9 Highlights in the Zürich Wilderness Park
- While walking in the Zürich Wilderness Park, you might spot wild animals like wild boars, deer, or foxes.
- The treetop walkway, including an observation platform at 17 m height, offers a unique perspective of the forest and its inhabitants.
- Various nature trails wind through the forest, providing exciting insights into the natural world.
- The Bat Night takes place once a year in the Zürich Wilderness Park Sihlwald. Join experts on a thrilling adventure to discover these fascinating creatures.
- The interactive nature education trail is suitable for visitors of all ages. Here, you’ll learn everything about the park's flora and fauna.
- An adventure playground features different play areas and activities like climbing, balancing, and sliding.
- The herb and vegetable garden is open to visitors. You'll learn a lot about growing herbs and vegetables and you can purchase some products.
- The Zürich Wilderness Park regularly offers events and activities for visitors, such as guided tours, animal feedings, and seasonal festivities.
- The barefoot trail in the Zürich Wilderness Park provides a special experience for feet and senses. You can feel various materials like gravel, moss, or wood underfoot.
You can find an overview of the nature parks in Switzerland in our article about the 20 most beautiful Swiss nature parks.
What to Expect in Zurich's Wildlife Park
Covering an area of 11 km², Zurich's Wildlife Park is the smallest nature park in Switzerland. The first nationally recognized nature experience park spans across five municipalities, with only 80 residents living within its borders.
The Wildlife Park Zurich consists of two parks:
- Wildlife Park Zurich Sihlwald with a visitor center and nature museum in Sihlwald
- Wildlife Park Zurich Langenberg in Langnau am Albis
In the Sihlwald and along the Sihl River there are a significant number of trails and paths. In total, visitors to the park can enjoy 72 km of hiking trails, 58 km of cycling paths, and 54 km of riding trails.
The Langenberg Animal Park is home to 19 native or previously native animals from the Sihlwald.
This includes:
- the Alpine marmot
- the European otter
- the red deer
- the European brown bear
- the wisent
- the Eurasian wolf
- the European wildcat
- the sika deer
- the Przewalski horse
- the Eurasian lynx
Both parks are free to access 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, although the paid visitor center and the nature museum are closed in winter.
How to Best Explore Zurich Wilderness Park
Zurich Wilderness Park is a popular recreational area for the people of Zurich. You can explore it on foot, by bicycle, or on horseback. The park's landscape is diverse, featuring various habitats, including forests, meadows, wetlands, and rivers. Visitors can experience a variety of wildlife.
What makes Zurich Wilderness Park Sihlwald unique is the concept of "wilderness for a while". The park is intentionally not intensively managed, allowing nature to take its course and giving visitors a glimpse of nature in its original form. This also means that visitors should stick to marked paths and are not allowed to feed the animals to preserve the natural habitats.
You have the option to participate in a variety of programs offered by the wilderness park. Events on specific topics, experiential days, educational programs for children and adults, and interesting talks are held regularly. At the visitor center, you can learn more about the park and its inhabitants.
The park also offers a range of activities for visitors. Besides guided hikes, there are ranger-led walks, bike tours, as well as adventure activities like tree climbing and overnight stays outdoors.
Some examples of activities at the Zurich Wilderness Park
- Walderlebnispfad: The adventure trail includes 12 stations over a length of 2.8 km, where you actively do something: Count annual rings, observe or explore something. The path leads through a moor forest over a footbridge. Duration: about 2 hours.
- Tree top walk: The treetop path has a length of 500 m and culminates on a 17m high viewing platform. The walk takes about an hour.
- Animal Observations: An observation tour of the park can take between 1-3 hours depending on the route and duration.
- Nature Trails: There are several nature trails in the park. The hike takes about 1-2 hours each.
- Barefoot Trail: The barefoot path has a length of about 500 m and can be completed in about 30 min.
- Swiss Hiking Night once a year: Starting at Sihlwald train station, the guided hike lasts about 2.5 hours and ends at Sihlau train station.
- Experience Saturday for children: On the first Saturday afternoon of the month, children experience a treasure hunt through nature for 2 hours.
The Zurich Wilderness Park is a special place for nature lovers who want to experience the beauty of nature up close. Visitors can learn a lot here and get a unique insight into the wilderness without having to travel far.
Getting to the Zurich Wilderness Park
Both parks are easily accessible from Zurich, Thalwil, and Horgen using public transportation. From the Zurich main station, take the S-Bahn S4 towards Langnau-Gattikon to the Sihlwald station. The journey takes about 25 minutes. From there, it's just a short walk to the park.
You can also drive, where parking fees are a flat rate of 10 CHF per day at the zoo and 5 CHF at the wilderness park. However, keep in mind that during the summer months, parking is limited on weekends and public holidays, which might lead to some wait times.
An alternative is to bike. The wilderness park is connected to the network of cycling routes in the region, and there’s a designated bike route for the park. There are plenty of bike racks available at the park entrance as well.
No matter how you choose to get there, the Zurich Wilderness Park is definitely worth the visit. You can experience nature up close and look forward to exciting wildlife observations.
