Zürich-Zugerland-Panoramaweg

Nowhere are nature and culture closer together than in the urban belts – and it’s no different between Zurich and Zug. After a tram ride to Zurich’s Triemli, the trail runs over the shoulder of a mountain to the Üetliberg. The viewing tower on top of Zurich’s local mountain offers a magnificent view over the city and lake. In the right weather, you can see the Glarus, Graubünden and Bernese Alps in the distance – and even a few mountain ranges in Germany (Black Forest) and France (Vosges).

The first section on the Albis ridge is a pleasure; you’ll meet a lot of joggers and ramblers on the wide gravel track. After the Albis Pass, the landscape becomes a little wilder. The trail runs via Bürglen, the highest point in the mountain chain, to the Albishorn. Here, another panoramic terrace offers an impressive view over Lake Zurich to the east. In between lies the Sihlwald, a primeval reserve and the largest mixed deciduous forest of the Swiss Plateau.

The trail winds its way downhill towards Ebertswil and across the cantonal boundary, where a religious war might have taken place in 1529. At the time, troops from Zurich marched on the Catholic towns of Central Switzerland. Thanks to neutral intervention from Glarus, however, the First War of Kappel ended not in armed violence but with a peaceful meal of reconciliation, known as the «milk soup of Kappel». The milk soup stone south-west of Ebertswil commemorates these events. Crossing the Deinikerwald forest, the trail passes the Littibach stream before reaching the Lorze, the longest river in the canton of Zug. The secluded path follows the course of the old river via Baar to Lake Zug.