We’ve been planning our trip to Lenzburg for many years. There are only a few months each year when the castle is open to the public, and we kept thinking about it when it was too late already. This year, we took 3 weeks off for our summer holidays and planned to travel back home. However, this wasn’t possible, so we had a lot of time to spend in Switzerland, and when I was trying to prepare our plan, it came to my mind that it might be the right time to finally visit this castle.
It's very easy to spot the castle from the highway when you are in the region as it’s sitting on a hill above the city of Lenzburg. But it’s not that easy to get to it by car, especially now when there are several road maintenance works across the city. We were driving in circles until we decided that the only way to get there was to take a one-way street from the wrong side. Well, there must have been another road, but we couldn’t find it. The one-way street was not so long, and we didn’t come across another car, so we were lucky. After a few minutes we finally reached the parking lot.
The parking lot is situated in a forest, so you have no idea that there is a castle, and you don’t know how long it will take you to get there. Usually, this isn’t a problem, but it becomes one when you need to use a bathroom 😊 Luckily, we just had to walk up a short steep hill, and we could see it right in front of us.
Castle Lenzburg is a large complex consisting of several buildings. It’s impossible to take a picture of the complex unless you have a drone. As I don’t, you need to be happy with what you get 😊
Let's enter the castle!
Once you cross the gate, turn to the left and climb up the stairs you enter the courtyard of the castle.
As nothing is free (especially in Switzerland), you need to purchase your ticket first. If I remember correctly, the price was 18 CHF per person which is a standard price of a museum visit in Switzerland.
Before we entered the castle, we visited its well-maintained garden. I'm a big plant freak, and collected over 30 plants at home in just two years, so it won't surprise you when I tell you that this was my favorite part 🙂 There were multiple varieties of African nettles which I will grow one day when I'll have my own garden.
It was not very big, but still beautiful and quiet. There were quite a few people visiting the castle at the same time, but it seemed that everyone enjoyed it more or less quietly (most of the visitors were twice my age, so this could be the reason too).
On the left side was a small bistro with a nice terrace. We were lucky to score a table outside, and ordered a green salad - this was the only vegan option on the menu. I was so hungry! I planned to come much earlier, so that we could visit the castle and then go to the city for lunch, but as usually my husband made a point that he is the slowest person in the world and we left home 2 hours later than planned!
Luckily, the salad was served with some bread, so I was not starving anymore and we could continue out excursion.
The castle Lenzburg is one of the Switzerland's oldest castles. The first mention of the castle comes from the 11th century. The castle was ruled by several families, the most important being the Counts of Kyburg and later the Habsburgs. It has served various purposes, such as refuge fort in the Early Middle Ages, residence and seat of administration, residence of the Bernese baillifs, or school for boys.
In 1956, the castle was acquired by the city of Lenzburg and Canton of Aargau, and since then the castle has been open to the public.
You can visit the Knight's Hall and Bernese House, and the Stapferhaus. There is also a museum and several rooms for kids to play.
The castle is quite empty but you can still sit down and watch short movies about its history and traditions.
It is a labyrinth of different rooms and passages, and we found ourselves visited some parts twice.
The most interesting part for me was the furnished apartment which is part of the museum run by the Aargau museum. It has several rooms and you can admire the historical furniture and features.
This is the apartment from the outside. I honestly wouldn't mind living there 🙂 Look at that pretty patio with a table and a couple of chairs surrounded by the flower bed!
The apartment is situated on the top of the castle, and I loved that they placed grass there, so it looks like it was a part of the garden.
Once we managed to get out of that labyrinth, we headed back to the garden to enjoy the view as we forgot to do it at the beginning (blame it on empty bellies). It was one of the hottest days of the year, so we stayed long enough to take pictures, and headed back to the courtyard.
On the way back...
And here we are! I loved that tree and wanted to sit there for a moment. I take a book everywhere with me, and this was the perfect spot to read a few pages while my husband was saving a bee from the water and watching frogs later.
The last view from the castle...
It has served as a private residence for almost a century, and I can see why. I would love to wake up to this view too! 🙂
I hope you have enjoyed our trip!
Thank you for reading,
Cheers!
Martina