Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 163 Transcript

How to Visit the Rhine Falls and Why They Should Be in Your Swiss Itinerary

You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Welcome to the Holidays to Switzerland podcast. If you’re planning a trip to Switzerland, this is the podcast for you. I’m your host, Carolyn Schönafinger, the founder of Holidays to Switzerland.com, and in each episode, my expert guests and I share practical tips to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland.

You’ll get helpful advice about traveling around Switzerland and hear about the most popular destinations, as well as some hidden gems, and we’ll introduce you to plenty of wonderful experiences that you can enjoy as part of your Swiss vacation. Each episode is packed with expert tips, itinerary ideas, and inspiration to help make your Swiss vacation planning easy. So, let’s dive in. Grützi, hello, and welcome to this week’s episode.

Carolyn Schönafinger: The Rhine Falls are one of the most well-known waterfalls in Switzerland, and for very good reason. I was fortunate recently to visit the falls for the third time, and this was the best visit yet. Why, you might ask? Well, in this episode, I’ll explain. If you’ve been wondering if the Rhine Falls are worth visiting, then this episode will give you all the info you need so that you can decide whether or not to include the falls in your Swiss itinerary.

So, what are the Rhine Falls? Well, they’re Europe’s largest waterfall. The falls are just a single-drop waterfall, but the width of 150 meters and the height of 23 meters makes them very impressive. But what’s even more impressive than the size is the rate at which the water flows. During the summer, 600,000 liters of water flows over the falls every second. It’s hard to get your mind around. And in winter, the volume of water isn’t quite as large, but it still flows at a rate of 250,000 liters per second. Incredible! The Rhine Falls are so popular that there are over 1 million visitors to this natural site every year.

Carolyn Schönafinger: The Rhine Falls are located on the border of the cantons of Schaffhausen and Zurich in northern Switzerland, and they’re around about 25 kilometers south of the German border. The nearest town to the Rhine Falls is Neuhausen, which is about one kilometer away, and the closest city is Schaffhausen, and it’s only three and a half kilometers away.

So, we know that the falls are impressive in size and water volume. But what can you actually do there? Well, there are two locations from which you can see the falls at their best advantage. There’s the northern side, on which you’ll find an old castle called Schloss Wörth, and on the southern side is another castle known as Schloss Laufen. As I said, there are two access points to see the falls at their best.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Now, on this visit, for the first time, I came from the Laufen Castle side, and I think this is what made the visit so much more interesting and enjoyable this time. Laufen Castle sits on a huge cliff, looking over the falls. It’s more than 1,100 years old, and inside today there are restaurants and there’s a snack bar. Also at this location, there’s a visitor center, a souvenir shop, a children’s playground, and plenty of things to see and do.

We ate in the Schloss restaurant, which was beautiful, and the meal was outstanding. But also, as I mentioned, there’s a snack bar and there’s a self-service restaurant as well. There’s a small exhibition called the Historama, which is inside the castle, spread over a couple of floors. There’s a small car park here, if you’re arriving by car. And there’s also its very own train station.

The Swiss, of course, think of everything. So, they’ve actually built a train station, or, well, a small platform. It’s called a station. There’s not actually a station building, but there’s a platform and train stop at the Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall station.

Viewing Platforms and Trails

Carolyn Schönafinger: From here, you can walk down to some amazing viewing platforms, and these are a must-do, in my opinion. From inside the castle grounds, you pay a five Swiss franc entry fee, but these viewing platforms can be accessed 24 hours a day. You just buy tickets from the machines within the castle grounds and then make your way down to these viewing platforms, which get so close to the falls, it’s just incredible.

Now there are a couple of different viewing platforms, or three in total, from this location. The Belvedere viewing platform is reached along a really nice panoramic trail, and it’s wheelchair and stroller accessible. There are two other viewing points called Känzeli and Fishnets, and they are reached by steps. So you need to be able to walk down steps to get to those two viewpoints.

With all these viewpoints, they just give you a look at the falls from different angles, and it’s up so close, you’ll probably find yourself getting wet from the spray of the water. You’re just so close to it. To see and hear the power of the water as it comes over the falls is really amazing.

There are quite a few walking trails around there, and you can actually walk a bit further down to the boat pier, which I’ll talk about in a moment. But once you’ve had a look at all these viewing platforms, if you’re ready to go back up to the castle or to go back up to the train station, you can take a glass elevator which goes back up to the castle. That’s a must-do. The views as you go up—it’s a very short elevator ride—but the views from there, with all the glass sides, just amazing.

