Appenzell travel guide

Why visit Appenzell

Switzerland has many charming villages, but Appenzell is something different. The capital of the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden — the smallest and, by some measures, the most traditional canton in Switzerland — sits in a valley of rolling green hills where cows outnumber cars, where every external wall of the main street’s buildings is covered in elaborate painted decoration, and where the annual Landsgemeinde (open-air democratic assembly) is held in the town square with citizens voting by raised hand, as they have done since the Middle Ages.

The town itself is small — around 6,000 people — but extraordinarily concentrated. The Hauptgasse (main street) is lined with painted facades depicting local traditions, heraldic symbols, and scenes from Appenzell history. The town hall, the St Mauritius parish church, and the covered wooden bridge over the Sitter river create a tableau of Swiss tradition that is entirely unironic. This is not a museum of what Switzerland used to be; people actually live this way.

Appenzell is also famous for its cheese. The Appenzeller cheese produced in the canton is one of Switzerland’s most distinctive — washed with a herbal brine whose exact recipe has been a closely guarded secret for seven centuries — and the local restaurants serve it in every form: fondue, raclette, toasted on Gschwellti (jacket potatoes), or simply sliced and accompanied by local bread and a glass of the local beer.

Full-day Appenzell tour from Zurich — an efficient way to combine the town, the cheese culture, and the Ebenalp in a single guided day from the city.

Getting to Appenzell

By train

Appenzell is served by the Appenzeller Bahnen regional railway network. The most direct route from Zurich runs via St Gallen: take the Zurich–St Gallen train (around 1 hour), then the regional train from St Gallen to Appenzell (around 40 minutes). Total journey from Zurich: approximately 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes. The Swiss Travel Pass covers all these services.

From St Gallen, a narrower and more scenic option is the Appenzeller Bahnen train from the Trogenerbahn terminus — a slower but charming ride through the rolling Appenzell landscape. Check the connection times at St Gallen before choosing this option.

By car

Appenzell is approximately 75 kilometres from Zurich by motorway (A1 to St Gallen, then regional road) — around 1 hour by car. Parking is available in the town centre and in a larger car park near the railway station.

Top things to do in Appenzell

Walk the Hauptgasse

Appenzell’s main street is the most photogenic street in eastern Switzerland and quite possibly in all of Switzerland. Every building facade is painted with elaborate designs — flower patterns, heraldic motifs, ochre-and-red decorative schemes, and murals depicting local traditions. The effect is completely distinct from any other Swiss town, and the consistency of the decoration (maintained by strict cantonal design rules) gives the street a unified character that feels both authentic and slightly theatrical.

The street is pedestrianised and best walked slowly, reading the facades and stopping at the bakeries (the Biberli — a spiced honey pastry — is the local specialty) and the cheese shops. The Appenzell Museum at the end of the main street covers the history, traditions, and craft heritage of the canton in a well-presented permanent exhibition.

Visit Ebenalp

The Ebenalp cable car, departing from Wasserauen (30 minutes by train from Appenzell), rises to a clifftop at 1,644 metres — a limestone plateau with sheer drops on one side and open alpine meadows on the other. The main attraction at the top is the Wildkirchli hermitage: a series of natural caves in the cliff face that were inhabited by hermit monks from the seventeenth century and contain a tiny cave chapel that is still in use. A short trail from the cable car station leads along the cliff edge to the hermitage, with views straight down to the valley floor far below.

Below the hermitage, the famous Äscher Guesthouse clings to the cliff face in a position of vertiginous drama — built directly into the rock overhang, with a terrace looking over the Appenzell valley. It was briefly the most-photographed place in Switzerland after a National Geographic image went viral. The food (cheese, sausage, rösti, local cider) is good, the setting is extraordinary, and on clear days the view extends across eastern Switzerland to the Austrian Alps.

The walk from Ebenalp across the Seealpsee lake to Wasserauen takes around 2 hours and is one of the better easy alpine walks in the region — the Seealpsee lake is a mirror-flat body of water surrounded by meadows and farmhouses, with the Säntis massif visible above.

Taste Appenzeller cheese

A trip to Appenzell without engaging with the cheese would be a missed opportunity. The Schaukäserei (show dairy) at Stein, a 20-minute drive from Appenzell town, offers guided tours of the Appenzeller cheese-making process and tastings of the various maturity grades — from mild (three months) to extra (at least six months, with a considerably more pungent herbal character). The herbal brine wash — applied to the exterior of each wheel throughout the maturation process — is visible as a rust-brown rind, and the exact recipe of the brine remains a trade secret.

