Bellevue Noël on Sechseläutenplatz
The big square beside the Opera House now holds Bellevue Noël, the market that took over the square from the Wienachtsdorf. It brings about 100 stalls of local and eco products and a fondue chalet that seats up to 600. The headline, though, is an Advent wreath big enough to walk on. This guide covers the wreath and the chalet first, then how to fold the lake front and the Niederdorf into the same evening.
The square and the market
Sechseläutenplatz is the wide open square at Bellevue, where the Limmat leaves Lake Zurich, with the Opera House along one side. Bellevue Noël fills it with about 100 stalls, and the selection leans toward local makers and eco products rather than mass-produced ornaments. Several tram lines stop at Bellevue, and on foot it lies about 20–25 minutes from the main station.
The market keeps the city calendar, opening with the others on a Thursday in the second half of November. It closes on 23 December, so it is shut on Christmas Eve. From Monday to Saturday it opens from 11 am to 10 pm, and on Sunday from 11 am to 8 pm. The organizers publish final hours shortly before opening, so check the market's own page; the other markets' times are in our dates and opening hours guide.
The walk-on Advent wreath
The wreath is what people come to see. It measures about 164 feet (50 m) across, and you climb onto a walking platform about 16 feet (5 m) above the square, which lifts you over the crowd for a look across the stalls. A traditional Advent wreath carries four candles, one lit on each Sunday before Christmas, and this one follows the same custom, with its candles lit on the Advent Sundays.
Climbing it costs nothing, but you need a time-slot ticket. Look on the market's own page for how its time slots work, and do it early if you are aiming for an Advent Sunday. Dusk suits it best, after about 4:30 pm, when the square below is lit and the sky still holds a little blue.
The fondue chalet for 600
On a cold night the fondue chalet is the market's living room. It seats up to 600, and its bar keeps pouring until midnight on every night except Sunday, long after the huts outside have closed. Cheese fondue in the chalet is the classic dish of melted cheese with wine and kirsch, eaten with bread cubes on long forks, and with that many seats it is the likeliest place to fit a group around one table. Our fondue and raclette guide compares it with the chalets at the other markets.
Outside, the stalls sell mulled wine and alcohol-free punch for drinking as you walk. We have no reliable stall prices to quote, so budget a few francs a cup and bring a card.
For children
Bellevue Noël's children's area centers on a carousel and a teddy workshop. It also has a letterbox where children post their wish letters. Bellevue is also where the Märlitram sets off, a Christmas tram ride for children aged 4 to 9. Its tickets go on sale online about a week before the markets open and sell fast, so book as soon as they appear. Zurich at Christmas with kids lists the other family stops, from candle dipping to the station's Sunday disco.
What happened to the Wienachtsdorf
For about a decade this square held the Zürcher Wienachtsdorf, a Christmas village with a loyal following. Bellevue Noël has taken its place. Older guides still mention the Wienachtsdorf and its ice rink. If you remember the village from an earlier trip, think of Bellevue Noël as a different market on the same ground rather than a renamed one.
Some tour listings still name the Wienachtsdorf as a stop or an end point. When a listing does, read it as Sechseläutenplatz, the same square with a new market on it.
A food tour that starts here
Bellevueplatz is the meeting point for Secret Food Tours' Zurich walk, from ~$137, which is a year-round food tour rather than a Christmas market one, with an afternoon departure among its versions. Look for the guide with the orange umbrella and arrive 15 minutes early. Over three and a half hours, a group of up to 12 eats its way from Bircher muesli and hot chocolate at a grand café to a Bratwurst-style Zurich sausage with sauerkraut and mustard, then on to a cheese shop for hay schnapps and a Chäschüechli cheese tart. Later stops bring Rösti under a creamy local stew with a glass of Riesling from the region, fondue bites dipped in kirsch, a historic gin from a spirits shop and chocolates from the city's oldest chocolatier. The afternoon tour swaps the muesli and hot chocolate for a champagne truffle or a Zurich cocktail, and on Mondays a proper fondue takes over from both the cheese shop stop and the fondue bites. Reviewers say not to eat beforehand, since the bites add up to a full meal, and guides such as Teresa and Sara get named often.
It scores 4.9 on Viator from 633+ reviews, the cheaper of the two sites. GetYourGuide shows 4.8 from 156+ at about $173. The catch is the walking, which is level but long, and the stops leave little time to buy anything. Tips are not included, and you must be 18 for the alcohol.
From Bircher muesli to the oldest chocolatier
Meet the orange umbrella at Bellevueplatz for three and a half hours of Zurich food, from sausage and Rösti to kirsch-dipped fondue bites, in a group of up to 12, from ~$137. Skip lunch first.
Adding the lake front and the Niederdorf
Bellevue works best as the first or last stop of a longer evening. Before dark, walk a few minutes along the lake front, where the view opens across the water. Then follow the Limmat downstream past the Grossmünster into the Niederdorf, where the Dörfli market packs about 70 huts into the lanes and fire shows light up Zwingliplatz and Hirschenplatz.
The reverse order may suit you better. Start at the market in the main station, work down through the Old Town markets, and end here, with the chalet bar open late on every night but Sunday. Der Nachtwanderer's guided walk also finishes on this square, and our evening walk traces the whole loop.