Uetliberg • Three trails to the top of this Zurich mountain

It took me over a dozen years of living in Zürich before I ever hiked up Uetliberg, the mountain overlooking Zürich. It seemed pointless if I could take a train up there and skip the climb. But after my first time up the mountain, I was hooked and now I hike up there often because it’s an excellent free workout and close to home. I have three trail options below, which are a good starting place.

I offer this information because there are lots of tiny paths leading to Uetliberg, but most are not well maintained and can be dangerous, especially after wet weather. I’ve done a couple of these by mistake (see example below) and they are not worth the effort. The wider trails I show below are much safer options.

On multiple occasions, I’ve seen people scrambling up these non-official trails, emerging through the bushes at the top rather flustered, having to climb over a barrier to reach the viewpoint. Totally unnecessary and risky.

All of my recommended trails are well maintained trails but do include very steep climbs/descents, which can be hard on the knees and sometimes slippery with loose gravel. So wear good shoes and use good judgement. That said, you’ll see all sorts of casual walkers with inappropriate footwear and normal clothing strolling slowly up the mountain.

Uetliberg Kulm • Your goal

All of these trails lead to the Uetliberg Kulm, a viewpoint looking over Zürich. You can easily reach this by train and an easy 600m walk (info about that here). But it’s much more satisfying when you hike up.

There is a restaurant and hotel at the top. There are toilets, but require a CHF 1 coin to enter. There is a tower you can climb. It is currently CHF 5/person to go up, which I think is much too expensive! If you want just north of the viewpoint staying on the ridge, you’ll come to a picnic area with a playground and water fountain.

Option 1: Up & Back – Föhreneggweg to Uetlibergweg

This trail simply goes up and down Uetliberg on parallel trails, the shortest option here. If you live in Zürich, you could probably fit this in while the kids are at school in the morning and still make it back home in time to cook lunch. I’ve shown the trail starting from the Albisgüetli stop (end of the line for Tram 13) at the base of Uetliberg, right near the trailhead that starts in the forest.

There are two parallel trails going up the mountain. I usually go up the trail on the right on the map below and down the other one. The section on the right is labeled “exponiert”, which means it’s exposed with sections not in the forest, so you get views to the lake. The trail on the left is all in the forest with no views. Both trails are very steep, but well maintained.

Here’s one of the viewpoints on the way up Uetliberg.

Some of the stairs on the trail up.

Option 2: Loop – Gratweg to Hohensteinweg

This trail is a loop, hiking up Uetliberg, then north along the ridge (aka Gratwegli) then down the Hohensteinweg, then back along the Panorama trail on the edge of the forest. This is a good option if you want to hike longer but want to loop back your starting point or if you don’t want to leave the city.

The trail down feels less challenging that the way up because there are more switchbacks and more stairs, which make the climb/descent slightly easier.

Option 3: Waldegg to Hohensteinstrasse

This is the easiest option and you can make it even easier by taking the train one direction, so just hiking up or just hiking down.

There is a large parking lot at Birmensdorferstrasse 12, 8142 Uitikon Waldegg where I’ve started the trail shown below. The bus stop Waldegg, Birmensdorferstrasse is also near here, serviced by many bus lines.

If you want to take the train there or back, use the Uitikon Waldegg station, which is a short walk from the parking. There are a few parking spots next to this train station if you prefer.

At about the halfway point there is a very nice playground and picnic area at Hohensteinplatz.

Extra credit: Hike up Uetliberg, then Panorama trail to Felsenegg

This trail climbs up to Uetliberg, then heads south on the Panorama/Planeta trail to Felsenegg, where you can ride the cable car down to Adliswil, which saves you about 1.5km distance and 400m of elevation descent. 

You’ll need at least 4 hours for this one because the hike ends at the Adliswil train station and you’ll need to take the train back to Zürich. I marked the trail starting at the Saalsporthalle train station at Sihlcity (Train S4, Tram 5 & 13), which is convenient because train back from Adliswil stops here. But you could shorten this trail by taking tram 13 to the Albisgütli stop and start there.

If you do ride the Felsenegg cable car, note that the ticket is part of the Adliswil ZVV zone, so the same as buying a ticket from Adliswil train station. So just buy a ticket from here to your final destination. If you are going to Zürich, it costs about CHF 3.20.

Here are a couple views along the Panorama trail. It’s an easy path, with gradual ups and downs. More details for the Panorama/Planet trail here.