This summer (Summer 2024), while my husband and I were taking a month-long trip back in Europe, we returned to Switzerland for a scenic summer hike. In 2022, we were supposed to enjoy the spring landscape in the Jungfrau region, also in Switzerland, but we ended up with a snowy winter experience due to a sudden cold wave. Since then, we’ve been eagerly planning this hiking trip in the Appenzell region (Appenzell Innerrhoden) since early 2023, and it exceeded our expectations by a lot!
We chose to stay in the town of Appenzell because it’s the largest town in the area, offering a wide variety of hotels and restaurants for tourists to choose from. Most importantly, it’s easy and fast to get to any hiking point within 20-30 minutes.
In this series of hiking adventure blogs, I am going to cover:
- The Town of Appenzell
- The First Hike: Äscher – Ebenalp Mountainside – Seealpsee
- The Second Hike: Sämtisersee – Fählensee – Saxer Lücke
Bear with me, as in this blog, I am going to introduce you to the Town of Appenzell.
The SBB Bahn S23 goes from Gossau to Appenzell every half an hour. If you are taking trains from elsewhere, you might need to connect via St. Gallen or Gossau. For updated and detailed information, please consult SBB’s official website.
We chose to stay at Hotel Löwen, a hotel just a 3-minute walk from the train station. Since we stayed 3 consecutive nights at that hotel, we received the Appenzell Card, which the front desk told us allows free access to local transportation and cable cars. We also received free kitchen towels as part of this benefit. Please visit the Official Website for all the benefits of this card.
This cute little town features typical house styles with colorful exteriors, some furnished with paintings presenting either stories from the Bible or local traditions and activities. These reminded me of the towns we saw in Bayern, particularly Oberammergau.
Since this town mainly serves as a tourist stop, I guess, there are various shops on Hauptgasse (the main street) selling unique local items as well as souvenirs. You will also find cafes and restaurants everywhere in town. Like in other German-speaking areas, many of the restaurants are part of hotels, so don’t be surprised if Google directs you to a hotel.
If you cross the river to the other side of town, you are likely to find Hallenbad, a public water facility where you can swim, enjoy a sauna, or get a massage. Returning to the main side of town, there’s also a museum and a castle to explore.
I consider Appenzell the perfect base for challenging hikes because you can find almost everything you need here to rest and recover. And as I mentioned earlier, the convenient transportation means we can get to nearly any hiking spot from here. After all, it’s important not to worry about anything else while traveling.
In the next part of this blog series, I am going to take you on the first hike we did. Stay tuned!
Exploring Appenzell: Your Base for Swiss Mountain Hikes
This summer (Summer 2024), while my husband and I were taking a month-long trip back in Europe, we returned to Switzerland for a scenic summer hike. In 2022, we were supposed to enjoy the spring landscape in the Jungfrau region, also in Switzerland, but we ended up with a snowy winter experience due to a sudden cold wave. Since then, we’ve been eagerly planning this hiking trip in the Appenzell region (Appenzell Innerrhoden) since early 2023, and it exceeded our expectations by a lot!
We chose to stay in the town of Appenzell because it’s the largest town in the area, offering a wide variety of hotels and restaurants for tourists to choose from. Most importantly, it’s easy and fast to get to any hiking point within 20-30 minutes.
In this series of hiking adventure blogs, I am going to cover:
- The Town of Appenzell
- The First Hike: Äscher – Ebenalp Mountainside – Seealpsee
- The Second Hike: Sämtisersee – Fählensee – Saxer Lücke
Bear with me, as in this blog, I am going to introduce you to the Town of Appenzell.
The SBB Bahn S23 goes from Gossau to Appenzell every half an hour. If you are taking trains from elsewhere, you might need to connect via St. Gallen or Gossau. For updated and detailed information, please consult SBB’s official website.
We chose to stay at Hotel Löwen, a hotel just a 3-minute walk from the train station. Since we stayed 3 consecutive nights at that hotel, we received the Appenzell Card, which the front desk told us allows free access to local transportation and cable cars. We also received free kitchen towels as part of this benefit. Please visit the Official Website for all the benefits of this card.
This cute little town features typical house styles with colorful exteriors, some furnished with paintings presenting either stories from the Bible or local traditions and activities. These reminded me of the towns we saw in Bayern, particularly Oberammergau.
Since this town mainly serves as a tourist stop, I guess, there are various shops on Hauptgasse (the main street) selling unique local items as well as souvenirs. You will also find cafes and restaurants everywhere in town. Like in other German-speaking areas, many of the restaurants are part of hotels, so don’t be surprised if Google directs you to a hotel.
If you cross the river to the other side of town, you are likely to find Hallenbad, a public water facility where you can swim, enjoy a sauna, or get a massage. Returning to the main side of town, there’s also a museum and a castle to explore.
I consider Appenzell the perfect base for challenging hikes because you can find almost everything you need here to rest and recover. And as I mentioned earlier, the convenient transportation means we can get to nearly any hiking spot from here. After all, it’s important not to worry about anything else while traveling.
In the next part of this blog series, I am going to take you on the first hike we did. Stay tuned!