Walking around Lake Zurichsee, in seven stages

, 12 minutes to read, 20 views

I’ve lived in Zurich for a while now, and I really like it. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, at least not right now.

Lake Zurich is a place I know well, and I’ve swum in it many times. When I got injured and couldn’t run anymore, I needed to find another way to prepare for the Rigimarsch (a 50km hike). Hiking seemed like the obvious choice.

I mentioned the idea to a friend, and she was immediately excited about walking around the lake. She lives in Zurich now but grew up at the other end of the lake, so it felt like the perfect adventure.

We packed our boots, put on sunscreen, and got started.

First stage: Zurich to Horgen

Starting in Zurich, I wondered if we were really “wandering.” Here we were in the middle of the city, wearing proper hiking boots—the whole situation felt a bit comical. But walking along the lake was lovely and made for a great start to our journey around it.

After a short time, the path leaves the shore and heads toward Adliswil.

GPS recording of the first stage

Walking along the Sihl was surprisingly calming. The water provided nice background noise, and the river made for some beautiful scenery. Walking through Adliswil took us briefly back into more populated areas, but since we didn’t need anything, we just kept going.

Eventually, we had to leave the river. After all, this is called the “around the lake” hiking path, not the “along the river” path. In Sihlwald, there was only one way to go: up. So up we went.

Walk in the forest on a swamp (left), a wonderful bench looking above Lake Zurich (right).

After a short break walking on wooden boards above the swamp, we crossed the highway, which gave us an amazing view above Lake Zurich. Unfortunately, the weather was turning on us, so we had to pick up the pace. It was a shame we couldn’t linger on that bench and enjoy the view.

The descent through Horgen was surprisingly steep—almost too steep. We managed it but were quite tired after finishing the first stage. Tired, but definitely the good kind of tired.

Second stage: Horgen to Richterswil

For the second stage, we took an S-Bahn to Horgen. It was a hot day, and since we only started in the afternoon, we were hiking during the hottest part of the day.

Stage two, Horgen to Richterswil pretty much all along the lake

The route was nice, almost entirely along the lake border. The sky was blue, the water was blue, and it made for quite a panorama. A quick swim at Halbinsel Au was very welcome refreshment and gave us motivation for the rest of the way.

Beautiful view across the lake from the Horgen border

This stage had two downsides. First, much of the walk was on asphalt, which isn’t anyone’s favorite hiking surface. But that’s the trade-off with a multi-purpose path that bikes also use. Second, we spent quite a bit of time walking next to train tracks, which isn’t exactly exciting (unless you’re really into trains).

Halbinsel Au was a welcome change from walking alongside houses. The detour before Richterswil took us up through a forest (the uphill part was so-so, but the forest was nice and provided some shade). The ruins before Richterswil were cool to see, and arriving in the village, I was again surprised by how charming this little place is, even though I’ve been there many times before.

Third stage: Richterswil to Uznach

Stage three was probably our longest day. But it was the weekend, and we had a goal: finish half the lake. Some people might say we overdid it, combining the hilliest stage with several official stages. I’d disagree with that assessment (though I definitely shared it that evening when my legs were feeling it).

Stage three, coined as the mountain stage

The first part climbed uphill from Richterswil. The weather was decent for hiking, and the clouds were welcome for the shade they provided. They were less welcome as potential rain indicators, but we got lucky and stayed dry. We were surprised by the strange places the official Swiss hiking trails took us, but we followed the signs without questioning them too much.

All of the strange places the official path went through: Crossing a playground (left), through a garden where we were very much wondering if this was the official way or not (middle) and between some soccer fields (right).

After the soccer grounds in Samstagern (quite fitting, since “Samstag” means Saturday and we were hiking on Saturday), we really left civilization behind. We followed the Sihl again, but it felt quite different from the Sihl just outside Zurich.

When we left the Sihl trail, the real ascent to Etzel (the highest point of this entire adventure) began. Finally, the paths got smaller and felt more like the adventurous hiking I was used to.

Panorama from Etzel, showing almost the entire Zürichsee

The descent was still adventurous, and walking on small paths is always more fun than the wide ones. There were quite a few gems along the way, including amazing views. The weather kept changing, but it stayed dry overall, which was the most important thing.

At one point, we had to take a detour because the official hiking path crossed a shooting range that was very much in use on Saturday. We crossed some fields on a perhaps less-than-official pathway (though approved by the lady at the shooting range when we asked for directions).

To be overdramatic: the path almost blocked by some branches (left); the nicest place to have a short break (right)

We walked through Lachen, where we stopped at a shop to restock on snacks and buy sugary drinks for extra energy. With new energy, we felt motivated to reach the halfway point around the lake. Perhaps we were overmotivated, but the first part was flat and mostly along the lake border (now the Obersee, the upper part of the lake).

We walked past a small airfield and through a nature reserve, but there was no denying we were approaching another hill—220 meters of altitude gain. But remember, we had those sugary drinks, so we started with full motivation.

Looking back while ascending, it was definitely raining behind us—luckily we had already passed that part.

The altitude slowed us down considerably, but we kept climbing steadily. We could feel those 25km already in our legs, so every step, especially upward, felt extra hard. The weather gods provided additional motivation by having it rain behind us.

Finally, walking through the forest on Buechberg, we went up and down through the trees. We descended and walked the main road toward Uznach, where we had some well-earned dinner (if I do say so myself).

Fourth stage: Uznach to Rapperswil

The fourth stage was a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, it was nice being on the border of the lake, but compared to stage three, it was also a bit more boring and perhaps more importantly, it was a lot of asphalt, which I didn’t enjoy all that much.

