We weren’t in out right minds. We had just gotten off a redeye from Chicago to Zurich where I think Jenn got the most sleep at about 2 hours total. I had basically not slept at all and the kids maybe got an hour each. Our brains were a combination tired/wired with the excitement of being in Europe mixed with the brain fog of sleep deprivation.
We decided to wander out into Zurich to catch a little lunch and then go get a nap. We managed to pop into a Coop to Go to get some sandwiches and then went towards the old part of town to wander. When we crossed the Limmat River, we noticed vendors all along the Münsterbrücke Bridge, and also along the Limmat itself. There must be some kind of festival, how fun! We then had a quick beer and headed back to the hotel for a short nap, expecting to head out to dinner later.
After dinner at a wonderful little Tapas place called Casco Viejo, we noticed the streets had become much more lively. As walked into the festival, it became clear that it must be a pretty big deal. With the brain fog gone, we noticed things that we hadn’t seen earlier, like Ferris Wheels and other carnival rides. It also seemed much, much bigger that it did before. Honestly, it looked huge. How big was this festival and what is it?
We planned to pass through the festival, after all, this wasn’t our party and we intended to enjoy the beauty of Zurich. But the beautiful buildings that we wanted to see were hidden behind food trucks and carnival rides. Just a little further, we thought, and we’ll get past the festival and we can enjoy Zurich the way we wanted to. We kept walking, along the street on the east side of the Limmat. Where does it end? I told Jenn “let’s just walk to the lake and we can enjoy the park there.” But as we approached the lake, the carnival rides turned to temporary outdoor night clubs with bars and DJs (‘Drop the beat’ DJs not ‘top 40’ DJs). The park we walked over to visit was now a makeshift night club and I was now out of ideas of where to go. There was no end to this festival. I didn’t come to Zurich to listen to EDM! I came to see the beautiful buildings, eat chocolate and sit in a beer garden or two!
We were in Zurich for essentially two days and those days just happened to be two of the three days of Züri Fäscht. It’s a huge weekend festival with over 2 million visitors that stretches on for miles along the Limmat River and also wraps both sides of Lake Zurich for a couple of miles. Züri Fäscht takes place every three years, but because of Covid, it had been four years from the last time it was held. It had 450 vendor stands, 50 stages and 70 rides.
But it was inescapable, and we were left with two choices, enjoy the festival or go back to the hotel and pout. So for the next couple of days we wandered the festival drinking, eating, and listening to electronic dance music. Guess what? We had a great time! it wasn’t the trip we anticipated, but that’s okay. We were, after all, uninvited guests in Switzerland and it’s not up to them to cater to my expectations.
In some respects, there was no better time to visit Zurich. So often when you visit a city that has a lot of tourists, you get locals who cater to visitors, whether it be multilingual menus or having to constantly talk to visitors in English. This was simply Swiss people being Swiss, in an environment built for their celebrations. This is an enormous festival, I had never heard of it and finding information about it online is actually not that easy, especially in English. This was something they kept for themselves. They don’t really promote it. From an outsider’s perspective, this was an opportunity to participate in something authentically Swiss.
So what did we do? Well, we drank Swiss beers . . .
And watched wakeboarding on the Limmat . . .
And cheered on Zurich’s Kanu Polo team.
Unfortunately, we did miss out on a lot of it, since we were sleeping more than normal, trying to adjust our sleep schedule to Europe. We missed out on what is apparently a fantastic fireworks display and we didn’t hang around for the music acts, which I assume got better as the night went on. The music acts were scheduled until 5 in the morning, which is insane when you consider that it’s an outdoor festival. I can only imagine how great it must be for EDM fans to party all night under the stars until daybreak along Lake Zurich.
The next Züri Fäscht will take place July 3rd through 5th, 2026. I assume that it will once again be a great time. If you are love festivals and especially if you love EDM, it could be a great time to visit. Personally, if I were to do this, I would fly in on Friday morning and use the jet lag to my advantage to stay up the whole night. To keep up on plans for the upcoming festival, visit https://www.zuerifaescht.ch/.
Newby to Expert Traveler 