Circular route Ufnau

With around 11 hectares, the island Ufnau is the largest island in Switzerland. The island offers a unique, peaceful, timeless and simple recreational area as well as valuable habitat for native animal and plant species.

What today lies as an idyllic island in the middle of Lake Zurich was connected to the mainland until the late Middle Ages. Only the rise of the water level (approx. 3 m) and the construction of the Letten embankment (Zurich) separated the islands Ufnau and Lützelau from the mainland.

The island Ufnau has been owned by the Einsiedeln Monastery since the year 965 and has been protected and cared for over the centuries. Today, around one hectare is planted with Pinot Noir and Räuschling grapes, which are later processed into top-quality wine in the monastery's winery.

The islands Ufnau and Lützelau and the extensive reed meadows of the Frauenwinkel nature reserve are today part of a moor landscape of national importance.