The Aare rises in the great
Aargletschers (Aare Glaciers) of the
Bernese Alps, in the
canton of Bern and west of the
Grimsel Pass. The
Oberaargletscher (Upper Aar Glacier) feeds the
Oberaarsee, which also flows into the Grimselsee. The Aare leaves the Grimselsee just to the east to the Grimsel Hospiz, below the
Grimsel Pass, and then flows northwest through the
Haslital, forming on the way the magnificent Handegg Waterfall, , past
Guttannen. Right after
Innertkirchen it is joined by its first major tributary, the Gamderwasser. Less than later the river carves through a
limestone ridge in the
Aare Gorge (). It is here that the Aare proves itself to be more than just a river, as it attracts thousands of tourists annually to the causeways through the gorge. A little past
Meiringen, near
Brienz, the river expands into
Lake Brienz. Near the west end of the lake it indirectly receives its first important
tributary, the
Lütschine, by the Lake of Brienz. It then runs across the swampy plain of the Bödeli (Swiss German diminutive for ground) between
Interlaken and
Unterseen before flowing into
Lake Thun. Near the west end of Lake Thun, the river indirectly receives the waters of the
Kander, which has just been joined by the
Simme, by the Lake of Thun. Lake Thun marks the
head of navigation. On flowing out of the lake it passes through
Thun, and then flows through the city of
Bern, passing beneath
eighteen bridges and around the steeply-flanked peninsula on which the
Old City is located. To the south of the Old City peninsula is the , a
weir which provides water for the small Matte
hydroelectric power plant.
River swimming in the Aare is popular in Bern, and the river is sometimes full of bathers on summer days. The river soon changes its northwesterly flow for a due westerly direction, but after receiving the
Saane or La Sarine it turns north until it nears
Aarberg. There, in one of the major Swiss engineering feats of the 19th century, the
Jura water correction, the river, which had previously rendered the countryside north of Bern a
swampland through frequent flooding, was diverted by the Aare-Hagneck Canal into the
Lac de Bienne. From the upper end of the lake, at
Nidau, the river issues through the
Nidau-Büren Canal, also called the Aare Canal, and then runs east to
Büren. The lake absorbs huge amounts of eroded gravel and snowmelt that the river brings from the Alps, and the former swamps have become fruitful plains: they are known as the "vegetable garden of Switzerland". From here the Aare flows northeast for a long distance, past the ambassador town
Solothurn (below which the Grosse
Emme flows in on the right),
Aarburg (where it is joined by the
Wigger),
Olten,
Aarau, near which is the junction with the
Suhre, and Wildegg, where the Seetal
Aabach falls in on the right. A short distance further, below
Brugg, it receives first the
Reuss, its major tributary, and shortly afterwards the
Limmat, its second strongest tributary. It now turns due north, and soon becomes itself a tributary of the
Rhine, which it even surpasses in volume when the two rivers unite downstream from
Koblenz (Switzerland), opposite
Waldshut in Germany. The Rhine, in turn, empties into the
North Sea after crossing into the
Netherlands. Aletschgebiet aus dem Flugzeug.jpg|The
Unteraargletscher Ausgang Aareschlucht.jpg|The Aare at
Innertkirchen Aareschlucht 166 7.jpg|Inside the Aare Gorge Aare by Interlaken-Ost.jpg|The Aare in
Interlaken Bern 2.jpg|Aare in
Bern Gedeckte Holzbrücke in Wangen a. d. Aare.jpg|Old bridge at Wangen an der Aare == Tributaries ==