Wildpark Bruderhaus

Wildpark Bruderhaus is one of several free “wild” animal parks in Zurich canton. These Wildparks are typically set in the woods with several large, natural enclosures housing a small variety of mostly local, wild animals like deer, wolves, wild pigs, horses, etc. We really enjoyed our visit to this park. It wasn’t amazing, just a pleasant outing with lots of small details that made it fun and easy for my toddler. The animals are few, but interesting. There is a nice playground and restaurant that caters to families. 

Getting There

This park in the middle of a forest south of the center of Winterthur. You can get there in three ways.

By car: You can drive directly to the park on Bruderhausstr. and there are a few parking places near the park. However, this road is closed to car traffic on Wed, Sat, Sun and holidays.

By foot: From the Winterthur, Breite bus stop, it is a 30 minute walk through the forest. We parked at the bus stop and walked to the park and found the walk very pleasant.

By shuttle: The Winterthur public transportation runs a special bus line to the park March through October on Wed, Sat and Sun. More info…

I must say it was a little hard to find. If you are driving, Take A1 to Winterthur and take exit 68 toward Stadtzentrum. Turn right on Breitestrasse and go a couple km until you reach Bruderhausstrasse. On your right is a Mini-golf, where I parked and then walked about 30 mins through the woods to Bruderhaus – ok for sturdy strollers with big wheels.

You can drive all the way to Bruderhaus, except Wed afternoons, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. And the bus uses this road. But we didn’t mind walking up. The trail to Bruderhaus was short, lovely and full of fun things for my toddler to discover.

Impressions

You simply wander or follow the 1 km “Windelwanderweg” trail that circles the park through the woods, designed for small kids. You pass by various animal enclosures like these buffalo and “wild” horses. There are 80 varieties of animals on display.

The park has a nice playground with slides, climbing structure, swings, and mini-zip line. It may have changed since our last visit.

Happily, the restaurant was totally set up for kids – cute plastic placemats and cups with animals on it, high chairs, kids menu, etc. If you eat outside, like we did, the kids can run around, look at the animals, and play in the playground, all within sight of your table.

The restaurant was surprisingly good. I was expecting the typical beer garden with only rösti, schintzel, and wurst. But I had a delicious lemongrass soup with shrimp and a wild mushroom salad.

See more animal parks in Switzerland