Horgen travel guide

Beautiful view from Horgen, overlooking Zurich Lake (Photo: DF08 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Horgen is the principal town of the district of Horgen in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. The inhabitants are called Horgner. The western village of Horgenberg belongs also to the municipality.

Understand

Situated along the south bank of the beautiful Lake of Zurich, often maliciously called Pfnüselküste, the principal town offers numerous activities and combines traditions with modern elements. The historical village core with many fountains and squares invites to stay and a vast number of old buildings tell the long history from the palafitte settlement to today's character of a bubbly provincial town. The municipality has very good connections to the public transport system and provides an excellent location between the cities of Zurich and Rapperswil. Some hotels and a great selection of shopping facilities wait for tourists, in addition, restaurants of all kinds have settled in this lovely environment.

History

The roots of Horgen go back to the prehistoric times of lake dwelling – even a whole culture was named after the village due to some exciting discoveries! Originally, the place was called Horga which means something like Out of the swamps. In medieval times, the hamlet benefited from its favourable location on a mule track and was used as a trading centre for the wares of merchants. After the Reformation, it momentarily became turbulent because of conflicts with the Catholic inland, and everything culminated in the War of Bocken at the time of Napoleon. Ever since those events, it has stayed mostly calm, and only the construction of the railway attracted attention because of some complications. Today, Horgen is praised with the label Energiestadt and is a lively place at the lake.

Neighbouring municipalities

At the north, Horgen borders Oberrieden, Langnau a.A. as well as Thalwil, at the west Hausen a.A. and finally at the south Wädenswil and Hirzel. However, with the last village, there is a scheduled unification that is expected to come into force in the year 2018. In the east of Horgen is the lake of Zurich, on the other bank lies a municipality called Meilen.

Get in

Inside the airport at Kloten (Photo: Roland zh, CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Railway Station in the centre (Photo: Chris j wood, CC BY-SA 3.0)

By train

Horgen has three railway stations that are all operated by the Zürcher Verkehrsbund (ZVV). The biggest and most important one is the one that is located next to the lake; it is served by the trains S2 and S8 from the commuter railway system. In another station called Horgen Oberdorf stops the line S24 and in the last one, namely Sihlwald, the S4.The ride time until the main station amounts to 18–24 minutes. In any case, the fare for a simple ride adds up to Fr. 8.40, as long you stay in the second class.

By plane

The nearest bigger airport is the one in Kloten which operates many international routes. It is the biggest airdrome of Switzerland. From the underground station, trains run constantly to Horgen and the surrounding villages.

See

The Herner Pavilion, next to the lake (Photo: Roland zh, CC BY-SA 3.0)

• Ortsmuseum Sust, Bahnhofstrasse 27, ☏ +41 44 725 15 58. Sun 14:00-17:00. A local history museum located in an old building on the lake shore. Free.
• Käpfnach Mine, Seestrasse 279, ☏ +41 44 725 39 35. Public tours Apr-Nov Sat 13:30-16:00. This old coal mine can be visited on public tours every Saturday. Fr. 15/6.

Eat

• Chalet India, Oberdorfstrasse 51, ☏ +41 44 725 55 44.

Sleep

• Hotel Schwan, Zugerstrasse 9, ☏ +41 44 725 47 19. Check-in: 14:00, check-out: 11:00. Hotel in the town centre. Fr. 160.
• Hotel Meierhof, Bahnhofstrasse 4 (Located opposite the railway station), ☏ +41 44 728 91 91.
• Campingplatz Züri-Leu.

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