Bus Zurich
Zurich is the biggest city in Switzerland and even if it is known as a shopping Mecca with the world famous “Bahnhofstrasse” there are also many other things worth visiting Zurich. The city is a popular tourist destination during the whole year. If you wish to visit Zurich in winter to enjoy the beautiful advent decoration in the old town or visit one of the popular summer festivals you can do that easily by bus. There are plenty of bus connections to and from other European countries, as well as connections to other cities in Switzerland.
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City buses in Zurich
The city buses in Zurich are run by the Zürcher Verkehrsbund (ZVV), which runs practically the whole public transport in Zurich, since they run also the train and the tram lines. The system of public transport is very well organized in Zurich and it covers practically every part of the city, but also some of the close communities. The bus lines hold the numbers between 31- 99; the lower numbers cover the city center, and the higher numbers the farer city parts. There are also Trolleybuses, they used to have the numbers between 31 -60, but meanwhile some of the buses took over the number. There is anyway no difference, beside the technical ones between the regular and the trolleybus. The whole bus network in the city of Zurich is divided in four groups: Stadtbusnezt, Quartiernetz, Regionalnetz and Nachtnezt.
- Stadtbusnetz: This is the city bus network, with its 15 bus lines. The buses are usually either big 18m or smaller 12 m buses. During the day and the busier hours, you can find usually the bigger buses. Most of the lines run the whole day, but there are lines like 76, 89, and 94 which can have an irregular schedule, because they are adjusted to the working hours of the people and shops and to the lecture times at the university.
- Quartiernetz: Those nine lines run usually as addition to the city buses and go to some districts which are not too close to the city center and not easily reachable. On these routes you can usually find midi buses or very small buses, because they need to be able to pass very tight streets. Since those buses run as an addition, they are not too frequent, so they leave all 30, 20 or 15 minutes and they don’t drive on weekends.
- Regionalnetz: Those are the buses running to the large urban city zones. Meanwhile you can only find connections to two agglomeration parts – agglomeration east and agglomeration west. Those buses usually have numbers with three digits.
- Nachtnezt: The night buses run on the nights between Friday and Saturday and Saturday and Sunday. Those 14 bus lines cover also some of the neighborhood communities and drive every 30 minutes.
Tickets for the ZVV network
Since the ZVV covers all the public transport in Zurich, within the whole ZVV territory applies the same simple tariff system. You can choose between a regular one way ticket, a multiple ticket, a whole day ticket and group tickets. All the tickets can be bought at one of the 1400 ZVV Ticket automats, which are easily reachable even for people in wheelchairs. You can even pay by credit cart and the directions, in multiple languages are very understandable. The tickets can also be bought online. More information you can find here:
Sightseeing in Zurich
If you wish to see the city of Zurich from another perspective, you can also choose sightseeing tour with the ferry and the aerial cable car. This way you can visit all the important sights like the Old Town, the St. Peters Church and enjoy a beautiful view of the Lake Zurich. More information about that you can find here:
Airport bus Zurich
If you wish to use the public transport from or to the airport in Zurich, this should not be a problem, since there are 16 bus lines connecting the airport with the city. There is also the possibility of using so called special buses from the airport. Those kinds of winter buses depart earlier than the public buses and they can bring you directly to your ski destination. More information about that can be found here:
National buses to and from Zurich
Because of the excellent train network, which works perfectly and is very fast, the national bus transport in Switzerland is not very developed or popular. For longer, intercity travels, people usually pick the train. That doesn’t mean that it is impossible to catch a bus from Zurich to another Swiss city, but usually those are international buses stopping in other Swiss cities.
Private transfer from Zurich to nearby cities
If you want to explore at your own pace, you can always book a private transfer in advance. The driver will be waiting for you and you will arrive at your desired location in no time. You can easily book it online and choose the type of vehicle that suits you best. Additionally, below you will find the most frequent destinations from Zurich and their prices.
Zurich to Zurich Airport from €18 p.p. | Zurich to Basel from €52 p.p. | Zurich to Baden from €22 p.p. |
Zurich to Lucerne from €37 p.p. | Zurich to Andermatt from €67 p.p. | Zurich to Lake Zurich from €22 p.p. |
- NOTE: The prices displayed in the table above are per person (Minibus for up to 8 Passengers) and NOT per vehicle.
International buses to and from Zurich
There are many bus routes to almost all European countries. Swiss companies are operating mostly on routes to Eastern Europe and to Italy e.g (Zurich to Milan or to Turin), France, Austria (Zurich to Vienna) and some German bus carriers who offer routes from Zurich to all bigger cities like Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich in Germany .
There are also many routes to cities in Croatia and Bosnia. The most popular routes between Zurich and Croatian cities are:
- Zurich to: Ljubljana, Zagreb, Osijek, Vukovar, Varazdin, Durdevac, Nova Gradiska, Zupanja, Novi Marof, Slavonski Brod, Rijeka and Split.
- Hum na Sutili, Rijeka, Zagreb, Krapinske Toplice, Crikvenica, Varazdin, Senj, Vukovar and Metkovic to Zurich.
If you are searching for connections between Zurich and cities in Bosnia, the most popular routes are:
- Zurich to: Medjugorje, Capljina, Bugojno, Mostar, Siroki Brijeg, Citluk or Livno.
- Tomislavgrad, Capljina, Mostar, Donji Vakuf, Livno, Neum, Vitina, Bosanska Gradiska or Banja Luka to Zurich.
More information about the routes from and to Zurich from the above mentioned cities can be found on https://getbybus.com/en/bus-from-zurich. If you wish to find out more about the bus service between Zurich and those two countries and also buy your tickets in advance, easy and safe online, you can visit GBB:
Bus station Zurich
The bus station in Zurich (Shilquai) is the central bus stop for all long distance buses going to and departing from Zurich. It is also the biggest bus hub in Switzerland and owned by the city of Zurich. It is situated north of the main train station, within only a few minutes of walking distance. For all important information about the bus station in Zurich, like the exact address, the map position or the GPS coordinates visit:.