Aare Gorge

The Aare Gorge is a section of the river Aare that carves through a limestone ridge near the town of Meiringen, in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. The gorge is an indirect product of glaciation; 10,000 years ago, just as the Ice Age was coming to an end, torrential runoff water from melting glaciers eroded a deep, narrow chasm through the limestone barrier. Although barely 2 kilometres long, this passage is bordered by sheer cliffs up to 50 m high on either side. The gorge varies in width from some 30 metres at its widest to just 1 metre at its narrowest.

The gorge is a popular tourist attraction, many visitors attracted by the nearby Reichenbach Falls, which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle selected as the setting for Sherlock Holmes' murder by Professor Moriarty.