Blue Zone Zurich 2026: Saturday, map and where it gets tight
29,924 of the 38,841 on-street spaces in the city of Zurich are blue zone. The city has issued 31,492 resident permits, more permits than spaces. The Blue Zone Compass shows, by postcode, where that matters most. Plus the parking disc rules as set out in federal law.
🅿️ Blue zone Zurich: three spaces in four
In Zurich, blue is not the exception but the rule: 29,924 of 38,841 on-street spaces are blue zone, that is 77%. Only the old town is different: in postcode 8001 it is 7%, 84 spaces.
Blue zone means free parking with a time limit and a parking disc. The white spaces (8,917) are paid at the meter. Residents with a permit may park without a time limit in the blue zone of their own postcode district. Everyone else follows the disc or buys a day permit.
ConvivaPlus Zurich Blue Zone Compass
Pick a postcode, a day and your arrival time: how long the disc lasts and how tight parking is in your district.
ConvivaPlus compass: parking disc per SSV and permits per space for every Zurich postcode
Leave by 11:30 (1 h 20 min after arrival)
Set the arrow to 10:30
- 1,743 blue zone spaces (71% of on-street spaces)
- 2,239 resident permits, 1.28 per space (rank 1 of 23, 1 = tightest)
- since 2011: −5.2% blue spaces
Public holidays count like Sundays. Signs on site always take precedence.
Rules: SSV Art. 48a and Annex 3 (as of 1.10.2026). Figures: City of Zurich OGD, 2025. Zurich Blue Zone Compass by ConvivaPlus. Not legal advice: the signs on site and the ordinance text on fedlex.admin.ch are binding.
⏱️ Blue zone hours: 1 hour, up to 3 at lunch, 15 overnight
“One hour” is only half the truth. Arrive at 18:00 and you may stay until 09:00 the next morning, 15 hours. Arrive at 11:30 and you have until 14:30.
That is what federal law provides (Swiss road signs ordinance, Art. 48a, table in Annex 3; there is no official English version, this is a paraphrase): parking time is limited on working days between 08:00 and 19:00. You set the disc’s arrow to the mark after your arrival, that is the next half hour. Then you have one hour. Between 19:00 and 08:00 you need no disc if you leave before 08:00. The setting must not be changed until you leave.
| Arrival | Arrow to | Leave by |
|---|---|---|
| 08:00–08:29 | 08:30 | 09:30 |
| 08:30–08:59 | 09:00 | 10:00 |
| 11:00–11:29 | 11:30 | 12:30 |
| 11:30–13:29 | next mark | 14:30 |
| 13:30–13:59 | 14:00 | 15:00 |
| 17:30–17:59 | 18:00 | 19:00 |
| 18:00–07:59 | next mark | 09:00 |
📅 Blue zone Saturday and Sunday
Saturday is not a day off: federal law speaks of working days, and Saturday is one. Sunday is free. But since 8 April 2026 the disc also applies on Sundays around the Zoo.
On Sundays and public holidays the blue zone only applies where an extra sign expressly says so. Park on Saturday evening from 18:00 and you may stay until Monday 09:00, because Sunday in between is free.
The city extended the time limit on the Zürichberg, signposted on site. These streets are affected, some only in sections. Resident permits remain valid there, on Sundays too.
- Billeterstrasse
- Flobotstrasse
- Pilgerweg
- Rosenbühlstrasse
- Susenbergstrasse
- Zürichbergstrasse
🗺️ Blue zone map: every district is different
One city, two parking worlds: in postcode 8041, 97% of on-street spaces are blue, in postcode 8002 exactly half. Coming from one, you look in vain for a meter in the other.
The table shows every postcode district of the city with a blue zone, sorted by resident permits per space. A resident permit is valid in exactly one of these districts, so the postcode is the right unit. Pick your postcode in the Blue Zone Compass above for the details.
| Postcode | blue spaces | blue share | permits | permits per space | since 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8004 | 1,743 | 71% | 2,239 | 1.28 | −5.2% |
| 8003 | 1,327 | 79% | 1,665 | 1.25 | −14.4% |
| 8008 | 1,490 | 67% | 1,821 | 1.22 | −13.1% |
| 8032 | 2,127 | 86% | 2,572 | 1.21 | −8.1% |
| 8005 | 857 | 60% | 1,032 | 1.20 | −14.6% |
| 8002 | 1,182 | 50% | 1,410 | 1.19 | −10.2% |
| 8006 | 1,761 | 82% | 2,049 | 1.16 | −10.2% |
| 8050 | 1,400 | 74% | 1,611 | 1.15 | −17.8% |
| 8038 | 1,734 | 77% | 1,819 | 1.05 | −10.7% |
| 8037 | 1,345 | 93% | 1,408 | 1.05 | −16.1% |
| 8045 | 671 | 73% | 698 | 1.04 | −10.2% |
| 8048 | 1,700 | 86% | 1,748 | 1.03 | −17.9% |
| 8047 | 1,009 | 96% | 1,024 | 1.01 | −12.0% |
| 8055 | 1,315 | 90% | 1,323 | 1.01 | −12.9% |
| 8041 | 462 | 97% | 440 | 0.95 | −12.5% |
| 8046 | 1,129 | 95% | 1,056 | 0.94 | −10.0% |
| 8051 | 1,472 | 91% | 1,362 | 0.93 | −14.3% |
| 8049 | 1,549 | 96% | 1,430 | 0.92 | −15.8% |
| 8044 | 1,236 | 56% | 1,126 | 0.91 | −7.0% |
| 8057 | 1,902 | 96% | 1,668 | 0.88 | −16.3% |
| 8053 | 869 | 96% | 726 | 0.84 | −11.1% |
| 8052 | 1,408 | 91% | 1,161 | 0.82 | −11.0% |
| 8064 | 152 | 54% | 104 | 0.68 | −3.2% |
| 8001 | 84 | 7% | – | – | −5.6% |
🪪 Resident permit Zurich: more permits than spaces
A resident permit is not a parking space. According to the ConvivaPlus analysis (city resident permits for private persons and companies divided by blue spaces, per postcode): The city has issued 31,492 permits for 29,924 blue spaces. In 14 of 23 districts there are more permits than spaces, the tightest being postcode 8004: 1.28 permits per space.
