Lake Zurich - Southwest Shore Driving Tour Attractions

In Freienbach (416 m/1,365ft) is a Baroque church. Leaving the town, the islets of Ufenau and Lützelau come into view and straight ahead can be seen the peaks of the Tuggenburg range.

2km/1mi from Freienbach is Pfäffikon (415 m/1,362ft; pop. 4,000) at the southern end of the causeway across the lake, with the castle (13th C. tower) which belonged to Einsiedeln Abbey. At the northern end of the causeway is Rapperswil.

About 4km/2mi from Wädenswil is Richterswil (411 m/1,348ft), beautifully situated in a cove of the lake. Above the village are two churches from the terraces of which there are fine views.

3km/2mi from Rüschlikon is Thalwil, a small town of 13,000 inhabitants with an old-established silk industry.

5.5km/3mi from the Au Peninsula is Wädenswil (411 m/1,348ft), an industrial town of 15,000 inhabitants. Above the town the Neues Schloss (1518) houses the Federal Fruit-Growing Viticultural and Horticultural Research Station.

In Wädenswiler Grüntal a museum (Mosterama) was opened in 1988. Here the refining of local-grown fruit and the development of its use is explained from its inception up to the present. From here a road branches off to the right over the Hirzel-Höhe (750 m/ 2,461ft) to Sihlbrugg (18km/11mi).

From Richterswil a road on the right climbs 3km/2mi southeast to Wollerau (507 m/ 1,663ft) with a neo-Classical church (1787), and then winds its way steeply up, with fine views, for another 3km/2mi to Schindellegi.

The road to Pfäffikon beyond Richterswil enters the canton of Schwyz and continues along the side of the lake which here attains its greatest width (4km/2mi).