You come in over woods and low hills north of the city. Then the ground turns into a runway. If the air is clear, you can see the Alps a long way off. Zurich Airport (ZRH) sits about ten kilometres north of central Zurich. A train station is under the terminal. Trains run often. Zurich Hauptbahnhof is ten to fifteen minutes away. From the main station you can walk to the old town and the Limmat.

A lot of big European airports dump you into a rental queue or leave you standing at a bus desk. Here you follow the rail signs down one level and you are on the Swiss network.

Terminal
The buildings are useful more than they are handsome. Glass, high ceilings, signs you can actually follow. Shops and restaurants are off the main walkways. Frankfurt and Charles de Gaulle take longer to learn. Bags usually arrive without much drama. If you are changing planes, there is often time for coffee. It stays busy. It stays understandable because the halls are wide enough and the desks are staffed.

Movement
Passport control moves on a normal day. On a bad day it does not. New border checks have left people standing far longer than they planned, so leave extra time when the morning banks arrive. Security on the way out is usually all right. There are seats at the gates. Boarding is called in sequence.

Swiss runs a hub here. Long-haul flights carry a lot of people who are only passing through. Short hops around Europe carry a lot of people who live here or are visiting. Gates A and B or D are in the main complex and you walk. Gates E are out on the field. The Skymetro, a short underground train, takes you there. Count that ride if E is on your ticket.

Forty-five minutes can work when both flights are in the same part of the building and you already cleared the border. If you still have to do passport control and then go to E, that number is fiction. Take more time.

Viewpoint
Leaving, you often climb north over housing, then forest, then higher country. Arriving, you are usually over land. The lake belongs to the city. You might see it from the train later. You will not see it on every approach.

Magelline Perspective
The place works because the station is downstairs, the signs are readable, and the connections were thought about. None of that makes Zurich the only sensible airport in Switzerland.

Geneva is closer to its city. Four kilometres. Six or seven minutes to Cornavin. The station is under the terminal there too. Basel will feed you and sell you duty-free and put you in a lounge with a view, then send you to town on a bus. Zurich’s trains matter because this is where the long-haul bank lives, and because the building is large enough that a bad layout would hurt.

Fly here for a long-haul arrival or for trains toward the east and the middle of the country. Fly Geneva if you are staying in Geneva or going west toward France. Fly Basel if the ticket price is why you came and you are staying near the three borders.

An hour and a half is a sane target for a simple Schengen departure. Add time for gate E. After midnight, there are fewer trains. Look up the last one if you land late.

You can get through Zurich and still have a day left. That is the point of the place. It will not choose your region of Switzerland for you.