Zurich, Switzerland has held a Gay Pride event, known as the Zurich Pride Festival, since 1994. It was formerly known as Christopher Street Day Zurich, in honor of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising on Christopher Street in the city of New York . The event in this attractive Swiss city takes place in June (the date is June 10 and 11, 2016), but there are quite a few events during the week before. Check out the full schedule of Zurich Pride events here.
A key event of the big weekend is the Zurich Gay Pride Parade (here’s a map of the route), which takes place at 2pm on Saturday June 11 at Helvetiaplatz, passes east across the Sihl River , pass Paradeplatz, and then turn north on Bahnhofstrasse to Werdmühleplatz (a few blocks south of Hauptbahnhof (the main train station)).
The two-day Zurich Pride Festival attracts thousands of participants and takes place on Friday June 10 (from 5 pm to midnight) and Saturday June 11 (from 2 pm to midnight) in Kasernenareal, a large park overgrown in the city center which is an easy walk from the Hauptbahnhof and halfway between the start and end points of the Pride Parade. A number of key artists will be available.
Here you can see an online version of Zurich Pride magazine, which has articles in several languages (including English).
Zurich gay resources
Many of the city’s gay-popular restaurants, hotels and shops have special events and parties during the various days of Zurich Gay Pride. Check local gay newspapers, which are distributed in popular gay bars. And take a look at Patroc.com’s Zurich Gay Travel Guide, which is very helpful and has extensive information on the local gay scene. An excellent additional travel planning resource is the Gay Travel site produced by the Zurich tourist office.
