Candle dipping on the Uetliberg: when everyone else has packed up
Between Christmas and New Year the Swiss candle-dipping season is over – tents down, wax cold. With exactly one exception: on the Uetliberg they keep dipping into the new year. That is what gives this place a special position in our survey. And it is also why you will find it shut on a weekday.
📅 Run, opening hours and what the organiser actually published
Kerzenziehen auf dem Uetliberg (UTO KULM)
confirmedSaturday, 7 November 2026 – Sunday, 3 January 2027 · 58 days
- Opening hours
- SAT 12:00–20:00 · SUN 10:00–18:00 · Public holidays: 24 December 10:00–17:00, 25 December 10:00–17:00, 31 December 10:00–17:00, 1 January 12:00–20:00
- Meeting point
- Hotel UTO KULM, Uetliberg, Räume «Foresto» / «Legno», 8143 Uetliberg
- Food and drink
- Das Kerzenziehen lässt sich als Gruppenanlass mit einem Weihnachtsessen im Hotel kombinieren.
- Organiser
- UTO KULM AG
The only event in the survey that runs past New Year: it starts on 7 November and only ends on 3 January 2027 — at a point when, everywhere else in the survey, no wax pot has been warm for a fortnight.
- Open only at weekends (plus the public holidays listed) — anyone arriving on a weekday finds the door shut.
- The price is CHF 5.50 per 100 grams including the wick.
- Book a 45-minute slot via the online form; a candle typically takes 20 to 30 minutes.
- Groups of 31 or more go through the banqueting team, not the form.
Source: To the organiser's page · checked on 8 September 2026
📅 Visit-day check
Pick the day you are free — the answer comes from the verified ConvivaPlus dataset, not from a run you have to work out in your head.
| Session | Run | Opening hours | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kerzenziehen auf dem Uetliberg (UTO KULM) | Sat 7 Nov – Sun 3 Jan58 days | SAT 12:00–20:00 · SUN 10:00–18:00 · Public holidays: 24 December 10:00–17:00, 25 December 10:00–17:00, 31 December 10:00–17:00, 1 January 12:00–20:00 | confirmed |
Calculated from the ConvivaPlus dataset — every row with its own source above.
Each bar is a documented run. Dark = this session, pale = the nearest ones. Read a single date and you miss that the neighbouring village has already packed up when the wax here is only just warming.
🔎 What sets this candle-dipping session apart
The run is the real story of this place. Of the 25 documented Swiss sessions, the second-longest ends in December – this one carries on, past Christmas, past New Year's Eve, into January. Anyone who missed the candle for their own Christmas table has exactly this one address left in the whole country. And anyone who deliberately wants to lift candle dipping out of the Advent crush will find the only opportunity here.
That same special position has a flip side people trip over every year: the long run is not continuous operation. It opens at the weekend — plus the public holidays the organiser lists individually. A Tuesday in early December looks like peak season on a calendar and is nevertheless closed. That is the most expensive mistake here, because it costs a mountain-railway ticket.
The third point is about format: you do not simply step up to a wax pot here, you book a window. 45 minutes per slot, reserved online, in hotel rooms rather than under canvas. The organiser reckons on 20 to 30 minutes for a candle – so the window is enough, but it is a window. Anyone who wants to work for hours on a thick candle belongs on Hechtplatz instead.
When would you go up the Uetliberg to dip candles?
One click – anonymous, no sign-up required.
🎯 How to plan the visit without arriving at a cold wax pot
The Uetliberg is a good twenty minutes from Zurich main station on the S10, then a short walk. It is precisely that journey that makes the four points below expensive if you overlook them.
- 1Weekend, not runThe run stretches over weeks, but the doors only open on Saturdays and Sundays plus the announced holidays. Going up midweek means standing in front of locked rooms with a train ticket in your pocket.
- 2Book the slot in advanceYou reserve a 45-minute window through the hotel's online form. Turning up without a booking leaves it to chance – on an Advent Sunday on an excursion mountain, that is not a good plan.
- 3The price is the highest in the survey – and the wick is includedCHF 5.50 per 100 grams, wick included. That is the top of our range, which starts at CHF 3.–. Comparing candle prices alone gets the Uetliberg wrong: you are also paying for a destination, not a neighbourhood workshop.
