Zurich, Switzerland

Flowing out of Lake Zurich through the Old Town—–and dividing the iconic Fraumünster and Grossmünster churches—–the Limmat River has figured centrally in Zurich life for centuries. Today, restaurants and bathhouses line its banks, and swimmers and boaters enjoy the clear, glacier-fed water that makes Zurich a nature-lover’s city.

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Rising above the Schipfe, one of Zurich’s oldest quarters and long a center for merchants and craftspeople, St. Peter’s Church boasts Europe’s largest church clock face, a Romanesque feature added in 1534.

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A tram rumbles down Bahnhofstrasse, a popular and tony shopping district where private banks, watch stores, boutiques, and chocolatiers line the renowned thoroughfare.

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Kunsthaus, Zurich’s main museum for medieval to contemporary art, includes large collections of work by Alberto Giacometti and Edvard Munch.

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The trendy Zurich West district is home to the restaurant LaSalle, whose refined interiors contrast with the industrial environs.

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Birch trees add an Asian touch to the Greulich Hotel by Romero + Schaefle Architects.

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Precision timekeeping, a central design element at the main station, governs the trains.

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The Heidi Weber House, a museum dedicated to Le Corbusier and built from his own designs after his death, contains an extraordinary collection of the Swiss architect’s sculptures, paintings, furniture, and writings. The prefabricated steel, free-floating roof, and glass framing are strikingly unique structural elements.

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Stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall illuminate the choir at Fraumünster Church.

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Seebad Enge is a popular bathhouse on Lake Zurich.

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Known for its designer bags made from recycled transportation materials, Freitag has a flagship store, housed in a tower of freight containers, in the industrial-chic district of West Zurich.

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Rock Objekte, a design store in operation since 1925, sells vintage furniture.

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Organic design characterizes the tram station at Bellevue, a popular square and site of the opera house. Zurich’s trams are hailed as a model for an economic, environment-friendly urban transport system.

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