The border between the modern states of Germany and Switzerland extends to , mostly following

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

and the

High Rhine High Rhine (, ; kilometres 0 to 167 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between Lake Constance () and the city of Basel, flowing in a general east-to-west direction and forming mostly the Germany–Switzerland border. It is the first of fo ...

('), with territories to the north mostly belonging to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and territories to the south mainly to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Exceptions are the

Swiss canton The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the Federated state, member states of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the . Two important ...

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

, the ''Rafzerfeld'' and hamlet of Nohl of the

canton of Zürich The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (Swiss canton, canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' Capi ...

, Bettingen and Riehen municipalities and part of the city of

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

in the canton of Basel-City (these regions of Switzerland all lie north of the High Rhine) and the

old town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

of the German city of

Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...

, which is located south of the '' Seerhein''. The canton of Schaffhausen is located almost entirely on the northern side of the High Rhine, with the exception of the southern part of the municipality of

Stein am Rhein Stein am Rhein (abbreviated as Stein a. R.) is a historic town and a municipality in the canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland. It is located at the outfall of Lower Lake Constance on the High Rhine river, about halfway between the town of Scha ...

. The German municipality of

Büsingen am Hochrhein Büsingen am Hochrhein (, ; Alemannic: ', ), often known simply as Büsingen, is a German municipality () in the south of Baden-Württemberg with a population of about 1,548 inhabitants. It is an exclave of Germany and Baden-Württemberg, and ...

is an

enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...

surrounded by Swiss territory.

Economy

Much of the border is within the sphere of the Zurich metropolitan area and there is substantial traffic, both for

commuting Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regular o ...

and for

shopping Shopping is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. A Retail#Shopper profiles, typology of shopper types ha ...

, across the border, with the

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

services S9 and S36 (and the former S22) of Zürich S-Bahn, three lines of Schaffhausen S-Bahn and one line of Aargau S-Bahn running through Swiss and German territory. The Swiss municipality of Kreuzlingen forms part of the conurbation of

, with cross-border regional train services S14 and S44 of St. Gallen S-Bahn. Similarly, the Trinational Eurodistrict of Basel includes territory in both

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and Germany (with

Basel S-Bahn The Basel S-Bahn (, ) has provided an S-Bahn-style rail service connecting the Basel metropolitan area since 1997 in Switzerland, Germany and France. It consists of eight suburban train lines, including four that operate across borders. The S-Ba ...

services S5, S6, RB27 and RB30 and Basel tram line 8 also operating across the Swiss-German border). As of 2023, there are 64'934 cross-border commuters between Germany and Switzerland.

History

The High Rhine has had the character of being mostly the northern border of the

Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy, also known as Switzerland or the Swiss Confederacy, was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ), initially within the Holy Roman Empire. It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerlan ...

since the

Swabian War The Swabian War of 1499 ( (spelling depending on dialect), called or ("Swiss War") in Germany and ("War of the Engadin" in Austria) was the last major armed conflict between the Old Swiss Confederacy and the House of Habsburg. What had begun ...

and the accession of

and

in 1499–1501, dividing the Swiss Confederacy from the Swabian Circle of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

; with the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

of 1648, the border acquired the status of an international border ''de jure''. With minor changes (such as the acquisition of Rafzerfeld in 1651), it remained unchanged since, even throughout the

Napoleonic era The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and history of Europe, Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly (French Revoluti ...

when it divided two French client states ( Cisrhenian Republic and

Helvetic Republic The Helvetic Republic (; ; ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ma ...

) and later the

Confederation of the Rhine The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine or Rhine Confederation, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austrian Empire, Austria ...

from the restored Swiss Confederacy, and eventually the

German Confederation The German Confederation ( ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved ...

from modern Switzerland. The border persisted even during the

Nazi era Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

(although with the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

'' of Austria, the German-Swiss border technically included the Austrian-Swiss border from 1938 and until the formation of the German Federal Republic in 1949). On 12 December 2008 Switzerland implemented the

Schengen Agreement The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...

. This removed all passport controls for travellers crossing the border; however, customs officers from both countries are still authorised to carry out customs checks on border crossers, as Switzerland is not in the

EU Customs Union The European Union Customs Union (EUCU), formally known as the Community Customs Union, is a customs union which consists of all the member states of the European Union (EU), Monaco, and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekel ...

