Should travellers spend time in Zurich or just move on?
Zurich is not a mistake, but it is often overused as a mountain base. Stay if you want city food, lake time or airport convenience; move on if the trip is really about alpine days.
Answer
Zurich is easy to underrate and easy to over-allocate. It has lake life, good food, galleries, shopping and a polished city rhythm that can be appealing after a long arrival. But for many travellers, Switzerland means mountains, and Zurich is not the place to spend several expensive nights while commuting toward them. The clean approach is to be honest about the role it plays. Use Zurich for arrival, departure, a city day or a brief lake-and-neighbourhood pause. If the itinerary is short and the Alps are the point, continue to Lucerne, the Bernese Oberland or another mountain base rather than trying to make Zurich do every job.