The Alter Botanischer Garten — the Old Botanical Garden of the University of Zurich — sits on the old city defensive ramparts a short walk west of Bahnhofstrasse. The university moved its main botanical collections to the larger New Botanical Garden in Zollikerstrasse in 1976, but kept the small original site open as a public park.
The most striking feature is the domed palm house — a delicate iron-and-glass 1877 structure that has been carefully restored and is now occasionally open for chamber music concerts. The small herb garden, a duck pond and a system of terraced paths up the old bastion fill the rest of the site. Free to enter, generally quiet, and one of the prettiest small parks in central Zurich for half an hour with a coffee.