Rheinfall may not be Europe’s highest waterfall, but it’s certainly among its most impressive for the sheer force of water that surges through a gorge and plummets over jagged 75-foot ledges in a sea of white froth and mist. The falls are at their fullest in June and July, when melted snow from the mountains fills the Rhine. See them from the shore at either side (a bridge crosses just above the falls) or on a boat tour through the churning waters below.

On a tiny island at the sharp bend in the Rhine just below the falls sits the historic Schlössli Wörth, now housing a fine-dining restaurant with a front-row view of the floodlit falls at night. An easy day’s jaunt from Zürich, Rheinfall is in the beautiful old town of Schaffhausen, where the 16th-century Kastell Munot overlooks the old town and Rhine Valley from a vineyard-covered hill. Walls more than 15 feet thick secure the round castle. The streets around the 11^th-century city of Münster below are lined with colorful half-timbered houses with painted coats of arms and elaborate bay windows.