Walk along the Limmat and Aare Rivers from Turgi to Böttstein

Sunday June 7, 2026 -- Due to a family engagement on Saturday, we didn't do a hike that day, and on Sunday, did not want to start too early. So we decided for a change to do a riverside walk, and preferably at a location where we didn't have to travel too far.

We chose to start in the town of Turgi near Brugg in Canton Aargau, at the location called the "Wasserschloss" where three of Switzerland's major rivers (Reuss, Limmat and Aare) join and continue from there as the Aare River to join the Rhine River at Koblenz about 20 kilometers further north.

After a 90-minute trip from home, we started in Turgi at noon, and walked 10 kilometers down-river, first along the Limmat, then the Aare, on nice narrow paths through pastures and forests, past a rice plantation (experimental) and the large Paul Scherer Research Institut, several power plants and an interesting lock on the river where a kayak had just passed through. Best of all was a pond with the loudest croaking frogs--I could have stayed there all day. 

Worst of all was our plan to end at a castle we saw on the map, accessed (supposedly) by some old paths from the riverside, which turned out to be absolutely overgrown with blackberries.... we chose to scramble up the bank instead of making a large detour, which was dangerous and we got all scratched up and didn't have time to look at the castle anyway, or we would have missed the hourly bus... 

As the train from Zurich heads toward Brugg, we follow the Limmat River quite closely. The Limmat is the river which flows out of Lake Zurich and through the city of Zurich, to join the Aare River in Turgi, where we are headed. 

Start of our walk at the train station in Turgi, at noon. I am thrilled that the linden trees are now starting to blossom and the smell is lovely!

Along the way till the point where the Limmat enters the Aare River (as well as along the Reuss through Brugg) are these placards with information about the development of industry along these rivers, a very important transportation node in the 19th Century. This trail (in blue) has the official name of "Industrial-Cultural Trail". 

A point of interest for us is always these wooden covered bridges. This bridge over the Limmat River was built in 1921 using remaining beams from the original private bridge which was built here in 1845, replacing a ferry that crossed the river at the time. A total restoration was done in 2014 and 2015.  

Urs walking over the wooden bridge to the right shore (north side here) of the Limmat River. 

Next we came to the railway bridge which connects Turgi to Koblenz (where the Aare River enters the Rhine). This and the other railway bridge over the Reuss River (toward Brugg), where it enters the Aare River, are two of the oldest railway bridges in Switzerland, built in 1856 and 1859 of natural stone. Despite increases in speed and weight of trains since then, the bridges still hold strong. (We crossed under the Turgi-Brugg bridge on a hike in May 2021; in particular here is a photo of the other railway bridge --> HERE). 

In a bend in the river (now heading north) we look over to the other side which is a type of peninsula at the north end of which the Limmat joins the Aare River, and almost directly across on the other side is where the Reuss enters the Aare River. What's interesting to us is that we walked all around this peninsula on the May 2021 outing, and we actually walked between those houses across the way. 

Back in May 2021, we walked along the trail on the other side of the river! Here is a photo of what this spillway looks like from that side --> HERE. 

VIDEO:

I love the sound of the rushing water!

(Spillway on the Limmat River near where it enters the Aare River). 

Now the trail follows a bend in the river heading north, and we have some really nice paths. 

This was a bit of a surprise: There is an experimental rice plantation here, where I caught sight of a beautiful blue heron at the far end. I wonder if it's really a suitable climate for this crop, as it needs a lot of water. There was a large pipe pumping a lot of water into the pond. 

Passing one of many power plants in this region. It is directly across from this site where the Limmat enters the Aare River (Limmatspitz). Unfortunately the access to the river was via a detour on a paved road, which we didn't want to follow. But we had walked all the way to the Limmatspitz on our May 2021 hike. 

Far up ahead on the other side of the river on a hill is a village called Vorderrein with this interesting church steeple showing above the trees. 

Lovely fields of grain, with a splash of colour. 

We had just crossed this field heading back to the riverside... 

Back at the river now... this is now the Aare River which we are now following. 

Nice forest trails. 

Along the way is a fortress ruins called "Burgruine Freudenau". The fortress was built in 1240 by Graf Rudolf IVth of Habsburg, and together with a bridge over the river here, it became a very important transportation node at the time. (An unusual location for a fortress). The heydey lasted only a few decades. The fortress was destroyed in 1410 by a troup from Zurich. Now it is a lovely picnic spot for families. We got here at 13:10, but continued on. 

We finally found a bench for our picnic lunch at 13:20, 10 minutes past the ruins. (We could have stopped at the site of the Freudenau ruins as there were many picnic tables there, but the family were kicking a soccer-ball onto the stone walls, and I don't like the noise). 

