A4 Motorway
The highway that carries you from Germany's doorstep, across the Rhine, through vineyard country, and into the Swiss heartland in one unbroken run.
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The A4 traces a south-bound corridor from the German border at Bargen all the way to Brunnen, threading through Zurich's wine country and merging briefly with the A1 between Winterthur and Zurich. The Western Bypass section, fully joined with the A3 since May 2009, reveals how Zurich manages its ring of motorway interchanges.
What to look for
- The suspension bridge at Schaffhausen where the A4 crosses the Rhine near the German border
- Zurich's wine country — the stretch between Schaffhausen and Winterthur where vineyards line the corridor
- The motorway interchange at Limmattal where the A4 and A3 branch toward Zurich's Western Bypass
The road changes character several times — Autostrasse at the German border, full Autobahn alongside the A1 near Winterthur, then Autostrasse again to Brunnen. South of Brunnen the continuation (N4 toward Altdorf) drops to a third-class national highway with the physical role of a main road, not Autostrasse.
A4 Motorway is one of 17 sights worth the detour in Zurich, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Zurich pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Zurich
- LetzigrundOn this track, on 21 June 1960, Armin Hary became the first person in history to run 100 metres in 10.0 seconds.
- Zürich HauptbahnhofSwitzerland's largest station runs 2,915 trains a day — and a river flows through it in a tunnel, with tracks both above and below.
- GrossmünsterThe church where Zwingli launched the Swiss-German Reformation in 1520 — and then his followers stripped out the organ and every statue to prove the point.
- Zürich Opera HouseThe first electrically lit opera house in Europe — built in 16 months, nearly razed by street riots, and winner of Opera Company of the Year at the 2014 International Opera Awards.
- Cabaret VoltaireHugo Ball borrowed a back room on Spiegelgasse in February 1916 and accidentally invented Dada — Lenin was renting a flat fourteen doors up the same street.
- Kunsthaus ZürichTwo buildings on opposite sides of Heimplatz, linked underground, housing one of Switzerland's most important art collections — the 2021 David Chipperfield sandstone block alone added over 80% more floor space.