The ultimate city swimming itinerary of Zurich

How many other cities in Europe can go from boardroom to bathing suit in just a few short minutes? Cathy Adams dives in

The Limmat river runs right through the centre of Zurich (Zurich Tourism)

Saturday morning on Lake Zurich. I’ve waded out with a paddleboard and am now carefully slicing through the glass-still water as the mist rises up over the hills and red-roofed alpine-style houses. Families sitting in bleached yachts set off for the day, boats laden with rose and picnic baskets. The old town just comes into view further up the lake as I glide through the water, cross-legged on the board (I’m too scared to stand up). The experience could only get more Swiss if somebody coated my paddleboard in chocolate.

This morning view is why my guide Chris, from the Strandbad Wollishofen SUP Centre, splits his time between Zurich and the Caribbean. From June to September, he spends his time on the lake or paddleboarding through the old town on a sightseeing tour from the water.

Switzerland has the monopoly on “European cities you can swim in” and Zurich is its shiny best: when the summer months roll in, residents roll out to the nearest bath, or badi, which are dotted all across the city. How many other cities in Europe can go from boardroom to bathing suit in just a few short minutes?

All the Zurichers are at it: whether that’s a lunchtime dip in the Limmat river that runs through the old centre of the city; bankers rolling up their suit trousers to stick their ankles in at Rimini Bar; or spending the weekend blissing out a riverside bistro before dipping into Lake Zurich. After spending a weekend here, it’s hardly a surprise that Zurich regularly ranks as one of the best cities to live in when this is your after-work summer activity...

The city has around 40 of these badis set up on the Limmat, as well as on stretches of Lake Zurich, a thin finger of a lake that extends south into the wider canton. Some are single-sex (being naked is de rigueur here) and some are mixed sex – and confusingly some switch to bars for both sexes once the sun goes down and everybody’s put their clothes back on.

While today they’re a summer hub of hedonism and relaxation, the badis were originally set up by the Romans for a far more prosaic purpose: basic hygiene. Fast forward to the 19th century and this Swiss city started building badis in earnest, because it was cheaper to provide public facilities than individual facilities. Many of them still exist today.

I’m enjoying the fruits of their labour by getting to know Switzerland’s financial heart from the water. I start with a post-paddleboard splash at Strandbad Wollishofen, a laidback, family-friendly bath with a high-diving platform in one of the pools on Lake Zurich. Then into the city proper, where a dip in the Limmat’s lively Flussbad Oberer Letten, complete with wooden sun-loungers, a volleyball court and a two-metre-high diving board, is the best place to see out the morning (plus, unlike many of the other badis, it’s free). On the other half of the river not sectioned off for swimming, groups of friends drift leisurely downstream in dinghies weighed down by beer.

Take a meandering walk around Zurich’s Old Town and get to know the city (Zurich Tourism)

I’m particularly taken by the genteel Frauenbad (women’s bath), an elegant wooden structure jutting into the Limmat right by the old town’s Fraumunster Church, known for its windows by artist Marc Chagall. The Frauenbad, like its male counterpart Rimini further down the Limmat, welcomes both sexes after 8pm with DJs and cocktails in its evening iteration: “Barefoot Bar”.

A lazy Saturday afternoon spent in the Frauenbad spills easily into an evening at forest-green badi Rimini Bar, a tropical-in-feel party palace laid out with wooden benches, vintage striped beach huts and waterside decks spread with printed cushions that groups of friends are quietly busking on. An Aperol Spritz, you say?

Take in the unrivalled views of Lake Zurich at Seebad Enge (Zurich Tourism)

Or there’s laidback Seebad Enge, on the western edge of Lake Zurich. Almost directly opposite is Seebad Utoquai, a sprawling double-decker white clapboard badi with sections for women, men and mixed bathing and steps directly down into the lake and a floating pontoon. People have brought speakers, some are drinking plastic cupfuls of cocktail from the bar downstairs and most people are baking in the sun like biscuits.

And if you want to do more than just flake out at a badi, there’s an answer for that too: Urbansurf in the industrial-in-vibe Zurich West district, which opened in 2018 with a standing wave pool and a surrounding deck to watch others wipe out.

Superior pasta and pizza are plentiful – just like the amount lakes (Zurich Tourism)

When you spend all day swimming in the lake, ingesting monstrously large plates of pasta doesn't feel like such a crime. For a chic dinner, try theatrical Restaurant Portofino, in the lake suburb of Thalwill, where superior pastas and pizzas are served in a dining room with floor-to-ceiling glass windows overspilling with plants. Oh look: there’s the lake again. Lunch at Schipfe 16, a social enterprise bistro in the old town where diners eat just a few metres higher than the neighbouring turquoise Limmat river, makes a good badi warm-up.

If Saturday morning started healthy on Lake Zurich, then Sunday morning does not. The one constant is that Lake Zurich is the backdrop. This time, though, it’s an all-you-can-eat brunch at lake restaurant Fischer's Fritz, with champagne, squishy wheels of brie, a chocolate fountain with fruit kebabs to stick in, an omelette station and enough crusty bread to sink a ship. Or a paddleboard, if I felt like getting back on one.

Travel essentials

Getting there

Swiss flies to Zurich from five UK airports from £84 one way.

Staying there

The B2 Hotel and Spa, high above Zurich a short walk from the Enge station, is a renovated brewery turned thermal bath hotel. There’s a smasher of a rooftop infinity pool (free for hotel guests from 7-9am) and thermal pools in the old beer cellars. Rooms are contemporary, all pine floors and gauzy white curtains. There’s free Swiss chocolate, too. Rates start from CHF320 (about £266).

B2 Hotel and Spa’s infinity pool offers a fantastic views of the city – not to mention free chocolate (Aqua Spa Resorts)

Visiting there

A Zurich Card gives you travel for 24 or 72 hours and other perks including free or discounted entry in 40 museums. From CHF27.

For more information about planning a trip, visit zuerich.com