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).  

A Leisurely Hike through the Aargau Wetlands in Brugg at the Wasserschloss

Monday May 3, 2021 -- As an exception, we did a Monday afternoon hike, meeting after work in the city of Brugg (founded by the Habsburgs in approx. 12th Century) in the relatively northern part of Switzerland. This city has the distinction of being located on a very special confluence of three major rivers: The Aare River (which has its source near the Grimsel Pass in Kanton Bern and flows North through Lakes Brienz and Thun and through Bern, and is the longest Swiss river which starts and ends in Switzerland); the Reuss River (which has two sources near the Gotthard and Furka Passes in Kanton Uri, and which flows North through Lake Lucerne); and the Limmat River (which originates at the exit of Lake Zurich, but has its source in the Glarus Alps). 

First the Reuss flows into the Aare, then shortly afterwards the Limmat joins the two, and all three continue together as the Aare for 15 km or so to join the Rhine River where it forms the border with Germany. Together, these three rivers drain 40% of all the water in Switzerland.

In the middle of this triple-confluence of rivers is a conservation wetland covering 172 hectares, with an 11-km themed trail which crosses at least eight bridges, including the oldest still-in-operation railway bridge on the Swiss National Railway network (1855). The region is replete with smaller canals, frog ponds, and a great variety of birds. 

Unfortunately for us, the first part of the round tour (which we started at 14:30) was marred by the noise of the Swiss Military practicing the erection of temporary bridges on the Aare River (in keeping with the theme of our hike you could say), but afterwards we had some nice small trails through forests and brushlands. The northernmost section where the Limmat joins the Aare (called Limmatspitz) was particularly pretty.

We were expecting that this would be a 2.5-hour walk, but it was closer to three hours, and with lots of stops to admire the railway bridge, the frogs, the birds, and a quick visit into a model railway store, we ended up boarding the train back in Brugg only at 7 p.m.! Good thing it was only a 1-hour trip back home...

Information panel at the entrance to the wetlands park. There are different options for discovering the region (i.e. also an industrial-themed trail), but we went with the regular "Brückenwanderung", or "Bridge Trail"

Crossing the first bridge over the Aare River, we observed our military doing training exercises on the erection of emergency bridges 

Here the Aare River meanders, and the banks are lush with overgrowth

We passed a few frog ponds along the river trail. This guy is taking life easy!

Another bridge to cross. This one leads us onto a small island created by a side canal to the Aare River

On the "Bridge Trail" in the Brugg Wetlands

Lots of common birds flitting around here, but so pretty! These are the Eurasion Blue Tit (Blaumeise), the Common Chaffinch (Buchfinke), and the European Goldfink (Stieglitz). There are also supposed to be elusive Kingfishers here, but we didn't see any!

From across the Aare River, we see the old railway bridge, one of the oldest still-in-operation railway bridges in Switzerland, and the oldest on the SBB network. From under the other side of this bridge, the Reuss River joins the Aare

As we cross the Aare River from the left bank to the right bank on the very busy Vogelsang Bridge, a look South shows the confluence of the Reuss from the left (under the railway bridge) and the Aare from the right.

This looks the same, but is the view to the North. The river passes a couple of islands here, and at the far end of this island the Limmat joins the river from the right.

Across the river is a little village called Vorderrein, no relation to the Rhine River!

We're also happy that we can experience the bright colour of the canola fields, but the flowers stink!

After following the right bank of the Aare River, we arrive at the Limmatspitz, a lovely peninsula created by the two rivers where the Limmat joins from the East. There are apparently beavers and kingfishers here, but we didn't see any.

Walking along the right bank of the Aare to the northermost tip of the Limmatspitz peninsula

It was a perfect time of year to do this walk, as the trees are in various stages of bursting out their leaves, so there is a large variety of greens. This colour that looks like blossoms is actually a very pale green on tiny leaves. 

Here is where the Limmat River joins the Aare River, coming from the right behind me.

Another look South up the Aare River

Here is a side canal from the Limmat River. Another bridge crossing and we reach another large island, where there was originally a very large spinning mill (earlier, the industries were all set up along such rivers to make use of the water power)

A frog pond with loads of lazy frogs. We waited for a while hoping they would start "singing", but there was only the odd croak.

Looking closely, there were lots of eyeballs breaking the surface of the water!

Now we are walking southward again, parallel to the Limmat River, toward the location of the original spinning factory

The Limmat River

VIDEO

The Limmat River

As we head south, the Limmat River makes a bend to the East at the town of Turgi, but we are headed back to the Reuss River.

Fun for the railway aficionado: Here is the oldest still-in-operation railway bridge on the Swiss National Railway Network

VIDEO

One of many trains that cross this, the oldest still-in-use railway bridge
from the Swiss National Railway

Now we are back at the Aare River, opposite where we started. Here the Reuss joins the Aare directly from the left.

Our trail takes us under the bridge, where we will continue along the right bank of the Reuss River, heading South.

82.5m-long Reuss Bridge at Turgi, built in 1855/1856, is the oldest, still in operation original railway bridge of the Swiss National Railway. The pedestrian sidewalk was added a hundred years after construction, i.e. in 1957.

Here we are at the Reuss River where it flows under the railway bridge and into the Aare

Following the forest trail along the Reuss River

These oddly-shaped stones are part of antitank barriers which you can find all over Switzerland, but especially near the borders. The stones weigh several tons and are shaped such that the tank treads cannot climb them. These are nicknamed "Toblerone"

I was not able to climb the steep incline of the toblerone, so I climbed on the tree instead.

Crossing the Reuss River again for the last stretch back to the train station. This building also used to be a factory, now converted to apartments

Across the river is the town of Windisch (Vindonissa), which also has a Roman amphitheater!

Lovely Wisterias blooming. They smell better than the canola flowers!

Walking through Windisch on the way to the train station in Brugg

This church and surrounding buildings used to be a monastery, but now forms part of the Aargau Museum. There are apparently some very magnificent stained glass windows here. Since this is a museum, I couldn't simply walk in, as I usually do. But the museum is closed on Mondays, and also not open as late as we were here! (6:30 p.m.)

A walk through the park

The Internet description for this tour was 2 hours, or 2.5 hours, but this tracks at almost 3 hours! Maybe the locals walk faster... 

Our round tour as depicted on Google Earth Maps

And one final photo, "borrowed" from the Internet at the Swiss Tourism website www.myswitzerland.ch:

Aerial view of the confluence of the Limmat River with the Aare River looking South over the Limmatspitz: