Last weekend, we were expecting some rain, so we didn't plan any trip. Instead, we wanted to stay at home and do some chores that we're postponing for ages. Exciting, right? 🙂
Luckily, the weather wasn't as bad as expected and we are always looking for an excuse not to do those chores, so we went to Uetliberg instead. I haven't been there yet even though it's a must see place when you're visiting Zurich. I've been living in Switzerland since 2011, and last weekend seemed like the right time to finally visit it!
Uetliberg is towering above Zurich and its lake, and it's a popular destination for visitors as well as locals. I have heard that there are amazing views over the city and the mountains, so let's see for ourselves.
I'm happy to take you on this hike with us!
You can make it easy for you and take a train from Zurich to top of Uetliberg, but we like to complicate things, and decided to hike. We parked our car in Uitikon which is the closest parking area to Uetliberg and only two stops to the top. Little did we know that the hike will be much longer and more challenging that we expected.
We came across an information sign reading that it's about 1 hour walk to the summit. What we didn't see is that we would have to conquer an elevation gain of more than 250 m. If we would have known that we would have probably taken the train as we would have understood that this wasn't an easy Sunday walk in the forest.
Let's go!
We entered the forest only a few meters away from the parking. There were many cars, but nobody in the forest, so we realized that everyone was taking the train instead. It was peaceful and we enjoyed the fresh air. The forest reminded me of forests that we have in Slovakia and I was feeling home.
There are many trails, but we followed the official one as the smaller and shorter ones are not well maintained and we would have to go through bushes and possibly tall grass.
The beginning of the hike was relaxed and I focused on taking pictures. I wanted to capture spring flora in Switzerland and show you some flowers and plants. At some point, I have noticed a huge ant on this plant. Can you see it?
I spent a few moments trying to take the right photo until I realized that I was standing in their nest. They already started climbing on my shoes, so you can imagine my reaction. I was screaming and jumping up and down like a lunatic. And my husband couldn't stop laughing... But I have my photo! The sacrifices that we make...
Wild garlic was everywhere. Even when you don't know how it looks like (those white flowers) you would notice its scent. The forest smelled like garlic! We will come next year to collect it because it's more accessible than the place where we usually go.
The trees were everywhere and you wouldn't think that you are in Zurich...
We were suddenly standing in front of a steep long pathway. We took a deep breath and started walking up and up and up.
At the end of the pathway there were many barbecue spots and benches. It was close to the next train station and there were plenty of people having snacks and kids running around and playing in a huge playground. We realized we were in the middle of our hike and that those people came there by train as they looked too happy 🙂
We noticed that we were getting quite high as we could see Zurich between the trees. The top cannot be much higher, right? Well, it can...
We filled our bottles with water from a fountain and continued walking, hoping that we would reach Uetliberg anytime soon. I made a mistake of checking google maps as we found out that we still had about 30 minutes ahead of us.
It looked like we could see the top of the hill, so we must have been almost there...
I was struggling already as my hip started to hurt, and I had to push myself to keep walking.
After a while we finally reached the last train station. We didn't expect that we would walk for so long and didn't take any snacks with us, so we were happy to see a kiosk selling food. Well, they only had fries, but at that point this was the best meal that we could wish for 🙂
With our bellies full we continued the last stage of our hike. Only a few stairs and we will be on top of Uetliberg!
And here we are! We were standing right in front of the 187 m tall TV tower. Don't worry, this is not the last point of our trip...
On the way to the viewing platform we were already enjoying some views. And we knew it would get better...
There were many deer shaped street lamps along the way. They were designed by the Swiss artist and architect Bruno Weber and put in place in 1990. They look like giraffes to me, but they are deer, trust me.
We quickly forgot about the hike when we got rewarded by panoramic views of Zurich. It was the perfect weather for paragliding and the area around Uetliberg was full of them.
Before I moved to Switzerland I didn't even know that there was a lake in Zurich 🙂
We saw some people pointing to the city in hope of finding their homes. If I lived in Zurich I would probably do the same...
Can you see those white dots on the lake? These are sailing boats, and there are hundreds of them on the lake in summer.
It was cloudy and we couldn't see the Alps, but the views were stunning anyway...
There is a hotel and a restaurant with panoramic views, but the restaurant was closed when we visited as we came between lunch and dinner. There was a kiosk outside, however we didn't find anything that we wanted and there was a large queue of people waiting for food, so we decided to keep enjoying the views instead. The fries that we had earlier saved us.
The platform has a round shape, so you get the views from all sides. There were so many people that we were forced to walk with the crowd. It was strange as we didn't meet anyone on our walk up, but it looks like that everybody chose the train instead. We already forgot the hike and were proud that we made it!
And the views were worth it!
The launch area for paragliders must have been somewhere close to us as they were flying only meters away and Uetliberg is far away the tallest hill.
During the clear day we would see the Alps in this direction. We were looking directly at the mountains in the canton Schwyz.
Of course there was the Swiss flag too!
This was my favorite moment. They manage to somehow link their paraglids and it looked like they were forming a heart.
We enjoyed the views and decided to go back. We walked down the stairs and planned to take the train as my hip kept hurting, but we changed our mind when we saw how many people were sitting there already. It didn't make sense to wait either as it would be full as well.
I told myself that I was strong and I could make it and off we went. It took us only about 40 minutes to get back as it was down the hill all the time. We were again alone and it was good as we needed it after we spent time in the crowds on top.
We jumped in the car and drove to a restaurant in Zurich as we were both hungry and deserved some delicious food after 15000 steps. Even though we were tired we were happy and ready for the work week to come.
Hope, you have enjoyed our trip.
Thank you for reading!
Cheers,
Martina
