A Visit to Switzerland’s Tiny Commercial Canton of Zug

Exploring Zug

When we started the One Year: 26 Canton Project there was one canton that I figured had no real shot at competing with the rest. A canton so small, and so commercialized that, surely, it had little room left to impress. But boy, was I wrong. Zug, Switzerland’s third smallest canton (the smallest if you combine the half cantons), completely defied all my expectations.

The canton’s favorable corporate (and individual) tax laws make it the ideal headquarters for some of the world’s largest companies including Glencore (Switzerland’s largest company by revenue) and so many of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency companies that it has been dubbed ‘the Crypto Valley.’

On top of everything, all the big businesses and corporate jobs mean that the property values are higher in the Canton of Zug than almost anywhere else in Switzerland (which already has some of the highest prices in the world).

For the traveler, none of this really screams ‘Visit Me Right Now!’ but I am here to tell you, you should really consider visiting the Canton of Zug! On our latest trip to the Canton’s namesake city of Zug, the predictable seas of office buildings surrounding the train station (about as exciting as you might expect) quickly gave way to a beautiful lakefront and a fantastic old town that rivals the best of Switzerland.

I can’t wait to share it with you. Thanks for joining!

But First We Need Some Food

Modern office buildings surrounding the Zug train station

Zug is just minutes from Zurich by train but getting there from the Berner Oberland (where we live) involves a bit more doing. The canton lies between Zurich and Lucerne so you can either head straight to Zurich on the direct train from Interlaken then catch the connection straight to Zug or change trains in Bern and Lucerne. With Zurich on our agenda for later in the day, we choose the later.

The long commute (and a low desire to get out of bed early) left us at the Zug train station right around lunch time. Knowing better than to deprive Corinne of food then march straight through the city, I did a bit of research on the train ride in and found the perfect first stop.

The Freiruum, a Markthalle or Food Court, sits right at the heart of Zug’s business core and offers a nice array of global food options all under the single roof of a former Siemens warehouse. While the Freiruum doesn’t quite live up to the Basel Markthalle in terms of its food options, it makes up for it with an attached trampoline park, climbing gym, co-working space, and event venue. A bit of an odd pairing I will admit, but I wouldn’t be opposed to post-climbing drinks if I lived nearby.

Also, it’s just easy to appreciate bold attempts by communities to take something outdated and turn it into something new and exciting without excessive waste. The city of Thun in the Berner Oberland did something similar with Mülleplatz in their urban core and I think these types of redevelopment projects add substantially to city life and livability.

Needless to say, mid-day on Saturday, the sad grey office buildings around the train station (and the Freiruum) were a complete ghost town. The horrified look on Corinne’s face as we headed straight into the thick of it was priceless. But, despite the lack of activity outside, the Freiruum was bustling and absolutely worth the stop. Corinne’s tacos and my ramen were an excellent escape from the cheese and bread of the rural Berner Oberland.

Zug's Animal Mania

After finishing up at the Freiruum, we headed straight to the Zug waterfront. Heavy rains in the preceding week had seen the lake level of Zugersee, or Lake Zug, swell. The walking path around the lake was nearly perfectly aligned with the water level offering a neat infinity pool effect (though, based on the sandbags around cellar doors, I am guessing the locals were less enthusiastic).

The view along the Zug waterfront

Making our way to the old town along the waterfront path, we encountered the first of several animal oddities in Zug. On the grounds of a former 19th century shooting range, the Zug Ornithological Society keeps a log cabin and well-stocked Hirschengarten or deer garden.

Deer hiding towards the back of Zug's Hirschengarten

Now, you may be asking yourself why the local birders would be responsible for a deer garden and, to be honest, it was my first question as well. As far as I can tell, it falls to the typical Swiss rephrase of ‘we agree it doesn’t make sense, it’s just how it is.’

In 1898, the deer were relocated from their home not far along the path from here, to make room for the city’s new ‘pheasantry.’ According to the history of the Zug Ornithological Society (yes, I am that dedicated to telling you all about Zug), the pheasantry was built to house ‘pheasants, ornamental chickens, peacocks, guinea fowl, pigeons and rabbits, with the latter keeping the lawn trimmed.’

Of the eleven cantons that held a Landsgemeinde (the most Swiss of direct democracies which you can read all about in our visit to Appenzell), Zug was one of the first to abolish theirs in 1848, freeing up the public space for other uses. Birds appear to have been all the rage in late 19th century Zug, as the pheasants were merely a new addition to the existing exotic bird aviary constructed in the former Landsgemeindeplatz in 1891.

By 1917, it seems that some of the 19th century animal mania had waned. The city council was no longer interested in funding the bird and deer operation and transferred full responsibility for both to the local ornithological society with little support.

The full story, available on the Zug Ornithological Society website, is actually a mildly entertaining roller coaster, but I will spare you the additional gory detail. I will, however, leave you with one gem from that report.

In 1924, after a contentious debate between the society and the city council about financial responsibility for the animals and maintenance of the facilities on the lake shore, the council finally agreed to partially fund the operation and its renovations. Their sole demand was that "beautiful, rare pheasants and peacocks should also be purchased for the new facility, so that it would not be said later that it was just the city's chicken farm."

After wandering around the various enclosures at Landsgemeindeplatz, I can indeed confirm that the city’s request was met. The aviaries are by no means a chicken farm. There are beautiful native and exotic birds from all over the world and, based on the crowds, people still seem to really enjoy peering in and seeing them.