Stage four

It started off quite well, walking along the Linth that flowed into the Zürichsee. But from there it was again a shared access path on mostly asphalt. The asphalt part wasn’t that enjoyable, but there were some quite nice bits. Some of the houses there also looked like a great place to live, with the hope that the prices would be a bit more reasonable than in Zurich.

The view on the lake

Coming closer to Rapperswil was also a bit less asphalt and more gravel next to the train line. But it was mostly flat and straight, which didn’t make for the most interesting hiking.

One highlight shouldn’t be missed though. Next to a farm there was a cat on the gravel path that was strongly asking, almost demanding to be petted. I of course happily obliged.

A cat who was very happy to be petted

Fifth stage: Rapperswil to Meilen

Starting off in Rapperswil, a quick visit to the castle was due. Not necessary to visit the castle, but that was where the official way went. But quickly we left the city again and started walking up and through some meadows.

Stage five, back to the lake I know

Walking through the wide green area provided a nice surrounding and also kept us moving quite quickly. The temperature was nice: not too hot and not too cold. Perfect hiking weather. This was again supposed to be two stages according to the guide, but then again, we had never listened to the official instructions and weren’t about to start now.

I saw lots of places where I could have imagined living at some future time, which of course was quickly ridiculed by my friends, as they don’t think I would be the person to live outside of a city at some point. But I may have to prove them wrong. This is a discussion for a future time though. Right then and there we were just enjoying the sight.

The view a bit after Rapperswil (left) and walking above Stäfa (right)

Walking past Stäfa, then looking down on Uetikon, and finally descending to Meilen was an interesting experience. All places I know very well. All places I have been to many times, but somehow the feeling was quite different when hiking there. And the feeling was still different arriving there after a few hours of hiking. Strange how these things affect how you see something so much.

Sixth stage: Meilen to Küsnacht

We only undertook the sixth stage after quite some time. People were on holidays (and by people I mean mostly me). And I had an injured foot, so that wasn’t optimal for hiking either. But anyway, after a break we continued our journey around the Zürichsee.

Now I was super optimistic about my foot and strongly assumed that it was all fixed. So I was highly motivated, at least at the beginning, to finish the entire thing that very day. My friend was being a bit nurturing (or overprotective, depending on who you ask) and was discouraging me from my idea.

Stage six

But first we had to walk up again to gain the altitude that we had walked down the last time we were in Meilen. We stayed at that altitude and walked through the nice pathways. But first we had to take a detour since the way was under construction. And while it looked like there wasn’t much construction currently going on (after all, it was a Saturday), we still took the detour.

Not off to a great start (left) and the weather kind of turning on us (right)

As we kept walking, the weather started to turn on us, but at least it stayed dry for the moment. But the bad weather was further entrenching the opinion that we weren’t going to finish the entire loop to Zurich on this very day. So after reluctantly agreeing to split it into an additional stage, I saw an opportunity on the map. Since there was another path blockage (with a very short and easy detour through a residential neighborhood), I proposed taking a big detour while staying all on official hiking paths.

To my surprise (okay, not really), we decided to take this detour, so we had to gain a bit more elevation. And as we started walking down again, setting our sights toward the target of Küsnacht, the weather decided to really start changing. It started to rain a little bit at first, which was fine since we were in a forest. But then it started to rain more and more, and we had to flee and take shelter in a hut that was luckily constructed for picnicking. We stayed in this hut for a bit and looked at the rain streaming down. And while the hut was offering protection against the rain, it was starting to cool down, and I started to regret my decision of arriving absolutely unprepared.

So as the rain started to lift a little bit, we continued walking. We got super wet (well, at least the people without raincoats, which was both of us), but there were only about 2km left, so it was fine. We arrived in Küsnacht and decided to take the boat home to Zurich. After all, it’s just public transport like the train as well, but so much more fun. So we rode back on the boat with a bunch of other tourists. We also enjoyed the hot Ovaltine that was warming us up, which should very much be counted as another advantage of the boat. Can’t buy an Ovaltine on the train.

After being rained on quite a bit on the last part, enjoying our transport home on the boat

Seventh and final stage: Küsnacht to Zürich

So since we decided to do a final and seventh stage (probably a wise decision given the weather we had on Saturday), we started again on Sunday for the final stage. We took the bus up in Küsnacht to the starting point, which did feel a bit like cheating. But then again, it was the last day. The first part to about Zollikon was actually really nice, walking through some forests and next to some ponds.

The weather was a bit better, and there were lots of people walking. Not the big crazy walks, but just people walking their dogs, pushing their kids in prams, and getting a bit of fresh air, escaping the big city.

Stage seven

But our way was pretty clear: we were walking toward the city again, toward civilization. And as such, the walking became a bit less enjoyable, but it did feel like we were walking toward a goal, finishing the seven-stage hike.

Frankly, entering the city of Zurich and walking the final kilometers was quite unspectacular. But it did feel like coming home, and that felt good.

And what did we do after arriving back in Zurich? Well, we got a coffee on Münsterhofplatz, like I do most Sundays. The excitement of unexciting things.

Concluding remarks

I can only very strongly recommend this hike. It was fun, it was nice to talk to people for a long time while walking (thanks for joining me). The signage is very good, and the online map is also very good.

For me it not only gave me time to reflect, time to talk, and time to enjoy, but it also brought me a bit closer to the geography of the place I live, which I very much enjoyed. And I saw a lot of new things—new things that are actually really close to me.

Tags: Hiking, Nature, Outdoor