Uetliberg Hike • Panorama Planetenweg Trail

This trail meanders along the ridge of Uetliberg, a small mountain on the western edge of Zurich city. It’s a lovely stroll through forests and meadows, with occasional views of Lake Zurich and even the alps in the distance.

It’s nice in all seasons, but particularly in mid October when the trees change colors.

Trail map

This trail starts at the Uetliberg train station. It  walking about 5.5 km the Felsenegg cable car that takes you down to Adliswil, where you can take a train back to Zurich. This trail is best done with public transportation as you cannot park near the trail.

Here is the trail map. The trail is about 5.5km and took us about 2 hrs, walking slow.

The trail is mostly a wide gravel/dirt road, obstacle-free and easy walking. Families can use a stroller with big wheels.

There are restaurants at the beginning and end of the trail, a playground at the start, lots of places to build a fire and picnic, a pretty views all around. You can walk on this trail year round. In winter, the snow is sometimes flattened for walking, but not always.

Planet Theme

Planets appear along the trail, at distances proportional to the actual distance in space. Each meter along the Planet Trail corresponds to one million kilometers. The first six planets are very close together, then they are spread very far apart, as you can see in the map below. Pluto appears three times, showing on its varying distance during its orbit.

How to get there

To reach the trail, you ride the S10 train from Zürich to the Uetliberg train station. The train runs every 20 mins and takes about 27 min to get from Zürich HB to Uetliberg.

The one way trail ends at the Felsenegg cable car station. From there, you can ride the cable car down the mountain (see location of valley station). Then a short walk to the Adliswil train station and ride back to Zürich.

By car:

If you driving into Zürich for this trail, you’ll need to park near one of the S10 stops and also where you can easily get back to from the end of the hike in Adliswil. I’d probably suggest parking at the Sihlcity mall, which has a parking garage where you can park for several hours. The walk over to the Zürich Binz train station where you can catch the S10 train up to Uetliberg. You end up at Adliswil at the end of the hike, where you can catch the train back to Sihlcity. 

Tickets

This hike requires a public transport ticket that covers zones 110, 154, 155 and 150. This covers the train from Zürich to Uetliberg, the cable car from Felsenegg to Adliswil, and the train from Adliswil to Zurich.

All of these rides are free with the Swiss Travel Pass, Zurich Card, ZVV 9 0’Clock Day Pass, SBB Day Pass, and SBB GA.

If you need a ticket from Zurich, best to buy the “Albis Day Pass” (aka Albis-Tageskarte) which covers all the required zones needed to access this trail and return by public transportation. You can purchase this Albis Day Pass at the ticket machines at the train station or tram stops.

If you already have a Zurich city day pass (Zone 110). You can buy a 3 Zone extension ticket for zones 154, 155, 150.

Photo story

The Uetliberg Planet Trail starts with the sun near the Uetliberg train stop, as shown below. There is also a small playground next to the train stop, on the west side of the tracks. You won’t see it when you get off the train because the train is blocking it. Just walk around the front of the train to access the playground. There is also a kiosk if you need some snacks.

Follow the trail up, toward the Uto-Kulm viewpoint. Before you reach the top, the planet trail will split off to your right. But before continuing the Planet trail, I recommend first taking a detour up to the viewpoint, climbing the tower, and enjoying the view of Zurich lake for awhile. Here are pics of the tower you can climb; the view is worth it. See the Uetliberg Viewpoint post for more information about enjoying your time up top.

At the Uto-Kulm viewpoint, you will see yellow trails signs on the southside leading you down a lot of steep stairs. If you take these stairs, you will rejoin the Planetenweg, but you will miss a few of the planets. So instead, continue back the way you came, taking the split (shown on the right below, but it will be on your left as you retrace your steps), following the Planetenweg trail signs. The trail goes below Uto-Kulm on the west side, heading south.

Note: Before I knew what I was doing, I took those stairs at the top with my jogger stroller. Big mistake. There are a lot of stairs, very difficult to manage with a stroller. So if you have a stroller, definitely go back to the Planetenweg to continue your walk. But if you’re just walking and you don’t mind missing some planets, the stairs are a nice way to go. Here are pics of the stairs just so you know.

After you rejoin the Planetenweg, you’ll start seeing planet markers as you walk.

The trail follows the ridge line shown below (pic taken from Uto-Kulm tower).

The trail is mostly a wide dirt road (below left), with a few sections that veer off into the forest on narrower, bumpier trails (below right).

The trail alternates between open areas along farmland and the forest.

Periodically you’ll get long views east to Zurichsee or west over the countryside.

It took us almost 2hrs, with a very slow 7 year old walking at his own leisurely pace. At Felsenegg, we took the cable car (runs every 15mins) into Adliswil, walked about 5 mins to the train station and caught the train back to Zurich.

Here are some trail signs at the Felsenegg station.

A map of the area, showing the variety of trails.

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)
• playground at the Uetliberg train station
• the Uto-Kulm tower is fun to climb – my toddler loved this and wanted to climb multiple times
• the Planet trail markers provide incentive for kids to keep moving

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