Aarau Old Town

Aarau is called the city of beautiful gables, and the reason is specific: the undersides of the projecting eaves on the old-town houses are painted - decorated soffits, some going back to the sixteenth century, in floral and geometric patterns, so the decoration is above head height and easy to walk past without noticing. There are several hundred of them. The town also had a brief moment at the centre of things: in 1798 it was made the capital of the short-lived Helvetic Republic, the first time Switzerland had a single capital at all, though it held the position only from March to September before the government moved to Lucerne. The Aargauer Kunsthaus holds a strong Swiss collection.

What you actually see

• Painted gable undersides - several hundred decorated soffits above the lanes.
• The first Swiss capital - the Helvetic Republic's seat for six months in 1798.
• A compact old town - the medieval core between the station and the Aare.
• The Aargauer Kunsthaus - a substantial Swiss art collection.

When to go

All year. Half a day.

Honest expectations

The gables are the attraction and they are easy to miss - look up. The old town is small. The Kunsthaus closes on Mondays. Aarau is otherwise a working administrative town.

Nearby

Wildegg and Lenzburg castles are east; the Jura ridge is north.