3 Best Sights in Kreis 2, Zürich

Dancing Indian Shivas, contemplative Tibetan thangkas, late 18th-century literary paintings from China, and royal Benin bronzes from Nigeria—these are just a few of the treasures in the prodigious gathering of non-European art on view. This is the only museum of its kind in Switzerland, with the main focus on Asia, Africa, and ancient America. The main collection is on view in the huge underground Smaragd building. The Villa Wesendonck, the famous neoclassical jewel that was once a fabled home to Richard Wagner (it was for the lady of the house that he wrote his Wesendonck Songs), houses objects from India, the pre-Columbian Americas, Australia, and the Pacific Islands; there's more Indian, Islamic, and Asian art in an adjacent museum, the Park-Villa Rieter.

The original FIFA World Cup trophy is the showpiece at this three-story temple to soccer, but the collection also includes more than 1,000 items of memorabilia, as well as a wall of national team shirts, a timeline of the history of the sport, and a 180-degree cinema screen depicting footage from World Cup finals. Even non–soccer fans will enjoy the pinball machine where you can test your ball skills.

Said to be Switzerland’s largest chocolate museum, learn about the history and culture of Swiss chocolate at this interactive space. There's a 500 square meter (5,382 square foot) chocolate shop and a 9.3 meter (30 foot) tall chocolate fountain—the giant, three-ton sculpture has 1,500 liters of real chocolate flowing through it—that's a great selfie spot. A ticket, best to buy online ahead of time, is required to visit the museum, but the chocolate fountain, the Lindt shop, and the café can be visited without a ticket. Self-guided audio tours are available in a number of languages, including English, but the real gems are the guided tours and the classes.