The city says so itself: buying a resident permit gives no right to a space in the blue zone. The permit costs CHF 300 per calendar year and covers light cars in the blue zone of your own postcode district, with no time limit. Pressure is lowest in postcode 8064 (0.68 permits per space). Compared with the previous year, the city issued 788 fewer permits. How other Swiss cities charge for it: resident parking permit in Switzerland compared.
Park in the blue zone at 18:00 on a working day and you may stay until 09:00 the next working day. On a Saturday evening that means: until Monday 09:00.
⚖️ Permit vote: approved, blocked
Per kilo the electric car pays less, per car not necessarily. Under the new model an electric car weighing 2,000 kg empty would pay CHF 700, a petrol car of 1,200 kg CHF 480. The heavy electric car would pay more.
On 28 September 2025 Zurich’s voters approved a new parking permit ordinance: a fee based on kerb weight and drive (35 centimes per kg for electric cars, 40 centimes for combustion cars including hybrids), only one permit per person and none for anyone who can use a private space (the “Biel model”). In October 2026 the city announced the start for 1 January 2027.
| Electric 2,000 kg × 35 c. | CHF 700 |
| Petrol 1,200 kg × 40 c. | CHF 480 |
| today, any car | CHF 300 |
🎟️ Blue zone day permit: 20 days = a year
Parking for a visitor sounds cheap: CHF 15 a day. But 20 day permits cost as much as a full resident year.
A day permit allows unlimited parking for one calendar day in every blue zone of the city, for cars from elsewhere too. Since April 2026 you no longer need to print it, the city police see it online. The city names one exception: in district 1 (postcode 8001) no blue zone spaces are available.
| Private and companies, 1 day | CHF 15 |
| Private and companies, block of 10 | CHF 150 |
| Trades and service, 1 day | CHF 30 |
| Trades and service, block of 10 | CHF 300 |
| Non-profit institutions, block of 10 | CHF 80 |
📉 Fewer parking spaces: cuts on the outskirts
Since 2011, 4,242 blue zone spaces have gone (−12%). But not in the centre: postcode 8048 lost most (−17.9%), closely followed by 8050 (−17.8%). Postcode 8004 lost only −5.2%.
The figures come from the city’s parking statistics (2011–2025). They show where spaces disappeared, not why. Residents with a permit in a district with a steep drop notice it: the lap around the block gets longer.
🏢 Car park instead of the street
All 136 public car parks in the city together have 20,279 spaces. That is fewer than the 29,924 spaces in the blue zone.
For visits longer than an hour without a day permit, the car park is still the way: in the old town the city itself points to the car parks in the centre. In the Zurich Car Park Calculator you pick a destination and a duration and see the car parks within walking distance with price and free spaces, by the lake for example the Zürichhorn car park. And if you leave the car at home: what changes with the 2026 timetable change is listed there for every canton.
To the Zurich car park calculator →📜 Fees since 1992: from 240 to 300 francs
A resident permit costs 82 cents a day. Before 2011 it was 66 cents, unchanged since 1992.
In November 2011 the city council proposed the first change since 1992: the resident permit from CHF 240 to CHF 300 (roughly the Swiss average of 25 francs a month), the trade permit for up to six vehicles from CHF 600 to CHF 480, and a new permit for a single vehicle at CHF 360. Even then the city stated that the permit does not guarantee a space. The new ordinance would lower the trade permit for up to six plates to CHF 360; it is blocked by appeals.
| Resident permit | CHF 240 (until 2011) | CHF 300 (today) |
| Trades, up to 6 vehicles | CHF 600 (until 2011) | CHF 480, new ordinance CHF 360 |
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❓ Frequently asked questions about Zurich’s blue zone
Hours, weekends, permits and prices, based on federal law and the City of Zurich.
People also ask
Related questions from our magazine
In the Zurich Car Park Calculator: pick a destination and duration, and the car parks within walking distance appear with price and free spaces.
Blue zone rules are federal law and apply everywhere, signs on site take precedence.
Fees vary widely from city to city.
The ConvivaPlus verdict
More on parking in Zurich
Car parks, prices and the rules behind them
Sourced sentence by sentence · checked against the sources · researched with the help of artificial intelligence · How we work ›
Published by Wojtek BernetFounder and publisher · Editorial ›All information without guarantee. Found an error? → support@conviva-plus.ch
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