- 4Large groups do not go through the formFrom 31 people the hotel's banquet team takes over. That is not a detail: it is the difference between a refusal and a company outing with a Christmas dinner – a combination the organiser explicitly offers.
🗺️ Where this session sits in the season
In the canton of Zurich our dataset records 24 sessions. The Uetliberg is the last to close – and one of the first to open. Between the end of the neighbourhood sessions in the city of Zurich and 3 January there is a window in which it stands alone nationwide.
Nationally the densest day of the season is 29 November 2026, with 17 sessions running at once. The Uetliberg is one of them that day – and two weeks later the only one left. The season spans 2 November 2026 to 3 January 2027.
Candle dipping nearby
Frequently asked questions about this session
Answers from the verified dataset – no date carried over from last year.
People also ask
Related questions from our magazine
The Zürcher Kerzenziehen on Hechtplatz: daily, Sunday to Thursday until 8pm, Fridays and Saturdays until 9pm.
Zürcher Kerzenziehen on Hechtplatz →Among the city of Zurich offerings the lowest published price is CHF 3.20 per 100 grams for coloured candles; nationally the range starts at CHF 3.–.
Every candle-dipping spot in the city of Zurich →The earliest documented session in the survey starts on 2 November 2026 – before a single Christmas market has been built.
To the ConvivaPlus-Kerzenzieh-Kalender →The ConvivaPlus verdict
As a day out this is the strongest candle-dipping spot in the canton: mountain railway, view, hotel room, dinner – and a window in which nobody else in the country is dipping at all. Anyone who deliberately wants candle dipping out of the Advent rush can only do it here.
As spontaneous family entertainment it is the weakest: closed midweek, booked rather than open, and at the top of the price range. Anyone wanting to dip wax with two children on a Wednesday afternoon does better at a Zurich community centre. This place sells an excursion, not a workshop.
Freshness note: Holiday hours and slot availability change at short notice. We read them on 8 September 2026 directly from the hotel – check again before heading up, a locked door costs a train journey here. The basis is the ConvivaPlus-Kerzenzieh-Kalender 2026: every entry was read individually at the organiser for the ConvivaPlus survey — this ConvivaPlus verdikt rests on nothing else.
Check the latest: ConvivaPlus candle-dipping dataset 2026 – Zürich · Uetliberg →
- ◆The run does not lie, but it misleads: 58 calendar days sound like continuous operation. It opens at weekends and on four public holidays – the rest are calendar days with nothing happening.
- ◆The window after Christmas: between 27 December and 3 January this is the only place in our survey where candles are still being dipped anywhere in Switzerland.
- ◆The wick is in the price: CHF 5.50 per 100 grams sounds steep against CHF 3.20 in a neighbourhood centre – except several cheaper places charge for the wick separately, in places CHF 1.– each.
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On the Uetliberg wax is still being dipped when no pot has been warm anywhere else in Switzerland for a fortnight: the session only ends on 3 January 2027.
Discussion
4 voices from the community
Mir sind letschts Jahr am ne Zischtig ufe gfahre, wil mir dänkt händ, im Dezember heigs sicher offe. Isch nöd. Nur Wuchenend. D Bahn ufe und wieder abe für nüt – das vergisst mer nöd.
Deshalb steht der Satz bei uns direkt beim Termin und nicht im Kleingedruckten: Samstag und Sonntag, plus die vier ausgeschriebenen Feiertage. Unter der Woche ist geschlossen, obwohl der Zeitraum wochenlang durchläuft.
Für mich ist es der einzige Ort, wo Kerzenziehen ein richtiger Ausflug ist und nicht nur eine Beschäftigung. Bahn hoch, Aussicht, dann eine Stunde tauchen, dann Znacht. Dass es teurer ist als im GZ, finde ich fair – man bezahlt ja auch den Berg mit.
Guter Zeitpunkt-Tipp: zwischen Weihnachten und Neujahr. Alle anderen Kerzenzieh-Orte sind da längst zu, hier läuft es weiter. Wir machen das inzwischen jedes Jahr am 2. Januar, wenn die Weihnachtsdeko schon niemanden mehr interessiert.
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🕯️ Candle dipping · 8 September 2026