. In mid-2016, during the

European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and Human migration, migrants into Europe, mostly from the Middle East. An estimated 1.3 million people came to the continent to request Right of asyl ...

, the German government deployed an additional 90 border guards and 40 police officers in order to reduce the level of

illegal immigration Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

passing through Switzerland.

Transportation

Since Switzerland's accession to the

Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) encompasses European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their common borders. As an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) policy of the European Union (EU), it ...

in 2008, there have been no permanent passport controls along this border. Customs controls are still in operation since Switzerland is not part of the European Customs Union.

Railway

railway lines crossing the border are (from West to East): * Rhine Valley Railway between Basel Bad Bf and (served by , EC,

ICE Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

, IC) *

Wiese Valley Railway The Wiese Valley Railway () is a 27.2 km long, electrified main line in German Baden-Württemberg in the tri-national area of Germany, Switzerland and France near the Swiss city of Basel. It is part of the Basel trinational S-Bahn and refer ...

between Basel Bad Bf and Lörrach Hauptbahnhof (served by , ) * High Rhine Railway between Basel Bad Bf and (served by , ) * Turgi–Koblenz–Waldshut railway between and (served by , ) * High Rhine Railway between and (served by , ) * Eglisau–Neuhausen railway line between and (served by , RE48, IC87) * Eglisau–Neuhausen railway line between and (served by , , RE48, IC87) * High Rhine Railway between and (served by , , IC87) * Etzwilen–Singen railway between and (a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

). * Lake Line between and (served by , , IR75) and between Konstanz and (served by ) * St. Margrethen–Lauterach railway and Vorarlberg Railway lines between and , over Austrian territory (, EC / ECE). Some railway stations are border stations, where there are customs and previously passport control of both countries in the building. Such stations include

Basel Badischer Bahnhof Basel Badischer Bahnhof (Basel Baden Railway station; abbreviated ''Basel Bad'') is a railway station in the Swiss city of Basel 2 km south of the Germany–Switzerland border. Despite its location, its land is an enclave of the EU Customs Unio ...

(located on Swiss territory near the border, but operated as a German station) and

Konstanz station Konstanz station () is the largest passenger station in the German city of Konstanz (Constance). It is served by regional and long-distance services operated by Deutsche Bahn and Swiss Federal Railways. It is the end of the High Rhine Railway an ...

. It is possible to change trains without going through any border or customs control. Cross-border regional train services around Lake Constance (') are part of Bodensee S-Bahn.

Tram and bus

A tram line and two bus lines offer cross-border services. The Basel tram line 8 was in 2014 extended across the border to Weil am Rhein in Germany. Verkehrsbetriebe Schaffhausen (vbsh) bus line 25, operating between and Ramsen via the German

, crosses the border four times in one journey. Another bus service, line 33 (7349) of , connects with Singen (Hohentwiel) railway station.

Ferries and boats

Several passenger boat lines connect German and Swiss harbours on Lake Constance (and also harbours in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

), among others a car ferry between

Friedrichshafen Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a city on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the ''Bodensee'') in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (''K ...

and

Romanshorn Romanshorn is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Arbon (district), Arbon in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. History Romanshorn was probably settled in the 7th century, and is first menti ...

. Until 1976, there were also

train ferries A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles, as well as their cargoes and passengers. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to t ...

in operation across Lake Constance. There are also passenger boat lines on the lower High Rhine and between Schaffhausen and Kreuzlingen.

Geography

The German-Swiss border begins in the east at the German-Swiss-Austrian

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

, located within

. The precise location of the border within Lake Constance has never been agreed upon officially. The official Swiss national map of 1938 did mark it, at , but maps made since the 1960s have avoided showing the border in the interior of the lake to reflect the lack of an official agreement. The

Upper Lake Constance The ''Obersee'' ('Upper Lake'), also known as Upper Lake Constance, is the much larger of the two parts of Lake Constance, the other part being the ''Untersee (Lake Constance), Untersee'' (). The two parts are separated by the Bodanrück peninsul ...

separates the German

Bodenseekreis Bodenseekreis ("Lake Constance district") is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the south-east of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west, clockwise) Konstanz, Sigmaringen and Ravensburg, and in Bavaria, Lindau district. ...

