1,206-CITY ATLASSOURCE-BACKED CITY REFERENCE
Switzerland
Compare this sourced profile of Zurich, Switzerland before planning. Stable fields identify the place; confirm current transport, access and opening details with official sources.
01What the data says — and does not say
This page separates the checked GeoNames row for Zurich—415,367, Europe/Zurich, and source coordinates—from live travel claims. Those fields identify and compare the record; they do not prove current transport, accessibility, census totals, or a City Atlas Club visit.
02This city's dataset fingerprint
The source row behind Zurich is GeoNames ID 2657896. Its recorded administrative path is Bezirk Zuerich → Zurich → Switzerland, and GeoNames classifies the place as a first-order administrative seat. Zürich occurs once as a primary city label in this atlas sample; the numeric ID remains the durable source key if names change. The city row itself was updated 2026-04-13; that date belongs to the source record, not to every transport or visitor detail in the real destination.
Within the fixed 1,206-record atlas, Zurich ranks 1,201 by recorded population. Inside the 1 selected Switzerland entries it ranks 1; inside the 125 entries in its broad region it ranks 121. Its 415,367 population value is 1.00 times the 415,367 median for the country cohort and 0.63 times the 664,046 regional median. Zurich is rank 1 among the 1 selected Switzerland entries, so a percentage band would overstate this small cohort. Zurich's recorded value stays within one quarter of the country-cohort median used here. These comparisons describe this selected dataset only; they are not current census rankings or official urban-area boundaries.
Zurich's three nearest other atlas coordinates are Stuttgart at 164.16 km with 612,663 recorded people; Milan at 217.142 km with 1,371,498 recorded people; Munich at 241.86 km with 1,505,005 recorded people. The closest-to-farthest distance spread is 77.7 km. Compared with Stuttgart, Zurich's recorded population is 0.68 times as large. Against Zurich, Stuttgart follows Regierungsbezirk Stuttgart → Baden-Wurttemberg → Germany in the source. Its point has higher latitude and higher longitude; it belongs to the selected Germany cohort rather than Switzerland, uses Europe/Berlin instead of Europe/Zurich, and carries the same first-order administrative seat class. Its recorded population is above Zurich's. Against Zurich, Milan follows Citta metropolitana di Milano → Lombardy → Italy in the source. Its point has lower latitude and higher longitude; it belongs to the selected Italy cohort rather than Switzerland, uses Europe/Rome instead of Europe/Zurich, and carries the same first-order administrative seat class. Its recorded population is above Zurich's. Against Zurich, Munich follows Upper Bavaria → Bavaria → Germany in the source. Its point has higher latitude and higher longitude; it belongs to the selected Germany cohort rather than Switzerland, uses Europe/Berlin instead of Europe/Zurich, and carries the same first-order administrative seat class. Its recorded population is above Zurich's. Its nearest-neighbor distance ranks 910 of 1,206 from shortest to longest in the same snapshot. Zurich's nearest-coordinate gap belongs to the wider half of atlas distances. This pattern can reveal whether other catalog references are geographically close, but it cannot establish whether a border crossing is possible or practical, or whether rail, road, fare, or journey-time connections exist. Read as one record signature, GeoNames 2657896, the coordinate pair 47.3667 / 8.5500, country rank 1 of 1, and neighbor GeoNames 2825297 at 164.16 km bind Zurich to a reproducible comparison. That combined key distinguishes the row; it is not a recommendation or evidence of a physical connection.
Zurich's reference point is 47.3667° north and 8.5500° east. The IANA identifier Europe/Zurich is shared by 1 city rows in this catalog, while the GeoNames class PPLA is shared by 429 rows. Zurich's row carries both second- and first-order administrative labels. Zurich's point falls in the middle-latitude coordinate band used by this atlas's row checks. Zurich's time-zone field defines the narrower catalog cohort; its place class is shared more broadly. GeoNames supplies no elevation for Zurich, so the profile preserves that missing value instead of guessing terrain. Together these fields form a reproducible identity check for this page, not a claim about walkability, climate or accessibility.
03Nearby atlas references
Zurich's closest other entries in this atlas are Stuttgart (164.16 km), Milan (217.142 km), Munich (241.86 km).
04Verify before you book
Before visiting Zurich, confirm changing decisions with current first-party sources:
Read how City Atlas Club verifies changing travel facts →05Sources and freshness
GeoNames updated the row 2026-04-13; the atlas checked the dataset 2026-08-04. Available Wikidata fields were verified in the same run.
GeoNames data: CC BY 4.0. Wikidata labels and descriptions: CC0 1.0.