Zurich Travel Guide: Getting Around, When to Go, and How to Not Overspend

Zurich's ZVV network is the backbone of getting around, and it is worth understanding zones before buying anything. Downtown Zurich sits in zone 110, and a single ticket there costs 6.80 francs, the same fare that covers the airport train into the main station, so there is no separate premium for arriving travelers. Trams and buses run on the same zone based tickets as the S-Bahn trains, and the network is dense enough, sixteen tram lines across 185 stops, that most of the city center and inner neighborhoods are reachable without a car. Travelers doing more than a couple of rides a day should compare a 24 hour day card against buying single tickets, and anyone whose plans start later in the morning can save with the 9-UhrPass, discounted for travel beginning after 9am.

Money moves in one direction only in 2026, and that is toward the franc being worth more, not less. The currency gained close to 13 percent against the dollar through 2025 and kept climbing into an eleven year high by January 2026, so converting cash earlier in a trip rather than later, and expecting every price to feel a bit more expensive than it did a year or two ago, is the realistic approach.

The old town clusters around Lindenhof hill on the west bank of the Limmat, walkable enough that a first time visitor can cover most of the historic core on foot in a day, with St. Peter's church and the Town Hall as easy anchors. For a genuinely free afternoon, head to the public river baths at Oberer or Unterer Letten for a swim in the Limmat, or to the Frauenbad Stadthausquai floating bathhouse on the lake, which provides showers and free lockers to anyone who brings a padlock. Summer, when the water and the free bathing spots are actually usable, is the season that makes Zurich's cost of living feel least punishing, since the best neighborhood tradition in the city does not require a franc.