In Koblenz we leave the Rhine and Via Rhenana and now follow the course of the River Aare.
Worth seeing and knowing
| Km 6 | Döttingen. Various findings reveal colonization during the Neolithic period. In Roman times two farming estates stood here. Both were destroyed around 260 AD by plundering Allemani. Döttingen lay on the main road Zurzach – Vindonissa.
 From the end of the artificial lake we hike along the Aare on pleasant nature and gravel paths. |
| Km 9 | Another nuclear power station, Beznau, is located on the man-made Aare Island. It went into operation in 1969 and today it is the oldest still running nuclear power station in the world.
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In Würenlingen we pass by the Paul Scherrer Institut, PSI, the largest research centre for natural and engineering science in Switzerland.
We now come to where the Rivers Limmat and Reuss flow into the Aare, which then joins the Rhine in Koblenz. The basin of all these covers an area of around 40% of Switzerland.
| Km 18.5 | We follow the Aare as far as Untersiggenthal, and from here on the River Limmat to Zürich. This region was already occupied during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. The earliest documented mention was in the year 833 AD. The landowners were the Fridolinsstift in Säckingen in the 9th Century, the Einsiedeln Monastery in the 11th Century, the St. Blasien Monastery in the 12th Century, the Wettingen Monastery from 1245, and from 1337 the Königsfelden Monastery in Windisch, which was ruled by the Habsburg Dynasty whose ancestral seat lay to the west of Windisch. |
| Km 27 | We finally reach our goal, Baden. Around 14 AD the Romans built the legionary camp Vindonissa near here. They constructed a thermal baths at the Limmat because of the medicinal benefits of the thermal water. The village in the immediate vicinity, which was probably under military administration, stood at the crossroads of important transport links. The main route went from Augusta Raurica (Augst) to Vindonissa to Vitudurum (Winterthur) und Brigantium (Bregenz). One road led off in the direction of Turicum (Zürich) and from there to the Alp Passes. The Romans left the area at the beginning of the 5th Century but it remained inhabited.
The Swiss Confederation seized the town in 1415. Up until 1712 Baden had an excellent status as a thermal baths location and important meeting place for Confederate officials but was a subservient town until 1798. In 1714 one of the many peace agreements of the time – the Treaty of Baden – was negotiated here to end the Spanish War of Succession. Brown, Boveri & Cie, today ABB, was founded here in 1891 and so makes Baden an internationally important centre in the field of electrical engineering. 
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