Rapperswil

Rapperswil sits at the far end of Lake Zurich where the water narrows, which is why there has been a crossing here since the Bronze Age — piles from a bridge of around 1500 BC have been found in the lake bed.

It is 40 minutes from Zurich by train, two hours by boat, and it is the most pleasant short trip out of the city.

The castle and the Poles

The Schloss stands on a rock above the old town, thirteenth-century, with three towers and a courtyard you can walk into free.

Inside is something unexpected: the Polish Museum. In 1870 a Polish count leased the castle and turned it into a museum of Polish history and a rallying point for exiles at a time when Poland did not exist as a state. It stayed, survived two world wars, and is still there — a national museum of one country inside a castle in another.

The roses

Rapperswil calls itself the town of roses, and it means it: around 15,000 bushes in some 600 varieties, in three public gardens, one of which is designed for blind visitors with scented varieties and braille labels.

They are at their best from June to September and the gardens are free.

The footbridge

A wooden footbridge runs 841 m across the lake from Rapperswil to Hurden — the longest in Switzerland, rebuilt in 2001 on the line of the medieval crossing, which itself followed the prehistoric one.

It takes fifteen minutes to walk and it is one of those small things that turns out to be the best part of the day. The pilgrim route to Einsiedeln crosses here, and there is a chapel on the far side.

The rest

The old town is small and stepped, with painted houses and arcades under the castle rock.

The Circus Museum — Rapperswil was the winter quarters of Circus Knie, the Swiss national circus, and the family still keeps its animals here. There is a children’s zoo attached, which is the reason a lot of families make this trip.

Getting there

• By boat — the better way in good weather. Two hours from Bürkliplatz in Zurich down the whole length of the lake, covered by a Swiss Travel Pass; see the lakes.
• By train — 40 minutes from Zurich HB, several an hour, along either shore.
• Combining — go one way by boat and the other by train.

Nearby

• Einsiedeln — half an hour further, with an enormous baroque abbey and a black madonna, one of the largest pilgrimage sites north of the Alps
• Zurich — see around Zurich for the other short trips

When to go

June to September for the roses and the boats. The bridge and the castle work year-round, and the lake in winter fog has its own argument.