Kaiserstuhl, Switzerland

Kaiserstuhl, Switzerland
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kaiserstuhl.jpg
Author: Roland Zumbühl


Kaiserstuhl is a beautiful medieval village in Zurzach district, Aargau canton, in northern Switzerland. The village is on the south bank of the River Rhine, right across from the state of Baden-Württremberg in Germany on the other side. The center of the village is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Kaiserstuhl dates back to 1227. The earliest reference to its name, as Kayserstule, was made in 1236. In the 14th century, Kaiserstuhl served as a refuge for the Bishop of Constance when he was ousted from the city. Viticulture and animal husbandry in the surrounding countryside made the village prosperous, particularly in the 17th century, when most of its present buildings were built.

Until 1798, Kaiserstuhl occupied both sides of the River Rhine. However the creation of the Canton of Baden separates the two sides of Kaiserstuhl. The northern side becomes the village of Hohentengen in Baden-Wüttemberg. In 1799, the bridge linking the two sides of the Rhine was destroyed by the French, ending border traffic for Kaiserstuhl for almost two decades. The subsequent bridge was also destroyed and rebuilt a few times, in 1817, 1876, 1890 and 1985.

Today Kaiserstuhl has a number of historic buildings worth seeing. The population of Kaiserstuhl is predominantly German speaking (85.5%). 44.9% of the villagers belong to the Swiss Reformed Church while 28.8% are Roman Catholic.

Kaiserstuhl medieval tower
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kaiserstuhl_turo_188.jpg
Author: Dietrich Michael Weidmann

Visiting Kaiserstuhl

From Zürich, take expressway 51 (Unterlandautobahn) heading north. Then continue on Route 4 still heading north till roundabout at Hömlihof. Head west on Route 7 (Hochleistungsstrasse) and look for signage to Kaiserstuhl.

Sights & Attractions in Kaiserstuhl

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.

To get to know me better, do follow me on Facebook!