What to do in Aarau?

January 30, 2012 9:42 AM

Tell me everything about Aarau and Unterentfelden, Switzerland!

I will be staying in Unterentfelden, about 4km from central Aarau, for one week. I am traveling for work but I would like to enjoy the area as much as I can! Unfortunately I will be working during the day, so I mainly need night-time activities.

Please tell me about:
- Good restaurants! Local and regional specialties, street food, any cuisine.
- Museums, sights to see, tourist activities
- Non-tourist cultural stuff, like bars featuring local music
- Cool, unusual stores
- Places to hike and enjoy nature nearby
- Hotel suggestions
- Social customs of which I should be aware (I am from the USA)
- Anything else you think I should know!

posted by scose to Travel & Transportation around Aarau, Switzerland (2 answers total)

Only half joking: hop in a train to Zürich, it's only half an hour, and there's _so_ much more to do there.
posted by labberdasher at 10:04 AM on January 30, 2012

After a sufficient time for real responses, I'll add another unhelpful Zürich response - seen from here, the prime exports of Aargau (the canton that Aarau is the capital of) are fog and yokels, both of which are in somewhat low demand here and so elicit a fair amount of disdain.

I'd guess your best bet for local information is hunting down someone who lives there - English Forum Switzerland is the prime exchange of people from English-speaking countries in Switzerland. There's also a CouchSurfing group, but it seems fairly dead.
posted by themel at 11:15 PM on January 30, 2012