A Packed Day Trip to Switzerland’s Northernmost Canton of Schaffhausen

EXPLORING THE FAR NORTH OF SWITZERLAND

On my day trip to Schaffhausen last month, it felt like the Canton was practically screaming its allegiance to Switzerland from the rooftops. While I could easily dismiss this as a byproduct of the area’s particular tourist draw, whenever I visit one of Switzerland’s borderlands, I get a similarly distinct sense. Almost as if they feel they have more to prove. It is something in the information panels, decorations, and tourist shops that is just a bit more cloying.

While most of Switzerland is separated from Germany to the North by the Rhine River, Schaffhausen bucks the trend. The Canton is almost entirely north of the Rhine and nearly surrounded by Switzerland’s formerly less-than-friendly neighbor.

Every younger sibling seems to have a one-way rivalry with their big brother or sister, and I don’t think Switzerland is an exception. German is Switzerland’s most widely spoken official language and the Swiss have a lot in common with their neighbor to the north. I can personally confirm, however, that the Swiss really don’t like it when you call them Germans…

It goes without saying that tensions have been high over the centuries, particularly so in the past 100 years, so I suppose you can hardly blame the Swiss for wanting to dissociate themselves. Perhaps all of this is why Schaffhausen clings so desperately to its Swissness.

That said, I don’t think the Canton really has anything to prove. Playing host to one of Europe’s largest waterfalls, some excellent scenery, incredible history, and a formidable capital city, Schaffhausen easily ranks itself among the best of Switzerland.

My first view of Rheinfall

A view of Rheinfall from the Shaffhausen side of the falls

While no Niagara Falls, Rheinfall is nonetheless an impressive drop of water. The entire flow of Europe’s sixth largest river (by volume) passes over this 23 meter (75 foot) drop in a narrow valley about 150 meters (500 feet) wide. When I was there in March, at the end of winter, the flow of the Rhine was relatively low. In the summer, following peak snowmelt in the upper reaches of the Rhine watershed high in the Swiss Alps, flow over the falls can nearly quadruple.

Of course, visiting at peak river flow comes at a steep price. Rheinfall is Switzerland’s most visited attraction drawing a staggering 1.5 million visitors a year, nearly all of whom arrive during the summer season. To give you a bit of perspective, that is nearly 20% of the population of the entire country of Switzerland in just a few months!

When I was there in March, things were pretty dead. Myself and a small handful of other hardy visitors wandered along the promenade in front of closed tourist shops and restaurants. Even the famous boats which take you up close and to viewing platforms in the middle of the falls were mostly closed.

Early on an overcast Friday morning in March, I packed my bag and hit the rails for a long day from the Berner Oberland to Zurich Main Station and on to the Canton of Schaffhausen. After crossing the Rhine and taking a short jaunt through German territory, the train came back into Switzerland right at my first stop of the day, Neuhausen am Rheinfall.

If you take the train from Zurich to Neuhausen am Rheinfall, stick near a window long enough to catch your first glimpse of Europe’s most powerful waterfall as the train comes into the station. In my mad scramble to collect all my things, I almost missed it but this was, quite possibly, my best view of the entire day.

The train drops you off high on the hill above the falls and, to get a better view from here, you need to get down to the water level. While there are elevators to reduce a bit of the stress on the knees, it was early in the day, and I chose to stretch my legs on the fairly steep walking path.

The two Castles at Rheinfall

Two historic castles, traditionally used to tax passing trade, flank either side of the Rhine below the falls. The smaller Schlösschen Wörth on the Schaffhausen side was built right at water level around the 11th Century. On the other side the more impressive Schloss Laufen towering over the falls on top of the hill, was likely constructed around the 9th Century. Schloss Laufen was captured by Zurich in the 15th Century and has remained a part of that Canton ever since.

Schloss Laufen on the Zurich side of the falls

Today, both castles offer restaurants with nice views. During most of the year, you can take a short ferry ride between them to get views from both sides of the falls in relatively short order. Unfortunately, this ferry was closed when I arrived, and I was forced to huff it back up the hill to a pedestrian walkway which crosses the Rhine over a rail bridge just above the falls.

