Castle Laufen and the Rheinfall Waterfall in Switzerland

During my time in Switzerland, Sabine kindly whisked me away to Castle Laufen and the Rheinfall Waterfall. The castle is sometimes referred to as Schloss Laufen, which is exactly the same thing but in German. For those that don’t know, the Rhine Falls make up the largest waterfall in Switzerland. It also happens to be the biggest waterfall in Europe.

Rheinfall is around 23 metres high, but the waterfall is wide and there’s a tremendous amount of water flowing through. That results in a lot of spray in and around the basin; perfect on a hot summers day.

We drove to Castle Laufen and the Rheinfall Waterfall, parked up and set off on our trek around the falls. If you have time you can walk the complete loop. There’s quite a lot of steps on the route, and you’ll need to cross a few bridges too.

If you’d rather not walk, you can hop onboard a boat in the basin and get up close to the falls that way instead. You can choose the type of boat trip that best suits you. There are some that go to the rock, and others that offer a leisurely cruise. They’re relatively inexpensive too; the most costly will set you back 20 Swiss Franks. Something here for everyone.

In fact, in the picture above you can see the whole lot – the steps, the boats, the spray and also Castle Laufen and the Rheinfall Waterfall.

If you do opt to walk, you’ll find a few decent lookout spots that allow you to take some stunning photographs. Be careful though, depending on the time of day you might find it a bit too bright. And you may need to move around to get the desired picture.

Starting from the top, you’ll want to cross the old stone bridge. I feel for the poor chaps that had to build it. At least they’d have had a picturesque worksite!

Crossing the bridge meant that I no longer had the sun in my eyes, and that made it much easier for me to snap away with my camera.

More importantly, this is the view.

Clean, turquoise water, to a backdrop of a green forest and a clear blue sky. What isn’t to love? You get sight of the infamous rock in the middle of the falls, as well as the visitor centre, the boats in the basin and all the tiny people walking around the outskirts.

My favourite part was the waterwheel house. It makes sense that a waterfall would’ve been used to generate power, and the mills on the Rhine Falls are no exception. These days a lot of the mills are gone, but there’s at least this one beauty still standing. Though, it has had some restoration work done.

This particular mill also doubles as a cafe, so you can grab a bite to eat and drink. If you’ve spent most of the day burning up in the sun, especially with so much water around, it provides some much-needed respite. Castle Laufen and the Rheinfall Waterfall has everything you need for an amazing day trip.