Stein Am Rhein, Switzerland - October 2019: Preserved historic buildings at Rathausplatz, a town square in old small city of Stein Am Rhein, Switzerland.; Shutterstock ID 1551347360; purchase_order: 65050; job: ; client: ; other:
1551347360

Shutterstock / Gaid Kornsilapa

Rathausplatz

Northeastern Switzerland


Often hailed as Switzerland’s most beautiful town square (no mean feat!), the elongated Rathausplatz in Stein am Rhein often elicits little gasps of wonder because it's so darned ornate. The fresco-festooned Rathaus (town hall) soars above the 16th-century houses named after their elaborate murals, such as Sonne (Sun) and Der Weisse Adler (The White Eagle). Look up a level and you'll notice that many also sport intricately carved oriel windows and billowing flower boxes. It's pure fairy-tale stuff.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Northeastern Switzerland attractions

1. Klostermuseum St Georgen

0.07 MILES

This monastery museum sits between the Rathaus and the Rhine. A Benedictine monastery was built here in 1007, but what you see today, including the…

2. Museum Lindwurm

0.07 MILES

A four-storey house has been converted into this museum, whose living rooms, servants’ quarters and kitchen replicate the conditions enjoyed in the mid…

3. Schloss Arenenberg

9.52 MILES

France’s Napoleon III grew up at this handsome, powder-puff-pink mansion with beautiful grounds on Lake Constance. The little chateau dates to the 16th…

4. Reichenau

9.9 MILES

The Unesco-listed Benedictine monastery of Reichenau was founded in 724.

5. Reichenau

10 MILES

In AD 724 a missionary named Pirmin founded a Benedictine monastery on Reichenau, a 4.5km-by-1.5km island (Lake Constance’s largest) about 11km west of…

6. Munot

10.56 MILES

Steps lead up through terraced vineyards to this fine specimen of a 16th-century fortress. The unusual circular battlements were built with forced labour…

7. Allerheiligen Münster

10.7 MILES

Completed in 1103, Schaffhausen’s cathedral is a rare, largely intact specimen of the Romanesque style in Switzerland. It opens to a beautifully simple…

8. Museum zu Allerheiligen

10.7 MILES

Entered via the cathedral cloister, the Museum zu Allerheiligen showcases treasures from Schaffhausen fossils to Etruscan gold jewellery. The art…