The walk was worth the effort for the views but, after exploring the outside of Schloss Laufen a bit, I must admit that my patience for falling water was starting to wear a bit thin and I caught a train from the conveniently located station just below Schloss Laufen on to the City of Schaffhausen further up the Rhine.

View of the Rheinfall from the ferry dock on the Zurich side of the falls. The small paid path inf the foreground gets you a bit closer to the falls.

Switzerland’s Bombed out City

Colorfully painted facades and fountains in the Schaffhausen old town center

On April 1st, 1944 strong winds and reduced visibility resulted in the most serious incursion on Swiss neutrality during the Second World War. Allied bombers mistakenly identified Schaffhausen as the German town of Ludwigshafen am Rhein near Manheim and dropped Sixty tons of explosive ordinance over the town in broad daylight killing 40 and injuring many more.

I first read about the bombing in an article about a year before my visit to Schaffhausen which suggested that most of the town had been completely destroyed. Imagining Schaffhausen to be the Swiss equivalent of Dresden, you can imagine my surprise when I stepped off the train into one of Switzerland’s most impressive historical old towns!

Turns out you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. As compared to most bombed cities during the Second World War, Schaffhausen experienced relatively minor damage.

Wonderfully decorated facades and fountains still speak to Schaffhausen’s privileged position on the trade highway that was, and to some extents still is, the Rhine River.

After wandering the streets of the old town a bit and grabbing a sandwich to go, I headed out of the old town and up the hill towards one of the most famous sites in the entire Canton of Schaffhausen after Rheinfall: the Munot.

Intricate designs on a building in Schaffhausen foreshadowing more to come

The Seige of the Munot

One look at this massive fortress towering over the old town and you begin to understand the importance of Schaffhausen’s position on the Rhine just a bit better.

The Munot is made up of an enormous circular structure surrounded by a deep moat with several towers and wing walls extending down the hill towards the city below. I took one of several staircases up the hill, past the vineyards to reach the hulking structure.

The current fortress, built between 1536 and 1546, served to guard the town and replaced an earlier castle on the site. Evidence of fortifications in this location extend back as far as the year 1098 and some suggest that this was even the site of Roman fortifications along the Rhine centuries earlier (not out of the realm of possibilities as we will find out later).

Owing to its immensity, the inside of the Munot feels more like a cave than a castle. On the day I was there, it was pretty quiet with not much going on other than some proposal posters for a new foot bridge to access the main building across its massive moat. Today, the rather unusable moat is filled with a game preserve for fallow deer. An odd, but clever use for an otherwise fairly useless space in the middle of the city.

The main structure of the Munot Fortress towering over Schaffhausen

The Munot was only ever attacked one time in 1799. The year prior, French forces had swept across Switzerland dissolving the Old Swiss Confederacy, of which Schaffhausen was a part. Late in 1798, France was once again embroiled in conflict with Austria and the French took control of the Munot, equipping it with guns.

After loosing the Battle of Stockach in the Second Coalition Wars, the French retreated to Schaffhausen. The pursuing Austrian Army invaded the city and laid siege to French forces in the Munot. After a fierce two-hour battle, the French abandoned their position and retreated across the Rhine, burning Schaffhausen’s Rhine bridge to ensure their escape. Owing to the shelling, the Munot was in shambles and never again served a military role.

Eating my lunch on a bench just outside the Munot, I had a hard time imagining the chaos. The views from here, looking out over the river, vineyards and rooftops of Schaffhausen, are simply lovely.

Fallow deer living in the moat of the Munot next to an interesting decorative gun turret

Views from the Munot looking over the rooftops of Schaffhausen

On the way to the far reaches of Schaffhausen

Content with the views and my wanderings through the former Kloster Allerheiligen and old town of Schaffhausen, I jumped on a small regional train heading further east along the Rhine towards one of Schaffhausen’s furthest outposts, Stein am Rhein.