(

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

) and Lindau district (

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

) from the

s of

Thurgau Thurgau (; ; ; ), anglicized as Thurgovia, and formally as the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. Its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is part of Eastern Switzerland. I ...

and St. Gallen. The border makes landfall south of the city of

, at . The short stretch of border (c. ) between Konstanz and the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Kreuzlingen comprises the only territory of Germany on the left bank of the High Rhine. The border then follows the western section of the Seerhein north of Tägermoos (part of Switzerland but within the '' Gemarkung'' of Konstanz) and Gottlieben. The border then runs through the Rheinsee part of Untersee, passing south of

Reichenau Island Reichenau Island () is an island in Lake Constance in Southern Germany. It lies almost due west of the city of Konstanz, between the Gnadensee and the Untersee, two parts of Lake Constance. With a total land surface of and a circumference o ...

. At the lake's exit it turns inland, towards the north, leaving

within Switzerland, as well as the municipalites of Ramsen, Hemishofen and

Buch Buch (the German word for book or a modification of the German word '' Buche'' for beech) may refer to: People * Buch (surname), a list of people with the surname Buch - mostly, in India or abroad as of Indian origin. Geography Germany * Buch ...

(eastern part of the

canton of Schaffhausen The canton of Schaffhausen, also canton of Schaffhouse (; ; ; ), is the northernmost Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Switzerland. The principal city and capital of the canton is Schaffhausen. The canton's territory is divided into three non-co ...

). It then returns to the Rhine, including Gailingen in the Konstanz district of Germany, but then turns north again to include the bulk of the canton of Schaffhausen, a right-bank territory including the town of

itself, in Switzerland, separating it from the German Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis and Waldshut district.

(Konstanz district) is a German

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

which has borders with three Swiss cantons, namely Zurich, Schaffhausen, and Thurgau. West of Schaffhausen, the border follows the Wutach Valley. It then returns to the Rhine ca. downstream of the Rhine Falls (south of the hamlet of Nohl), then separating the Waldshut district from the

, but then deviates from the river again to include the Rafzerfeld plain into Zürich's Bülach district (a right-bank territory historically acquired by the city of Zürich from the counts of Sulz in 1651) and the southern part of the canton of Schaffhausen ( Rüdlingen and Buchberg). The German territory wedged between the main part of the canton of Schaffhausen and the Rafzerfeld, which includes the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Jestetten, Lottstetten and Dettighofen, is also known as the (). Downstream of Eglisau, the border then sticks to the course of the Rhine until it east of the city of

, forming the northern border of the

canton of Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most northerly cantons of Switzerland, by th ...

as far as Kaiseraugst and then of the canton of

Basel-Land Canton of Basel-Landschaft or Basel-Country, informally known as Baselland or Baselbiet (; ; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital ...

(municipalities of Pratteln and Muttenz) bordering on the German Lörrach district. Besides the right-bank part of Basel proper (Lesser Basel or ), the border also includes the right-bank municipalities of Riehen and Bettingen into the canton of

Basel-Stadt Canton of Basel-Stadt or Basel-City ( ; ; ; ) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of three municipalities with Basel as the capital. It is traditionally considered a " half-canton", the other half being B ...

. West of Riehen, the border runs near the River Wiese, then cuts across the Mannheim–Karlsruhe–Basel railway line and the E35 south of

Weil am Rhein Weil am Rhein (, ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Wiil am Rhii'') is a German town and commune. It is on the east bank of the River Rhine, and extends to the tripoint of Switzerland, France, and Germany. It is the most southwesterly tow ...

and returns to the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

, where it terminates in the French-German-Swiss tripoint, dividing into the French-German and the French-Swiss borders. The tripoint is located in the

Upper Rhine Upper Rhine ( ; ; kilometres 167 to 529 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between the Middle Bridge, Basel, Middle Bridge in Basel, Switzerland, and the Rhine knee in Bingen am Rhein, Bingen, Germany. It is surrounded by the Upper Rhine P ...

at . A monument has been built near it, known as the '' Dreiländereck'' ().

References

*Thomas Wüthrich, Adrian Wiget,
Beitrag zur Konstruktion der Landesgrenze Deutschland – Schweiz im Untersee
'

swisstopo Swisstopo is the official name for the Swiss Federal Office of Topography, Switzerland's national mapping agency. The current name was made official in 2002. It had been used as the domain name for the homepage of the instituteswisstopo.admi ...

(2008).

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Germany-Switzerland border European Union external borders Borders of Germany Borders of Switzerland International borders