As I said, there’s quite a few walking trails from this side of the falls. One in particular is called the loop trail. And if you take the loop trail, you can actually walk on a pedestrian bridge, which goes alongside the railway bridge above the falls. So you’re getting another view from over the top of the falls. I didn’t do that walk this time, and I haven’t done it before, but it’s something I would definitely love to do in the future. It would just give you another perspective of the falls, and it’d be something quite different. You should allow around one hour to complete the loop trail. So keep that in mind.

Evening Visits and Events

Carolyn Schönafinger: Now, the rock that is in the middle of the falls, which is very prominent from all of those viewing platforms, it’s illuminated every day from sunset until 11 PM. So if you’re visiting at night, that would be very, very spectacular. Now keep in mind that days of a full moon and the following day, the rock isn’t illuminated.

Another great thing to see would be the massive fireworks display, which is called Rhine in Flames. This is held every year on July 31st, which is the eve of Swiss National Day. So if you’re going to be in the area on the 31st of July, I would definitely try and visit the falls that evening to see that spectacle.

Carolyn Schönafinger: So whilst there’s plenty to do, and the viewing platforms are accessible from the southern side, where Laufen Castle is, in order to do any of the boat tours, which I’ll tell you about in just a moment, you do need to do a crossing from the southern bank across to the northern bank. So if you walk down the trail after you’ve been to those viewing platforms, there’s a small boat landing at the bottom. You can buy tickets for whichever boat trip you want to do, or you can just buy a ticket for a crossing to the other side to get another perspective of the falls.

On that northern side, you’ll find, as I mentioned earlier, Schloss Wörth, and this is where all the boat tours depart from. Again, there are restaurants here, there are multiple parking areas, so if you’re coming by car, that’s probably the best place to park, because there’s a lot more parking spaces. And there’s a viewing area that looks more front onto the falls, so you’re seeing them sort of directly across the river, as opposed to the viewing platforms on the other side, which allow you to get up to them very close. The viewing area on the northern side here is free of charge. There’s no entry fee.

Details on Boat Tours

Carolyn Schönafinger: If you want to do one of those boat tours, there are quite a few to choose from, and you can just buy tickets there once you arrive. They’re all allocated on a time basis. If you’re visiting during the peak season, definitely allow time to wait for your designated time. You might not be able to get space on the next operating boat tour that you want to do. So you may have to wait for a departure in 20 minutes, half an hour, and so forth.

• Rhine Crossing: One of the short boat rides that you can do is that Rhine crossing that I mentioned between the northern and the southern banks. This is just a short three-minute ride which takes you from one side to the other, but you do get a very good view of the falls on the way. Those tickets cost about six francs per person at the time of recording. And like all the other tickets, you can just buy them from one of the ticket offices on either bank.
• Short Round Trip Cruise: You can also do a short round trip cruise, and this takes around 15 minutes. It leaves from the northern side, and the boat goes up very, very close to the falls. So you definitely get wet, and you can see it from a number of different angles. The boat goes around the little sort of what’s called the Rhine basin there. So you can see the falls from various different angles. And those tickets cost around 10 francs 50 per person.
• Rock Tour: Another boat tour you can do is the Rock Tour. Now this is a bit longer. It takes around 30 minutes, but it takes you from the Northern Bank over to what’s known as Rheinfallfelsen, which is a huge rock in the center of the falls. That’s the rock that I mentioned earlier, that is illuminated at night. So when you get to this rock, there’s a staircase going up around onto a viewing platform. So you’re standing on a platform right in the middle of the falls, which is amazing, and you get 360-degree views all around you. It’s just amazing. I haven’t done the Rock Tour for a number of years, but I do remember it was amazing to climb up that rock in the middle of the falls and just see all that water around you.
• Grand Tour: Now you can also do a longer tour called the Grand Tour, and this takes around an hour and 15 minutes. So not only will you see the Rhine Falls and get up very close to them, but you then also cruise along the Rhine River to the German border. And along the way, you learn more about the landscape’s history from the captain, and get a bit more of an understanding of the falls and where the water goes to after it’s gone over those falls and down the Rhine.