The borders of most Swiss Cantons are pretty complex, but Schaffhausen may be in a league of its own. The Canton consists of three squiggly edged islands, the largest of which plays host to an island of its own, a small piece of German territory surrounded by Switzerland.

Almost as soon as the train left the city, I found myself in yet another Canton, a thin peninsula of neighboring Thurgau smooshed between Schaffhausen and Germany to the north and Zurich to the south.

While I really had no intention of stopping along the way in the Canton of Thurgau, the views from the train piqued my interest as we passed the small town of Diessenhofen along the Rhein. When we got into the station, I jumped off the train on a whim.

Dissenhofen is a fortified town guarding a small covered bridge across the Rhein. While most Swiss cities tend to be a shell of their former selves, walking around Dissenhofen felt like stepping back in time.

Today, a playground fills the defensive moat, but the walls around the town are, otherwise, almost entirely intact. A small castle and several defensive towers hint at the important and contentious position of this small town.

A playground filling the moat of the town defenses surrounding Dissenhofen

While the defensive structures were what caught my eye from the train, it was the colorful buildings, unique clock towers, and lovely narrow streets which made me swoon for Dissenhofen. Despite its proximity to the tourist hotspots of Rheinfall and Stein am Rhein, I didn’t see a single fellow site see’er here. In my mind, a true hidden gem.

The castle and town defenses that caught my eye from the train passing Dissenhofen

Some views around the town of Dissenhofen in the Canton of Thurgau

The Sites and Sounds of Stein am Rhein

While I could have spent the better part of the afternoon exploring every street and alleyway in Dissenhofen, I was still intent on visiting more of the Canton of Schaffhausen. So, with the next train, I was off to Stein am Rhein.

I understand the tourist appeal of Stein am Rhein. It has a cute old town plastered with beautiful hand painted murals depicting unequivocally Swiss scenes. After my near transcendent visit to Diessenhofen, however, my interest in pushing through (arguably very light) crowds of photo takers was incredibly diminished.

After a half-an hour or so of walking around Stein am Rhein, I was honestly ready to leave and forced myself to stay a bit longer and explore the old town a bit more. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until I was out of the touristy old town and heading back across the Rhine to catch the bus that I finally found some inspiration in Stein am Rhein.

As I was crossing the bridge, I noticed an old looking church overlooking the Rhine from its southern bank and decided to stop in. I tend to gravitate towards churches in Switzerland as they tend to be some of the oldest preserved structures in most towns and are typically open to the public free of charge.

The Kirche Burg was no exception and absolutely fantastic. Excavations at the site suggest that this modest church is the oldest place of Christian worship in the entire Canton of Schaffhausen with evidence extending over 1400 years. The inside of the church hosts magnificent frescos from the early 15th Century and portions of the current building date all the way to the year 799!

On top of all this (both literally and figuratively), the Church was built directly on top of a Roman fort called Tasgetium. This defensive structure, still clearly visible within the cemetery surrounding the Church, was built in 293 AD to defend against Alemanni invaders.

Cool building murals lining the small town center of Stein am Rhein

Unfortunately, Stein am Rhein is less than conveniently located at the far reaches of the Canton of Schaffhausen and my detour to the church and fort had me running to catch the bus. A few hair pin turns and gut renching miles later (you have to admire the Swiss PostAuto, they do things with busses I never thought were possible), I was over the hill in Frauenfeld to catch the train back home.

Schaffhausen was unexpected. Its touristy haunts were rather predictable, but its hidden gems were absolutely worth the trip.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my latest visit to northern Switzerland. If you did, you may enjoy some of the other visits in our One Year: 26 Canton Series.

Until next time, gute Reise and feel free to leave your comments on our social media!

View looking out over Stein am Rhein from the site of Kirche Burg and Fort Tasgetium

Just adjacent to the church and fort, a much more modern bunker and gun battery look out over the Rhine and pay testament to the strategic advantage of this site into the 20th Century.

Interpretive panels on site of the Roman Fort Tasgetium, unfortunately in my haste to catch the bus, I didn't grab a photo of the walls themselves!