Zurich Old Town

Zurich's old town, the Altstadt, wraps both banks of the Limmat where the river leaves the lake, and it is small enough to cross in twenty minutes and dense enough to spend a day in. On the east bank the twin towers of the Grossmünster rise above the guild houses, the church where Huldrych Zwingli preached the Swiss Reformation into being in the 1520s. Opposite stands the Fraumünster, whose plain interior holds five stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall, installed in 1970 and lit best in the morning. Between them the Lindenhof terrace, the site of a Roman fort, gives the standard view over the rooftops. What surprises most first-time visitors is the water: in summer the Limmat and the lakeside are full of people swimming, in the middle of a major financial city, from municipal bathhouses that have been in use for over a century.

What you actually see

• Grossmünster - the Reformation church, with a tower climb over the rooftops.
• Fraumünster - Chagall's stained glass, best in morning light.
• Lindenhof - the Roman-era terrace with the classic view across the river.
• Frauenbad and the river swimming spots - historic bathhouses where locals swim through the summer.

When to go

Summer for the river and lake swimming, which is the part of Zurich that most surprises visitors. December for the Christmas markets and the lights on Bahnhofstrasse. Sundays are quiet to the point of shuttered, since Swiss shops close.

Honest expectations

Zurich is genuinely expensive, and the old town concentrates that. A simple lunch costs what dinner costs elsewhere in Europe. The Altstadt is also small, so a day is enough for the sights, and the city rewards the additional time spent by the water or up the Uetliberg rather than walking the same lanes twice.

Nearby

Lake Zurich stretches south with boat services; the Uetliberg hill above the city gives a wide view over both.