The hook
One of the most powerful waterfalls in Europe, where the whole Rhine pours over a wide ledge with a jagged rock standing in the middle of the torrent that you can climb by boat.
01Why it's worth it
The Rhine Falls are not tall, but they are broad and ferociously powerful, especially in early summer when Alpine snowmelt swells the river and the falls become a churning wall of white noise and spray. A castle overlooks them, viewing platforms jut out over the edge, and small boats run right into the spray, including one that lands you on a tall rock pinnacle in the very middle of the falls, where a stairway lets you climb up with the water thundering on both sides. It is a straightforward, family-friendly sight rather than a wilderness, easy to reach near Schaffhausen in Switzerland's northeast, and it works as a half-day outing rather than a destination in itself. The power at high water is what lifts it above ordinary.
02How to experience it
Come at high water in late spring or early summer for the full force, and take the boat to the mid-river rock to climb it from inside the falls. The platforms on the south bank get you closest to the drop. It pairs naturally with the well-preserved old town of Schaffhausen nearby.