With the castle and the circle of fortified walls at the top of the hill, with the last remnants of the old town centre on the banks of the Aare and the church with two steeples on a rise, the town stands out, visible from afar, in the uniform landscape.

The first written mention of Aarburg dates back to 1123. The Counts of Frohburg ruled here and sold the castle and town to the Habsburgs in 1299. They expanded the castle and were driven out by the Bernese in 1415. During the ‘Bernese period’, which lasted until the French invasion under Napoleon in 1798, the castle and town were expanded to its present size. Under Napoleon, the Canton of Aargau was founded, to which Aarburg was also assigned. A devastating fire on the night of 3 May 1840 destroyed the row of houses on the mountainside and the church, which was later rebuilt in the style of the time. For this reason, the triangular Bear Square is now flanked by a row of houses from the Middle Ages and one from the 19th century. Between 1842 and 1845, the present neo-Gothic parish church was built on the rock spur. Until the mid-19th century, the most important economic activities for Aarburg were the storage and trade of processed goods such as salt, wine and wood. A natural phenomenon that still exists today made it easier to moor fins and ships. At a bend to the left, the water of the Aare meets a rock outcrop. As a result, about half of the water is pushed upstream in a large eddy. This natural spectacle, which is called ‘Libra’ because of its regular level fluctuations, is unique, at least in Europe. Aarburg’s local recreation area is important, with the Säli Schlösschen on one side of the valley and the Born with the famous ‘Tuusiger Stägli’ on the other. Aarburg also bears the label ‘Energy City’ and is located along Mozart’s Swiss Way.