Bike ride: Limmat river path from Zürich to Baden

The Limmat river north of Zürich has a wonderful dirt path for walking and biking. The route is mostly right next to the water for 28 km from Zurich to Baden, where you can take the train (with your bike) back to your starting point. Since the train parallels the path, you can easily shorten your ride by catching the train earlier, or just ride back the way you came. There are lots of places to stop for picnics, fire building, forest exploring, swimming, etc. We love this ride and hope you do too.

First a short video of our ride to show you the trail. Please subscribe to our channel so you don’t miss upcoming videos.

Route Overview

The name of this multi-use path is the Limmattuferweg, which means “Limmat riverbank path”. The official bike route is Goldküste-Limmat Stage 2 – Route #66.

Here’s my version of the map. You can download the GPX to use whatever map app you like. I’ve made a few adjustments to the official route to by-pass busy roads when possible and stop at playgrounds along the way.

Here are all the waypoints.

This path goes from the Zurich main train station to the Baden main train station, though you don’t have to ride the whole path. You can ride in either direction. We usually ride northwest down river, starting in Zurich. But I always think it would be better to ride from Baden to Zurich, because there are lots of fun things to do back in Zurich as a reward for good riders.

Our family rode on this path from Zurich HB to Kilwangen-Spreitenbach, about 20 km, where we took the train back to Zürich HB (runs every 30 minutes). I think Kilwangen is probably a good place to stop with kids, because after this point, the path leaves the river bank and continues on city streets.

Here is the map shown on sign boards on the trail. The bike path (aka Veloweg) is shown in pink. We saw another map that showed the bike path going on the wrong side of the river at one point. Ignore that.

The trail is marked with the #66 bike route sign as shown below.

Renting bikes

You can borrow bikes for free (CHF 20 deposit) with ZüriRollt, including child bikes and child seats. The Europaplatz location is right outside the Zürich HB as shown below.

You can rent bikes at Zürich HB (season usually starts in April). You can check availability and book them through Rent a Bike. Their site doesn’t list rentals at other train stations on this route, so you would need to return your bike at Zürich HB.

Getting there

Since this bike path is on the train line, that makes it easy to ride one way, taking the train either before or after your bike ride. We live in Zurich, so we simply ride to the Zürich HB, ride to the river, then ride as far along the river as we like, then either ride back the way we came or take the train back to Zürich.

Here are the train stations along the path and the bike path distances from Zürich HB.

• Zürich HB to join river path = 3 km
• …to Altstetten = 5.2 km
• …to Glanzenberg = 11.4 km
• …to Dietikon = 13.5 km
• …to Kilwangen-Spreitenbach = 20 km
• …to Neuenhof = 24 km
• …to Wettigen = 26 km
• …to Baden = 28 km

Riding train with bikes

If you take the train with your bike, remember to buy a ticket for your bike as well. Buy the same ticket as you would buy for yourself (if you have SBB Halbtax, that also applies to your bike). If you are traveling back and forth or long distances, buy a full-day bike ticket, which costs CHF 20 full-fare, CHF 13 half-fare.

If you have a SBB Junior Card for your child 6 and over, your child and their bike ride for free. Children under 6 and their bikes or bike accessories (like trailers) ride free as well. Read more about SBB bike tickets. More rules about taking your bike on the train.

By car: If you are transporting your bikes by car, you can park at any of these train stations, do your ride, then return by train (with your bike) to your car.

Path Conditions

The path itself is easy riding, mostly flat on dirt and gravel paths next to the river.

One exception is near Kilwangen-Spreitenbach, where you’ll find a forest section with some steeper ups and downs. My son had to walk up a couple hills here and we needed good brakes to get down one section.

The first 3 km from Zurich HB to the river path is mostly on city streets, so you need to choose your way carefully when biking with kids. After some experimentation, I think the the path I’ve marked below is the best option with kids, staying on low traffic streets and smaller paths instead of busy roads.

Where to picnic

It’s better to bring food with you since there aren’t cafes or other services right on the river (you can find shops in the towns near the river if necessary). There are lots of informal places to picnic along the river, lots of benches to sit on.

You can grill on the Werd Island, which also has a cafe, playground, splash zone and river swimming. There are also four official picnic areas with fire pits near the Spreitenbach area as shown below (near the end of your bike ride if you riding down river). I didn’t see wood stocked but usually Schweizer Familie fire pits have wood. Plus all these were in the forest, so you could easily gather wood on a dry day.

The prettiest spot I saw was this one at GPS: 47°25’25.0″N 8°24’02.8″E. It’s on the east side of the river during a section where the official bike path is on the west side. You would need to cross at one of the bridges and bike along the footpath until you reach this point.

Where to swim

The big islands in the river have swimming areas during summer but be very careful, especially with small children. There are swimming accidents every year when people overestimate their abilities to handle the fast moving water.

Photo story of the bike path

Just a few pictures from the ride, some from mid-April, some from October. It’s pretty in all seasons.

A forested section before the Kilwangen-Spreitenbach area.

Last part on the bridge before stopping at the Kilwangen-Spreitenbach train station.

Amusements and Playground

There are many fun places to stop along the way. But here are a few that are good for kids, most pretty close to Zurich city.

Werd insel. This small island is a popular spot in summer for sunbathing and swimming. There is a cafe, playground, splash zone for little kids, river swimming, and fire pits. Sorry this pic was taken in fall, not so inviting. I’ll go back in summer to take another pic. See on map.

Aure path. North of the Werd island, you’ll find this short elevated wooden walkway through the forest that loops back to the main path. There are a few animal and nature symbols hidden in the trees and a wood piece stick you can hit to sound like a frog. Worth the short detour. See on map.

Josephwiese Playground. There is a very nice playground and lots of green space at the Josefwiese park next to the Viadukt shopping area. This would be a good place to stop at the end of your ride if you riding into Zürich. See on map.

Wipkinger Playground. Kids will love this playground next to the river. It’s very close to Zurich city, so best to do at the end of the ride or you may never get back on the bikes. See on map.