Rapperswil is a small but very beautiful and interesting town on the lake of Zürich. Every year, I organise a city tour of a close-by Swiss town for my adult English students. This year we went to Rapperswil and were enchanted.

The tour:

- The tour was organised through the Rapperswil tourism board. For SFr. 160 for a group of up to 20 people, we were given a delightful, interesting and entertaining tour in English by a local English teacher, Herr Thurnheer. The duration of the tour is 1.5 hours.

Some highlights:
- the harbour was designed by the same man who designed the Suez canal.
- The beautiful restaurants along the shore of the town.
- the trees must grow higher than the restaurant balconies.
- the city has close ties with Austria because one of the nobles married a Hapsburg.
- They didn't want to belong to St. Gallen.
- They have rose gardens dotted throughout the town because of their "two roses" symbols. They even have a rose garden for the blind.
- Canon balls are cemented into some of the buildings as a symbol of a past battle.
- There are two stories about the castle, one portraying a wise noble lady and a red deer.
- You can still see a "Seelenfenster" a window for the souls in a few buildings. These windows allowed fresh air to come into the otherwise musty, stinky buildings. When a person died, their body was put on display to the public in the house to allow people to moarn and say goodbye. The Seelenfenster, which is always open allowed the soul to fly out of the house. Although dictated for religious purposes, the "Seelenfenster" was also a practical way to bring in fresh air.

After that, we went over to the Rappi Bier Factory, owned by a New Zealander, and had some Rappi Gold, a Maisbier and a dark beer that tasted like coffee.

It was a delightful evening. Rapperswil is wonderful and highly recommended.

I always enjoy reading your mini trip reports schuler. This one is no exception.

Thanks.

Correction on above trip report:

- the trees must NOT grow higher than the restaurant balconies.

Darn it. I forgot to tag this Switzerland.

Schuler - let me know when you organize a Swiss Sauna Tour. I'll sign up.

Schuler: Thanks so much! I have not heard the name "Rapperswil" in many years. - but it was my favorite destination several times in the summer of 1994.

I was studying that summer at the Jung Institute in Kusnacht, and it was an unusually HOT summer. As often as possible, we would take the boat from Kusnacht to Rapperswil just to cool off and relax.

I will never forget the charming approach to the town by boat. It is the epitome of a lovely lake town in Switzerland, where we ate in several restaurants, took walks up to the cemetery, and window shopped a lot.

Thanks for the memory.

Dutch: When we were in the top floor of the castle tower and everyone was sweating from climbing the wooden steps and sitting in the heat of a bare room with closed windows, I thought it would have been the perfect time to strip and enjoy the heat.

Taconictraveler: Glad you enjoyed the mini-report. It is indeed a beautiful little town.

Thanks for posting - this is an interesting and enjoyable report.

Could you have the editors tag this as a trip report and maybe they could put a Switzerland tag on it at the same time. Send an email to

[email protected]

Thanks Adrienne,

I didn't even have to ask. It suddenly happened. Thanks editors.

Hi schuler,

Love Rapperswil though I've only been there twice. Thanks so much for giving SO much info!

Keep meaning to get back there and spend more time; maybe this Jan.

Thanks again!

s