In the town itself, the Appenzeller Schaubrauerei (the local brewery) produces beers that are worth trying with the cheese.

Attend the Landsgemeinde

If you visit on the last Sunday of April, you will see one of the most remarkable political events in Europe. The Landsgemeinde of Appenzell Innerrhoden is an open-air cantonal assembly at which every eligible voter can speak, debate, and cast their vote — not by secret ballot but by raising their right hand in the town square. It is one of the oldest forms of direct democracy still in practice anywhere in the world.

The event is a public occasion that visitors are welcome to observe (from the designated viewing areas). The sight of thousands of people voting collectively in an open square, many wearing traditional dress, is profoundly unusual in the twenty-first century.

Explore Appenzell’s hiking trails

The rolling hill country around Appenzell — the Alpstein region — has an extensive network of walking trails through meadows, farms, and forested ridges. The country is gentler than the high Alps of the Valais or Bernese Oberland, making it accessible to a wider range of walkers. The ridge walk from Ebenalp across to the Säntis (2,502 metres, the highest peak in the Appenzell Alps, reached by cable car from Schwägalp) is a full-day crossing for fit walkers with alpine experience.

For easier options, the trail network around the Seealpsee and through the Appenzell valley farms takes walkers past traditional farmhouses, cheese cellars, and the kind of agricultural landscape that has been the basis of Appenzell’s culture and economy for centuries.

Discover Appenzell embroidery

Appenzell is also famous for its traditional embroidery — Appenzell whitework, a style of intricate needlework that was exported across Europe in the nineteenth century. Several shops in the town sell both traditional and contemporary embroidery, and the regional museum includes a significant collection of historical examples. The craft is still practised by a small number of artisans in the canton; demonstrations are sometimes arranged through the tourist office.

Where to stay in Appenzell

Appenzell has a number of traditional hotels in the town centre. The Hotel Säntis on the Landsgemeindeplatz (the main square where the Landsgemeinde is held) is the most characterful — a historic property with painted facade and a restaurant serving local food. The Hotel Traube and Hotel Hecht are reliable mid-range options. For those wanting to stay nearer the mountains, guesthouses and farms in the valleys around the Seealpsee and Ebenalp offer a more rural experience.

Where to eat and drink

Appenzell’s food is definitively Swiss and definitively local. Every restaurant in town serves Appenzeller cheese in some form. The Gasthaus Hof is a reliable address for fondue and local meat dishes. The restaurant at the Hotel Säntis is good for a more formal dinner. The Äscher Guesthouse on the Ebenalp cliff is worth a lunch visit purely for the setting.

The local cider (Apfelmost) is the alternative to wine in this part of Switzerland — apple orchards are common in the Appenzell landscape, and the unfiltered cider has a dry, earthy character that pairs well with the local cheese.

Day trips from Appenzell

St Gallen

The city of St Gallen, 40 minutes by train, is home to one of the most extraordinary Baroque libraries in Europe — the Stiftsbibliothek of the Abbey of St Gall, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The library hall, dating from the eighteenth century, contains over 170,000 volumes and manuscripts in a space of overwhelming decorative richness.

Rorschach and Lake Constance

Lake Constance (Bodensee), shared between Switzerland, Germany, and Austria, is reachable from St Gallen in around 20 minutes by train. The lakeside town of Rorschach is a pleasant destination for a half-day, and boat services cross the lake to the German and Austrian shores.

Practical tips for visiting Appenzell

The Äscher Guesthouse at Ebenalp is extremely popular and often fully booked at weekends from May through September. Arrive early (cable car opens at 8am) or visit midweek. Lunch reservations can be made by phone.

The Appenzeller Bahnen regional trains are covered by the Swiss Travel Pass. The Ebenalp cable car from Wasserauen is not fully covered but receives a discount for pass holders.

For budget travellers, Appenzell represents good value by Swiss standards — the town is less tourist-priced than mountain resorts, the food is straightforward Swiss-country cooking at honest prices, and a full day including the cable car and lunch at the Äscher costs significantly less than an equivalent day in Grindelwald or Zermatt.

The Swiss Travel Pass offers excellent value for an eastern Switzerland day trip from Zurich that combines Appenzell with St Gallen. For a broader eastern Switzerland and 7-day Switzerland itinerary, Appenzell pairs well with Schaffhausen and the Rhine Falls to cover the distinct cultural character of German-speaking eastern Switzerland.