Understand
Schaffhausen is an old city that become a member of the Swiss Confederation in 1501.
In 1944 Schaffhausen was accidentally bombed by United States airforce that mistook the neutral Swiss town for Germany.
Current population of Schaffhausen is about 33700.
Get in
By train
From Zurich within 50 minutes, once an hour.
By car
From Zurich: Take the A4/E41 direction north. It will lead you right into the city. Note that you need a vignette for all swiss highways.
Get around
Local buses, by foot in the old city. Busses to all directions every 20 minutes, in busy times every 10 minutes. For CHF 5.- you can get a "Tageskarte" which allows you to use all busses for a whole day.
See
Do
Buy
"Chatzezüngli", (en: kitten tounges) are a speciality of Schaffhausen. You can get a box of this chocolate in the confectionery at the Vordergasse.
Eat
Doner/Kebab stands are spread all over the city, restaurants are easy to find in the old city too. Here are the recommendable ones:
Drink
Sleep
Schaffhausen (German: , French: Schaffhouse, Italian: Sciaffusa) is a city in northern Switzerland and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimated population of 33,527 as of March 31, 2005.
The old portion of the city has many fine Renaissance era buildings decorated with exterior frescos and sculpture, as well as the impressive old canton fortress, the Munot. A train runs out of town to the nearby Rhine Falls in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Europe's largest waterfall, a tourist attraction. Schaffhausen is the capital of the Swiss Canton of Schaffhausen.
History
Schaffhausen was a city state in the Middle Ages, documented to have struck its own coins starting in 1045. For a time it was under Habsburg domination, but regained its independence in 1415. It allied itself with Zurich in 1457, and became a full member of the Swiss Confederation in 1501. The first railroad came to Schaffhausen in 1857.
Schaffhausen is located in a finger of Swiss territory surrounded on three sides by Germany. On April 1, 1944, Schaffhausen suffered a bombing raid by United States Army Air Forces aircraft which strayed from German airspace into neutral Switzerland. While the United States immediately offered a million dollars in reparations, the raid occurred only a month after the Swiss Air Force had shot down an American bomber.
Industry
Schaffhausen harbours well known industrial companies (Georg Fischer) in piping systems, machine tools and automotives, one internationally reputed watches manufacturer (IWC), and pharmaceutical industry (Cilag, founded by Bernhard Joos).
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