It was hard to get a nice shot of the lovely trees on the other side of the river!

At this bridge over the Aare River is the site of the Paul Scherer Research Institute on both sides of the river. This institute is the largest research institute for natural and engineering sciences in Switzerland. It employs 2500 people and welcomes about 3000 visiting scientists from all around the world. 

Further north past the PSI site, we came to the best part of the hike, reeds, and later a small pond with loads of frogs!

In this pond there was a huge noise of croaking frogs! We spent a long time here looking for them. 

Look at the cheeks on that frog!

VIDEO:

What a loud noise of frogs croaking in this pond!

VIDEO 2:

I didn't catch the frogs on this video, but the noise is much louder!

On a small rise we could see up the river. 

Here at the Axpo Nuclear Power plant (KKW Beznau) which is located on an island, we had to cross to the left side of the Aare River, by first crossing this interesting bridge on the right, and then over a dam on the left. 

Interesting entrance to the bridge!

Crossing the bridge from the right bank of the Aare River to the island where the KKW Beznau Nuclear Power Plant is located 

Across the river at Böttstein we can see the castle and castle church which we want to visit before taking the bus back from there. It looks easy enough to get up to from the riverside path. 

I love the blue herons, especially in flight. 

And now we cross the dam to the left side of the river, from where we continue northwards. 

At the far end of the dam there were several people staring down past the walls. We discovered that there was a lock here, where boats could bypass the dam! A small kayak with two people had just passed through the lock, and we missed it by a few minutes. This would have been very interesting to watch. 

Right about here on the left would have been the official trail up to the main road at the level of the castle. But we would then have had to do a very long stretch on the main road. Our map showed three different trails up from this lakeside path, and we wanted to head up any of the three. 

This was the third path according to our map, along a small stream, as the other two were not visible at all. We have often tried out these old trails, and even with some overgrowth, we usually get through. But this time the trail just stopped at a point where there was a sign that said "trail closed" and the sign was overgrown with blackberries. Returning to the river meant a longer detour, so we clambered up a 20-meter bank overgrown with blackberries, and made it to the bus in time, but all scratched up and bleeding. 

This is the map on which we saw the three trails up to the castle. Only the yellow-marked trails can be trusted, but we have often walked the old trails marked as dotted lines. This time though, heading north, the first two trails were non-existent, and on the third trail we made it about half-way up along the stream, but then clambered up through blacberries to the trail at the blue arrow, and returned to the castle from there. It probably would have taken less time to do the detour further north. 

We got to the Böttstein castle bus stop at 15:53. The bus was to arrive at 15:57, but the chapel was close by, so I sprinted over there to have a look. (We had hoped the castle had a restaurant, then we would have skipped the hourly bus and stopped here for refreshments). In my hurry to get to the chapel, I forgot to look into the castle courtyard! 

The inside of the little Böttstein Castle Church was worth seeing. 

Other side of the lovely inside of the castle church. The chapel was built in 1617 and displays both Late Renaissance and Early Baroque design. 

Heading back to the bus stop at the main road where Urs was waiting for me. I made it back in "plenty" of time, but a bit sweaty because I ran!

A look back at the Böttstein Chapel. , which is very popular for weddings. The castle, also built 1615-1617, now functions as a country inn (or so it said on one Internet site). According to the community website, the castle grounds (and castle? not sure) are open to visit during the week. 

These are the hikes we have done in the area around Brugg and Turgi. We did a really nice walk around the entire Wasserschloss area (i.e. where the three rivers Aare, Limmat and Reuss meet up) back in May 2021.

On the way back home, we took the train on the Lenzburg-Rotkreuz line, which follows the Reuss River. 

Location of Brugg/Turgi within Switzerland. 

Map of our hike from Turgi to Böttstein along the Limmat and Aare Rivers. We started in Turgi at noon, and caught the 15:57 bus in Böttstein. (As the bus there runs only once an hour, we didn't want to wait for the next one, but as usual, were very tight with our arrival there).  

Aargauerweg from Wittnau to Frick in Northwestern Switzerland

Saturday April 29. 2023 -- Today we found one of the few places in Switzerland where the sun was shining, namely in the central North (Canton Aargau/Argovia), but we didn't expect it to get so hot! (With all this cold weather, we are not yet prepared for heat). Plus with the large amounts of rain we had received the day before, it was also very humid.

