When arranging a solo trip to Zurich I had planned for lazy mornings and leisurely lunches. I didn’t expect to find myself invested in the fate of a weather-forecasting papier-mâché snowman. Then again, I hadn’t anticipated the Sechseläuten spring festival.
Zurich has a perhaps unfair reputation as a boring city. Clean, safe and quiet – certainly not exciting. This seemed perfect for my first solo trip, however, and after a relentlessly busy winter, a bit of peace was exactly what I needed – but serendipity had something else in mind altogether.
Each April, Zurich awakens from hibernation with a bang. As many as 100,000 people gather as an 11-foot tall snowman called the Böögg is paraded for miles through the town, before being mounted atop a pyre by Lake Zurich. He’s set on fire, and the amount of time it takes for the flames to reach his head (packed with firecrackers) indicates how good summer will be across Switzerland. The faster he blows the better.
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“It’s a lot of fun, but people here do take the Böögg seriously,” tour guide Regula tells me. “What he predicts is printed in newspapers across the country. The first time it was ever cancelled was during the pandemic. Customs run deep in Zurich, and this is one of our favourites.”
I can see why. The festival takes place over two days, during which much of the Alt Stadt (old town) is pedestrianised, and celebrations are everywhere. On my way to the Grossmünster cathedral, I stumble upon the Sunday children’s parade, where 2-3,000 youngsters march in costume, their proud parents and smiling visitors lining the 3km route. There are girls in dirndl-like dresses called trachten and boys in red waistcoats. Riding schools come by on decorated horses, while an 800-strong brass band provides a score of Swissguggenmusik.
Children parade at Zurich’s Spring Festival (Photo: Michael Derrer Fuchs/Getty)
The joy in the air is palpable, and utterly delightful. One mother, named Maria, says it’s the highlight of their year. “It’s important to keep things like this going,” she adds. “I love to see her dressed up and excited, just as I was.”
The fun doesn’t stop there. No matter where I go on this “peaceful” solo trip I find myself in the thick of it, from Lindenhof square, where this year’s guest canton of Zug is showing an exhibition, to the riverside street of Limmatquai, where more bands go past. While eating lunch in the 15th-century Zeughauskeller restaurant I find myself engaged in conversation with waiters and fellow diners as we watch the parade through stained glass windows. I never feel alone or unsafe– and nor am I bored.
Revelries ramp up at Zurich’s Spring Festival (Photo: David Biedert/Zurich Tourismus)
I catch my first glimpse of the Böögg in the pastel-hued Münsterhof square. He’s surrounded by locals happy to see an old friend, and perplexed tourists wondering why this snowman is here in April. Sechseläuten goes back to the 16th century, but the Böögg evolved organically in the 1800s when local boys would burn a bogeyman figure at the spring equinox. The two traditions were combined at the end of the 19th century, and here we are.
In the bar of my hotel, The Dolder Grand, the talk is all about the festival, and over a cocktail I get chatting to a Swiss businesswoman who is thrilled to be in town for it. While the Dolder is on the luxurious side, Zurich isn’t as prohibitively expensive as many think, with three-to-four-star options starting from around £140 plus £3.30 tourist tax. Budget flights from airports across the UK make it more accessible too, with Edelweiss launching another from Glasgow in May.
The Böögg meets it fate (Photo: Werner Buechel/Getty)
Day two officially kicks off with a parade of the city’s 26 guilds, but the celebrations begin early as the wine flows in Zurich’s central squares. The associations of craftsmen and merchants date back to the 1300s, and have historically been hugely influential in political and civic life. Around 3,500 take part, alongside 350 horsemen, 50 horse-drawn floats and 30 music ensembles. Plus, of course, the Böögg.
It feels like a true celebration of spring as the sun shines on thousands of baskets of blooms, later used to shower guildspeople as they head to the Sechseläutenplatz – the main square – where the Böögg finally meets his maker. With typical Swiss promptness, he is lit dead on six, crowds cheering as the flames rise. It takes around 26 minutes for his head to blow up, sadly indicating a poor summer ahead, but that doesn’t stop the festivities. Instead, an unofficial tradition kicks off barbecue season, as the embers are used to grill sausages with the sun setting and the party continuing into the night.
Barbecuing sausages in the embers of the Böögg (Photo: Agi Simoes/Zurich Tourismus)
As smoke billows over the lake, I think about why I came here. I may have been seeking peace and quiet, but this Swiss spectacle was what I really needed to come back to life for spring.
How to get there
Zurich can be reached by train from London, with one change in Paris, in about nine hours. Swiss, British Airways, easyJet and Edelweissfly from various UK airports. See skyscanner.net
Where to stay
The five-star Dolder Grand has doubles from 714 CHF (£648); four-star Sorell Hotel Seidenhof from 320 CHF (£300) with breakfast, and the three-star Hotel Helvetia from CHF 160 (£150) with breakfast. See booking.com and hotels.com for more.
More information: myswitzerland.com, zuerich.com