Greifensee (Lake Greifen)

Greifensee

The Greifensee, maybe the most beautiful place in Switzerland and my home. It is a wonderful lake in the Zurich Oberland, only a few kilometers from Zurich. In terms of popularity, it is naturally submerged compared to Lake Zurich. But that is not a bad thing, because it is less overrun by tourism. That makes the Greifensee a great place to be in summer and winter, because it is simply not so crowded.

Large parts around the lake are a nature reserve, overgrown with a lot of reeds. But there are also various footbridges and viewing platforms for example for bird watching.

In summer the lake warms up to well over 20°, especially in the summer months, and invites you to take a swim. There are free places, such as the Badi Furren in the beautiful village Greifensee. There a also various meadow sections with access to the lake, especially in Niederuster. But there are also real lidos with a small entrance fee, but with snack facilities and partly with further extras like a diving platform or in Uster real swimmer’s pool, if you don’t want to swim in the lake. Also if you want to do stand up paddle, the calm lake is your friend.

Along the Greifensee there are various barbecue areas where you can roast your meat on pre-installed equipment and spend a nice evening with friends.

Do you like to go inline skating or cycling? Then the Greifensee is beautiful too. An asphalt track with a length of 19km leads once around the lake. The track is almost flat, only at Maur it goes up and down a little bit. But in total only 130 vertical meters. The route is signposted as Skate route 72 (https://www.schweizmobil.ch/en/skatingland/routen/route-072.html). If you want to go around the lake by bike, it is the same route as well. On weekends with good weather it can get a bit crowded. Racers should therefore ride in the evening hours, but a leisurely ride is always possible.

You are more the hiker or walker, but you don’t like the many meters of altitude in the mountains? Even then, the Greifensee is perfect. There is also a hiking trail once around the lake. Forest and gravel paths lead around the lake. The distance is a little shorter, because you walk closer to the lake, but also about 17km long. 

The hiking trail has no number, but just follow the innermost paths around the lake, so you can’t miss it. And the nice thing is, the hiking trail is 95% separate from the cycle/ inliner trail, which means you won’t get in each other’s way.

You want to walk a little, but the path is too long? No problem. A very nice possibility is the scheduled boat connection between Niederuster and Maur. You just walk around half the lake and take the boat back. The scheduled boat is part of the public transport system and therefore not more expensive than bus and train and runs regularly all year round. In case of storm and ice restrictions are possible.

Visiting the Greifensee for hiking or bicycle or inline skating tours is possible all year round. 

You don’t like swimming, hiking or cycling? Especially in summer there are also possibilities for boat tours on the lake. https://www.sgg-greifensee.ch/en

You see, there is something for everyone.

And I almost forgot the best – in good weather you have a great mountain view at the lake and beautiful sunsets are almost a daily occurrence, especially in summer.

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