Kyburg Castle

Kyburg Castle stands on a spur above the Toss gorge, in a village of a few dozen houses that has stayed small because the castle took all the flat ground. It was the seat of the counts of Kyburg and later passed to the Habsburgs, and the buildings around the courtyard survived because the castle was continuously lived in and administered rather than abandoned. Today it works as a museum with the rooms furnished in period: the chapel with its wall paintings, the great chamber, the kitchens, the cellar, and a tower you climb for the view over the wooded valley. The village outside is worth ten minutes on its own.

What you actually see

• The chapel - the small castle chapel with medieval wall paintings.
• The furnished chambers - rooms set out as household spaces rather than empty halls.
• The tower and courtyard - the climb up for the view over the Toss gorge and the woods.
• The village - the handful of old houses that make up the settlement outside the gate.

When to go

Open from spring into autumn, with reduced or closed periods in winter. Weekday afternoons are calm; weekends bring families and occasional themed events with costumed guides. The walk up from the river in the Toss valley adds an hour and is the best way to arrive on foot.

Honest expectations

Public transport is awkward, with infrequent buses, and the last stretch is a climb. The castle is small and the visit route is fixed, so it takes little more than an hour unless a guided tour is running. Several rooms are recreations rather than surviving interiors, and there is not much in the village if the castle is closed.

Nearby

Winterthur and its museums are close, and the Toss valley has river paths below the castle.