We decided to do a section of Trail no.42: "Aargauerweg" (Aargau Trail), of which we have already done a few sections. This is actually Stage 1 of the trail, between Frick and Wittnau in the Frick Valley, i.e. Fricktal (we started in Wittnau). One of the special features of this trail is that it crosses one of the prettiest cherry-growing areas in Switzerland, and is particularly attractive in the spring when the trees are in full bloom. Even though we knew we were too late for the full cherry bloom, there were still some blossoming trees here and there (apples are only just starting).

To my disappointment, we missed the important left turn onto Trail no.42 at the start of our hike, and before we noticed we weren't on the right track, it was too late to turn back. We did join the trail again on the ridge of the Tiersteinberg hill, but missed several historical sites along the way.

Additionally, due to the massive rains, the narrow trail across the crest wasn't really pleasant to walk on, so sometimes even paved roads are favourable. Although most of the hike was in forested areas, we did get some nice views of the pastoral landscapes (in particular the yellow canola fields), and the ruins of Alt-Tierstein castle (built on a landslide boulder and inhabited from 11th to 15th Centuries) were a highlight. 

On the train trip from Zug to Aarau we pass through the Freiamt region of Canton Aargau, which is also a pretty area with lots of blossoming trees. This is near Mühlau along the Reuss River

From Aarau we took a bus over the Benkerjoch Pass heading north, and on this stretch there were lots of blossoming trees!

Our hike started in Wittnau at 10:45, and we were supposed to walk over the "Horn" along trail no.42, but we didn't realize we had gone the wrong way until we were almost at the Homberg crest! We then joined the themed trail at the top of Tiersteinberg. (The trail was muddy there anyway, so we didn't miss much)

It was this house which distracted me. Just before we reached here, we should have gone left. Instead, we went right....

The older houses in this region typically have these attractive arched doorways (after the entrance, the residence would be accessed on one side, and the barns on the other). 

Heading up away from Wittnau, we didn't realize till later that we should have been going up in the other direction, where those blossoming trees are. 

The cherry trees are just finished flowering, and the heavy rains from the day before probably washed most of the remaining petals away. 

It was not on the plan, but this way we visited the site of the Old Homberg castle. A nearby panel informed us that this was the residence of the Counts of Old Homberg since the 11th Century. This family was related to the Counts of Old Tierstein, whose castle ruins we also passed later on the hike. 

We didn't see much of any ruins up here. This is now a picnic area. In the late 1800's, locals excavated the ruins and discovered mostly tin tableware which was left behind after the catastrophic earthquake of 1356, which destroyed the castle. 

This is the view to the south which the Counts of Old Homberg would have enjoyed! This region is part of what is called the "Tafeljura" or "Table Jura" and the long stretch in the back separates this region from the city of Aarau.

The first wild spring peas add color to the forest floor

Continuing on along wide forest roads, we found this picnic table where we had lunch. These painted rocks were on the table; it seems to be a fad at the moment, to leave painted rocks lying around. 

At 12:45 we made it to the crest of the Tiersteinberg, joining Trail no.42. This also happens to be the "Frick Valley High Trail" (Fricktaler Höhenweg), which we followed into the city of Frick. 

Most of the trail along the top of Mt. Tierstein (Tiersteinberg) was narrow like this, but in most places much muddier

A small window where we got a view over the landscape to the north

This is the photo which Urs took. The village below is called Schupfart, and you can just see a bit of the Rhine River, which forms the border with Germany here. The darker mountains in the back are in Germany. 

Here we've arrived at the Old Tierstein Ruins. 

The fortress was built on a large boulder from a landslide. 

A quick walk through the site of the fortress ruins 

Heading up to the top section of the fortress ruins

Panorama view to the east

We didn't spend long here as there was incessant chattering by two women who'd passed us a couple of times along the way and established themselves here. I prefer some peace and quiet on my walks. 

Continuing on our descent into the city of Frick

Just a few of the cherry trees in this region, whose blossoms are basically finished. 

A look past the cherry trees to the city of Frick You have to picture these trees all in white. 

A photo with the last cherry blossoms

The final cherry blossoms in the area around Frick

The clouds looked really awesome

Final stretch into the city, then a long straight piece to the train station. We caught the 15:03 train back home, getting to the train station once again with only five minutes to spare.

There is an official loop trail here called the "Frick Valley Cherry Trail", which is overrun by visitors on weekends when the trees are in full bloom. At least there weren't too many people this day!

Location of the Fricktal (Frick Valley) in northeastern Switzerland

Heading back to Brugg and Baden by train, we pass the church building in Frick. This is an area that I don't know at all, and have only done one hike nearby along the Rhine River.

The landscape currently displays wonderful yellow fields of canola. (In German it is called Raps, i.e. Rapeseed, but that name is not used much in English).

On the Limmat River we saw a boat that looked like it was sinking...