Zurich (locally spelt Zürich) is set on a beautiful lake and surrounded by mountains. But Switzerland is a notoriously expensive travel destination. A recent report named Zurich as the most expensive city in the world to visit. As part of our #Take12Trips challenge the toddler and I went on a last minute trip to Zurich. Was it really that expensive? Here are my tips for making the most of Zurich on a budget with a toddler.
The Zurich Card
Before you arrive, use the Zurich Card website to work out if it is worth you purchasing a card (24 CHF for 24 hours / 48 CHF for 72 hours). This gives you unlimited travel on public transport in Zurich and the immediate area. It also gives you free or discounted admission to museums, along with discounts at shops, restaurants and tours. I had a travel fail here – I didn’t realise Kindercity would be free anyway for my toddler, so we would have been better off paying for everything separately. Oh well!
Transport
If a Zurich Card does not work out as cost effective for you, it might be worth buying a day pass for public transport. Certainly in winter we hopped on and off the tram a lot due to the inclement weather. But in summer you may find that you walk more.
Budget Hotels
I found it difficult to find a toddler-friendly budget hotel in Zurich. In the end I went for Pension für Dich on the grounds that the café was recommended for kids. It wasn’t exactly what I would normally regard as ‘budget’ at 90 CHF a night. But the other slightly cheaper options I found were all chains such as easyHotel and Swiss Star, which are not my preference. The youth hostel would also have been a budget option, but the private rooms were sold out. The website appeared to let me book a dorm bed for a toddler, but I didn’t think that would be appropriate!
Zoological Museum at the University of Zurich
This was a fabulous place for a toddler and completely free! It contains more than 1,500 species to look at. But more importantly for a toddler, it has a nice staircase, place to eat your own snacks, books, giant jigsaw and a sensory woodland area with animal noises.
Picnics
Eating out in Zurich is expensive – around 40 CHF per meal per person. As a toddler isn’t the best dinner companion anyway, we stocked up on food at a supermarket. We had a picnic dinner and breakfast at the hotel. And ate our lunch on a boat tour (see below). If you do want to indulge in eating out, lunch specials can be a more budget-friendly way to experience cafés and restaurants.
Free Walking Tours
A free walking tour can be a great way to get a feel for a city and to learn about its history. The company to look out for in Zurich is Free Walk Zurich who offer a range of tours.
Take a Boat Tour
The short boat tour on Lake Zurich is actually pretty reasonable (8.60 CHF). There are longer tours available, but we were there on a grey and rainy day so 90 minutes was plenty long enough. It did however give us a nice spot out of the rain to eat our lunch.
Zurich On A Budget With A Toddler: Our Expenditure Breakdown
In summary, yes Zurich is an expensive place to visit. But in my opinion no more so than other major cities such as London and New York. There might be less budget options than in these other cities, but with a bit of creativity your trip need not break the bank. (Prices quoted as at March 2017 for 1 adult and 1 one year old)
24 Hour Zurich Card: 24 CHF (£19.50)
Kindercity entrance: 22.50 CHF (£18)
Kindercity snack in café: 7 CHF (£5.50)
Coop supermarket – food for 1x picnic dinner, breakfast and lunch, plus snacks: 25.75 CHF (£21)
Pension für Dich 1 night: 90 CHF (£73)
Tourist tax 1 night: 2.50 CHF (£2)
Latte at Café für Dich: 5.70 CHF (£4)
Cruise (supplement): 5 CHF (£4)
Total: 182.45 CHF (£148)
Great roundup – I recently did a post on european city breaks with babies – if you would like to join this collaboration the please donlet me know #citytripping
Yes, I enjoyed your post on European city breaks with babies – I will send you an email about joining the collaboration, thanks.
I’d love to visit Zurich one day:) #citytripping
I hope you get to visit one day!
It’s good to know you can do one of the most expensive places I can think of without breaking the bank #CityTripping
Yes, I had passed through Zurich many times, but never dared stay before!
Thanks for the detail on the prices it’s really useful to have that! You did a great job of finding reasonably priced things to do in an expensive city. #CityTripping
Thanks – it is useful that there are so many free museums these days though!
What a great idea to add your budget! Summer great tips here for travel with toddlers. Zurich looks really interesting too #citytripping
I like a good budget, but then I am rather a numbers nerd!
You did so well to keep costs down. Well done. Switzerland is SO expensive. We fly from Geneva a lot and try to avoid having to buy food or coffee at the airport! Thanks for linking to #citytripping
Food and coffee was very expensive – I was shocked when my latte was well over 5 CHF
Good to know Zurich can be done without breaking the bank.
It’s not exact ‘budget’ but you can make a few savings here and there.
I found something similar when I went to Norway. It was expensive, yes, but not much more so than London – and some things were actually cheaper. Lots of helpful tips here!
I remember being horrified at the price of a beer in Norway in my pre-baby days!
The boat tour sounds especially tempting, as do the picnics. I’ve only a day in Zurich, lounging by the water, so need to return to do it justice. #mondayescapes
I hope you manage to get back there one day!
You’ve done a briliiant job of keeping the costs down in an expensive city. Thanks for sharing with us on Monday Escapes.
Thank you!
The Zoological Museum sounds fab – I’m sure mine would love it. Good tips on dining too. #MondayEscapes
I love free museums!