Aarau, Switzerland

Aarau is the capital of the northern Swiss canton of Aargau. The city is also the capital of the district of Aarau. It is German-speaking and predominantly Protestant. Aarau is situated on the Swiss plateau, in the valley of the Aar, on the river's right bank, and at the southern foot of the Jura mountains, and is west of Zurich. The municipality borders directly on the Canton of Solothurn to the west. It is the third-largest city in Aargau after Wettingen and Baden. At the beginning of 2010 Rohr became a suburb of Aarau.

The old city of Aarau is situated on a rocky outcropping at a narrowing of the Aar river valley, at the southern foot of the Jura mountains. Newer districts of the city lie to the south and east of the outcropping, as well as higher up the mountain, and in the valley on both sides of the Aar. The neighboring municipalities are Küttigen to the north, Rohr and Buchs to the east, Suhr to the south-east, Unterentfelden to the south, and Eppenberg-Wöschnau and Erlinsbach to the west. Aarau and the nearby neighboring municipalities have grown together and now form an interconnected agglomeration. The only exceptions are Unterentfelden and Eppenberg-Wöschnau to the south, whose settlements are divided from Aarau by the expansive forests of Gönhard and Zelgli. Approximately nine tenths of the city is south of the Aar, and one tenth is to the north. It has an area, as of 2006, of 8.9 km2 (3.4 sq mi). Of this area, 6.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 34% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 55.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (4.5%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). The lowest elevation, 365 metres (1,198 ft), is found at the banks of the Aar, and the highest elevation, at 471 metres (1,545 ft), is the Hungerberg on the border with Küttigen.