Diessenhofen lies on the Hochrhein between Stein am Rhein and Schaffhausen. The tiny Thurgau town has retained its medieval appearance. Its landmarks are the Siegelturm and the St. Katharinental Abbey with its late-baroque church.

The main road leads under the arched gateway of the Siegelturm, the landmark of Diessenhofen, where seals (Siegel) and documents have been held since medieval times. Worthy of note: the tower clock with astronomical symbols for the twelve signs of the zodiac, above them a lunar clock showing the phases of the moon.

The Town Museum in the Oberen Amtshaus houses exhibitions on the town’s development, textile printing and dyeing, the Rhine as a lifeline and Diessenhofen painter Carl Roesch (1874 - 1979).

The covered bridge over the Rhine was built in 1814 and is the link to Gailingen, the neighbouring German municipality on the north bank. Unterdorf Castle on the shipping pier is now a training centre and seminar hotel. The pier is served by scheduled boats which link the Bodensee towns of Kreuzlingen and Konstanz with Schaffhausen on the Rhine Falls.

About 15-minutes walk upstream is the former St. Katharinental Dominican Abbey. The interior of the abbey church is considered a highlight of late baroque in Switzerland. Magnificent altars, pictures and ceiling paintings as well as the ornate baroque organ set with angels as musicians, the work of Thurgau master organ builder Johann Jakob Bommer from 1735 - 1741, give the interior its impressive character. The abbey complex is a now a health clinic and home.

The Rhine banks offer inviting walks and cycling tours. Excursion destinations a little further away include neighbouring German Hegau.

Highlights

• St. Katharinental - former abbey, the interior of the abbey church is considered a highlight of late baroque in Switzerland.
• Medieval old town with wooden bridge over the Rhine.
• Cruises on the Untersee and Rhine - between April and October scheduled boat service between Kreuzlingen and Schaffhausen.
• Oberes Amtshaus - exhibitions on textile printing and dyeing, the Rhine as a lifeline and Diessenhofen painter Carl Roesch (1874 - 1979).