Carolyn Schönafinger: So if you’re planning to visit the Rhine Falls, I would say to spend at least 90 minutes there. Now you will need to allow additional time during the summer to wait for the boat trips. You’ll probably want to get from one bank to the other. So you do need to allow time to get across and to wait for the scheduled boat for that crossing.

And I think the reason that I enjoyed my latest visit so much was because I was able to walk down on those panoramic trails to all the different viewing platforms from the Laufen side. Previously, on both occasions, I’d arrived at the Neuhausen side, so the northern bank, and looked across at the falls. Yes, I’d done a boat tour, but I hadn’t actually gone across and then up to Schloss Laufen and walked down to see all those to be on those different viewing platforms. So I think that’s why I really enjoyed it so much this time.

Carolyn Schönafinger: There are various ways to get to the Rhine Falls.

• By Train: If you’re traveling by train, it’s only about 10 minutes from Schaffhausen or an hour from Zurich and only two hours from Lucerne. So wherever you’re coming from, obviously, in Switzerland, the train connections are so good, you’re always going to be able to get there very easily. But it’s a perfect day trip from Zurich with very regular services. There are two train stations to choose from. So there’s a station at Neuhausen on the northern side, and as I said earlier, there’s that Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall station on the southern banks. From either of those stations, you can easily walk to to see the falls, and there are also boat crossings possible between the banks, as I mentioned earlier.
  • Tip: If you are traveling by train and you happen to be traveling between the two stations, Neuhausen and Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall, keep an eye out the window, because you’ll see the Rhine Falls from above as the train goes past.
• By Car: If you’re coming by car, it’s only again, 10 minutes from Schaffhausen and 40 minutes from Zurich.
• Rhine Fall Express: And another way you can reach the Falls is by the Rhine Fall Express, which is one of those little tourist trains, which travels from Schaffhausen to the falls during April to October only, and it takes around 30 minutes. So that’s a fun way to reach the falls, if you’re in Schaffhausen.
• Group Tours: Of course, you can also do a group tour from Zurich. There are plenty of group tours available, including just a three and a half hour coach tour, which visits the Rhine Falls only. Or you could do a full day tour, maybe Zurich city sights and the falls, or a full day tour visiting Rhine Falls and the beautiful medieval town of Stein am Rhein. So there are plenty of options for day and half-day tours, and I’ll include links for some of my favorites in the show notes for this episode.
• Private Tours: You can also organize a private tour, maybe a half-day or a full-day tour designed especially for you, and include other stops that you’d like to visit as well. That’s another option, and that’s a great option if you’re short on time and you want to just have something organized: get picked up at your hotel, taken out for the day, and then dropped back at your hotel. A private tour is a great option. Again, I’ll include a link in the show notes for preferred private tour operators and the discount that they offer for our listeners. The details will be in the show notes.

Carolyn Schönafinger: So when is the best time to visit the Rhine Falls? Well, I’ve been now in spring, in summer, and in autumn. And it’s always very, very impressive seeing that amount of water that comes over those falls. I must say, I did really like my visit just recently in autumn. The colorful foliage on the trees around the falls and around the River Rhine and then the Rhine basin was beautiful. Made all the photos look even more special.

There you have it. That’s all the info about getting to the Rhine Falls and what you can do there. The great thing about the location of the Rhine Falls is that, because they’re so close to Zurich, you can pop out for just half a day. If you’re short on time in Zurich, you can definitely still get to the falls and not miss out on seeing all of the city highlights in Zurich itself.

If you’ve got extra time, I definitely recommend having a look around Schaffhausen. It’s a beautiful city with its own fortress and buildings painted with lovely facades and little oriel windows. So that’s definitely worth a look as well. We did have an episode a long time ago on Schaffhausen and the Rhine Falls, which I’ll link to in the show notes as well. So if you’re thinking of including the Rhine Falls in your itinerary, I can highly recommend it, and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Thanks for listening today. I hope you found this episode helpful, and if I have inspired you to include the Rhine Falls in your itinerary, or you’ve heard something on a previous podcast episode that’s convinced you to visit a new destination or somewhere that you hadn’t previously thought of, I’d love to hear from you and any other feedback you have about the podcast, or if you’ve booked a trip with one of our preferred partners, or you’ve stayed in a hotel that you heard about on the podcast, please let me know. I’d love to hear from you. You can send an email to podcast@holidaystoswitzerland.com. That’s all for now. I will be back again next week with more Swiss travel tips and inspiration. So until then,Tschüss.

You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.