town left me with both a tremendous sense of accomplishment. But I also felt a vague sense of sadness, because I knew the cycling portion of my trip was over. I met with my friend for dinner at the same Zeughauskeller (it’s one of his favorites when he visits) and it was again very delicious.
A later evening storm actually drove us out of the restaurant a bit earlier than planned, and I like to think it was Zürich throwing a tantrum that I was leaving so soon!
Perhaps it’s because Zürich was the last part of my big trip in 2024, but I really liked Zürich. I didn’t really expect to like it as much as I did, but maybe I just set my expectations correctly.
It’s clean, quiet as a city, and has some amazing riding, especially if you connect it further with public transit outside the region. People there seem to really have a good quality of life and don’t seem too bothered about the high prices that they all pay for things. I’m not completely sure I understand it just yet, coming from the hustle culture of the United States, but it’s something that I’m extremely curious to know more about.
With the promixity to the rest of Europe, especially with the trains and general transit that is just so good there, this place really is well connected and truly a melting pot of cultures and identites - in its own, Swiss way of course!
Who know where I’ll end up eventually, but I know Zürich is on my short list if these rides have anything to say about it!