A selection from the aviaries at Landsgemeindeplatz

A Suburban Disaster Along the Shores of Lake Zug

Katastrophenbucht, or Disaster Bay, along the Zugersee

On the path between the Hirschengarten and the aviaries at Landsgemeindeplatz you wrap around the local ferry terminal and enter an odd concreted-in bite in the lake shore. This small bay about 150 m (500 ft) across and 70 m (225 ft) inland with colorful artwork and a miniature version of Geneva’s Jet d’Eau or water jet, belies one of the worst natural disasters in the history of Switzerland.

In the 1880’s at the bequest of the local railway company, work began on the development of a new lakeshore quay, or promenade, adjacent to the suburbs which had naturally grown just outside of the Zug old town. Cracks reported in 1884 prompted the city council to order a geotechnical investigation. Ultimately, this report pointed to construction and the geologically unstable calcareous materials of the lakeshore as the likely culprits for the cracks.

Nonetheless, construction on the quay continued until July 5th, 1887, when portions of the soil on the site gave way and several houses fell into the lake, killing 7. Unbeknownst to the residents of Zug, however, the worst was yet to come.

Later that evening, just before 7 pm, the entire area of the modern bay collapsed into Lake Zug taking 35 houses and the steamship pier along with it. The landslide, which was ultimately attributed to fill loading for the quay, killed 11 more, left 650 people homeless, and generated a tsunami that tossed a steamship up onto the lake shore.

The aftermath of the submarine landslide that left 650 Zug residents homeless in 1887 (Credit: Wehrli, Bruno - Helvetic Archives)

In the wake of the disaster, the remaining buildings around what would become known as Katastrophenbucht or Disaster Bay, were demolished and a park was built in their place. Interestingly, this was by no means the first time that such a disaster had occurred in Zug. In the 16th century, 9 homes had collapsed into the lake and, in 1435, a staggering three streets worth of the Zug old town had failed killing at least 60 and threating the town’s entire existence.

Today, strict building regulations and regular monitoring remain in place along the shoreline to ensure that such a disaster does not repeat itself.

Into the Zug Old Town

From Landsgemeindeplatz, we headed just around the corner to the adorable street Fischmarkt in the historic Zug old town. In modern German, the word ‘Zug’ translates to train, but, in old German, it literally meant to tug or pull. The city and Canton of Zug along with its Fischmarkt all attest to the rights granted to the town to fish the lake and pull in their nets. To this day, many of the old town streets still lead straight down to ramps into the water.

While the oldest portions of the existing town date to the 13th century, around the time when the Counts of Kyburg, a noble family who ruled most of northern Switzerland, acquired the 11th century Zug castle from the Lenzburg family ample pile dwelling sites and paleolithic finds point to human occupation of this site for several millennia.

In 1273 the Habsburg family purchased Zug and its surroundings from the Kyburg heirs and vastly expanded the town and its defenses nearly tripling its size. After the Habsburgs lost to Schwyz at the Battle of Morgarten in 1315, the city stayed under Habsburg control but by 1351 it was completely surrounded by the Swiss Confederacy. In the following year, Zug was besieged by the Swiss. When calls for help from the Habsburgs went unanswered, Zug surrendered and joined the Confederacy a mere 19 days later.

As with the example of Neuchâtel we presented a couple of weeks ago, just because Zug joined the Confederacy did not mean they were able to fully shrug off their outside associations. Oddly, Schwyz, without the support of the other Cantons, invaded Zug again in 1365 to exert their own power over the town and it wasn’t until 1415 that the city and its surroundings were granted full independence from the house of Habsburg.

Over the course of about an hour, we explored all over both the newer and older portions of the fantastic Zug old town. Its charming and well-preserved medieval architecture, and partially intact town walls and towers rival some of the best of Switzerland.

Fischmarkt in the Zug Old Town

Initially, the town of Zug was built just down the slope from the Zug castle, but the expansion of the town in the 13th century saw the castle entirely surrounded by the town walls.

The castle is made up of a large stubby stone tower capped by a wooden house and an adjacent square stone tower with two layers of circular defensive walls surrounding the structure. Hands down, it has to be one of the oddest-looking castles in all of Switzerland.

Like most of its contemporaries, the needs of the Zug castle changed dramatically over time from defensive bastion to residence and place of political power and these changing needs largely defined how the modern castle took shape. The wooden residential structures were added to the 11th and 12th century stonework in the 14th century and went through several iterations before reaching their modern state around the 18th century.

Views around the older portion of the Zug Old Town

Views of the Zug Castle

An Unfortunately Short Day

Expecting the Canton of Zug to be a bit of a dud, we didn’t plan nearly enough time to properly take in everything this wonderful city has to offer. We had to pass up going inside the castle museum, or really any of the interesting looking museums for that matter, and we didn’t get a chance to take a boat ride on Lake Zug all of which I would like to come back for.

We did swing by the Pulverturm, or Powder Tower on the edge of the town wall (coincidentally home to a colony of Swifts protected by the Zug Ornithological Society), the Capuchin monastery, founded in 1595 after Zug’s decision to remain Catholic in the Reformation, and the fairly tame (by Catholic standards) St. Oswaldskirche, but at each stop, we felt like we really just needed more time.

If you are planning a trip to Zug, make it a full day at a minimum, we certainly won’t make the same mistake twice!

We hope you enjoyed our visit to Zug. If you liked this week’s visit, check out the other articles in our One Year: 26 Cantons where we visit all 26 of Switzerland’s Cantons in 2024. Stay tuned for additional articles on our Swiss travels every week!

Until next time, gute Reise, and feel free to leave a comment on one of our social media platforms!

Views around the newer portion of the Zug Old Town