City hiking in Zurich – walking over the Käferberg

Recently, while browsing the internet on the Ebookers travel blog, I came across the city walks “Züri z’Fuess”. Under the theme of Urban Transport 2025, the city of Zurich is making 19 routes with maps including route descriptions and some with radio plays available for free download (here). Since I loved this idea and the routes so much, I already completed the first city walk last week, the one in Zurich Höngg.

City walk Höngg over the Käferberg

This route leads from the Waidbadstrasse bus stop across the Höngg district to the Frankental tram stop. The best way to get to Waidbadstrasse is by bus 60 from Bucheggplatz. From there it goes up a bit in the direction of Restaurant Waid, but you will also be rewarded with probably the best view over the city of Zurich. The path then leads through allotment gardens past the ETH Hönggerberg to the Kappenbühl boulder garden. All the boulders that are there were found during construction work. During the last ice age, they were transported here by the glaciers from the Alps and the foothills of the Alps.

Afterwards, the path of the city walk leads through residential quarters down to Meierhofplatz, where the Höngg local museum is located. The Höngg Local Museum is open on Sunday afternoons from 14:00 to 16:00. The path then continues between various historic buildings and offers a magnificent view of the Limmat Valley and Zurich at the Höngg cemetery above the vineyard. Then it’s a steep descent to the Werdinsel, where you can swim in a side arm of the Limmat in summer or simply enjoy the sun. On a nice weekend, however, it can sometimes be a bit too many people here. At the end, the path leads in the shade of the forest along the Limmat until it goes up again a few meters to the Frankental tram and bus stop.

The city walk takes a maximum of 2 hours at a very leisurely pace and is also well suited as an evening walk, for example. I found the historical and cultural information on the supplement to the route very interesting. However, it was difficult to always get exactly the right way, as the routes are not specially signposted. But I can already guarantee that I will explore more routes, because you really get to know Zurich better in a variety of ways.

This short city walk doesn’t quite meet your expectations? No problem! Here I have more ideas for city walks through Zurich and in the following linked article you will find more suggestions on what you can do around Zurich: 9 great excursion destinations and short hikes in the vicinity of Zurich