Uetliberg Planet Trail

my son was excited to see Ferdinand's cork tree along the trail

Most Zurichers have been up to Uetliberg at least once, but perhaps you haven't yet walked any of the many trails along this ridge. I didn't expect the Uetliberg trails to be anything special because they're so close into town, but they are. I intended to take a short trail straight back into town, but 20 mins into the walk, I discovered that my trail was closed and under construction. So we had to continue down the Planet ridge trail to Felsenegg, about 2 hours total walking time. This ended up being a happy accident because the trail was so lovely. From Uetliberg, the trail starts with what seemed like an eternity of steep stairs - I had my jogger stroller instead of my backpack, so this was not fun. Next time I'll take the road/path on the back side of Uetliberg that joins up with the Planeta trail after the stairs. After those stairs, the rest of the trail is mostly flat and paved all the way to the Felsenegg gondola. The trail follows the ridge line, alternating between the forest and open areas along farmland. Periodically you'll get long views east to Zurichsee or west over the countryside. At Felsenegg, we took a gondola (runs every 15mins) into Adliswil and caught the train back to Zurich.

the trail & Uetliberg tower in the distance ... looking for bugs

Why for kids?

• close to town so you can get back for naps
• flat, paved trail is good for strollers (assuming you bypass the stairs)
• there's a playground at the Uetliberg train station to burn some energy
• at Uetliberg there's a tall tower to climb (my toddler loved this and wanted to climb multiple times)
• the Planet trail markers provide incentive for kids to keep moving "Each meter along the Planet Trail from Uetliberg to Felsenegg corresponds to one million kilometers and covers the distance from the sun right out to Pluto."
• cows

typical view along trail ... from Uetliberg, the Alps in the distance