Does anyone know if the shops in Zurich are open on Street Parade day (Sat 13th August) maybe in the morning, or is it best avoided completely?

Yes, yes and yes (in that order).

They should be open and I'd definitely avoid town center, in particular the areas around Bürkliplatz and Bellvue. Unless you go there for the parade...

The weather in addition seems to get better towards the weekend (wow, that can still happen this year...), which calls for a very crowded street parade.

They will be open as normal, and outside the Parade-Zone offer everything as usual. And there will not be any problems. You only have to care about the heavy traffic resulting from the parade.

The morning will be fine... those that party at night are rarely up before midday

I am planning to take my daughter to Zurich Zoo on Saturday coming from our hotel in Rumlang. We plan to visit Lucerne on Friday and Zurich Zoo on Saturday. I guess reason we go Friday to Lucerne is because we probably need more hours as Saturday must go to Chur. Should I swap the two days??

Only if you manage to walk all way long from Zurich Central to Zoo. There will be a heavy traffic as usual and tram routes will be occupied by parade.

If you get the train from Rümlang to the Hauptbahnhof you can get the tram no 6 from outside the station direct to the Zoo. The tram avoids the area of the Street Parade, and if you go in the morning you should avoid the crowds. However, I think I'll be doing my shopping one evening this week.

Mr. Happy..we tried to take our daughter to the Zoo in Zurich not 2 weeks ago but the mass of people entering was too long..it was before 10am..bad weather and summer holiday seems to call for a early, early start to the Zoo..enjoy..I've heard it's awesome..as with the circus, Knie..worth all the franks we spent!!

Just buy a train ticket from the ticket office, not a machine, and ask for a ticket including the tram fare and the entrance fee to the zoo. When you get there you can walk straight in! Oh, hope you see the baby tigers, they were hiding when we went.

Sounds like we can avoid the crowds if we go early say 8-9 am. Hopefully same tram 6 can rake us back avoiding the bulk of the crowds about 5-6 pm?

Thanks for the tip .. really looking forward to this ( I mean the zoo not the Q )

I would think so, though the zoo doesn't open until 9.00am.

There's always the Viadukt.

The trams up from Central to the Zoo will operate normally. HB may be a bit more crowded than usual but NO problem. Only stay away from the Bellevue/Stadelhofen/Bürkliplatz/Mythenquai area. If you want to be on the lake swimming, go up the lake to Wollishofen/Kilchberg/Rüeschlikon/Thalwil. But the zoo will be no problem