Kultur und Käse: A Snowy Day in Switzerland’s Appenzellerland

Into the heart of Appenzell

Despite Switzerland’s small size and remarkably efficient train system, mountains block nearly every straight-line path, leaving some destinations more accessible than others. Technically two half Cantons, Appenzell-Innerrhoden and Appenzell-Ausserrhoden, Appenzell sits like an elevated island surrounded by the Canton of St. Gallen in the far east of Switzerland.

Appenzell is more than 4 hours away from the Berner Oberland by train, so while many of our One Year: 26 Canton trips work out as long day trips, Appenzell is just a bit too far. Piggybacking off work trips and family visits, we planned a weekend getaway to this mountain hideout in late April.

Unfortunately, sometimes you have to be willing to pivot quickly here. Our plan to soak in epic mountain views in Appenzell was pretty quickly quashed by a freak April snowstorm that landed right on top of our visit. Nonetheless, we made the most of our time, substituting the mountains for a heavy dose of culture, cheese, and winter punch and I am not upset in the least that we did.

I am not sure we would have had the same experience if we had just raced straight up to the mountains. Appenzell is a land where time has stood still, where tradition, culture, and relaxed mountain vibes remain a staple of life but I think you really need to slow down to see that. We hope you enjoy this latest installment of One Year: 26 Cantons.

To Urnäsch, the Cultural Hub of Appenzell Ausserrhoden

The main town of Urnäsch with the local museum taking up a few of the buildings

I have been in my fair share of local museums around the world (in fact, at one point I lived in one…) and there tends to be fairly common themes across them, agriculture and a wide selection of random objects collected or donated across the years. While the museum in Urnäsch doesn’t completely break the mold, it does an exceptionally better job than most at interpretation. There is a fun introduction video to start then well-appointed exhibits that draw you straight into Appenzell culture. An especially entertaining floor is almost completely dedicated to music and lets you try your hand at many of the instruments.

From our hotel near the main station in St. Gallen it was only a short 15-minute ride on the train into Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Another 25-minute replacement bus ride from Herisau got us to our first stop in the tiny village of Urnäsch in the heart of Appenzell Ausserhoden.

As we stepped off the bus in Urnäsch, the snow began to fall. This was in stark contrast to the week prior where we walked through the Lauterbrunnen Valley in T-shirts, but so goes the roller coaster of Spring weather in Switzerland. Actually, depending on who you ask here, you might think that this is either totally normal or completely unheard of weather for April. I think the reality is probably both. In the past, April may have been a bit more steady but dramatic swings are likely to become a new normal under a changing climate.

Cultural and musical traditions at the Appenzeller Brauchtumsmuseum

The Appenzeller Brauchtumsmuseum benefits from quite an exceptionally well-preserved local cultural scene. Here are just a few of the major annual events in Urnäsch: On December 31st and January 13th Urnäsch and its surroundings host Silvesterchlausen, where groups of Schöne (beautiful), Wüeschte (wild and fairly terrifying) and Schö-Wüeschte (somewhere in between) Chläus (klauses) go door to door yodeling and ringing in the new year. Later, in February, it’s time for the Urnäscher Mannebloch where the men of Urnäsch chop down a huge tree, decorate it, then pull it through the surrounding towns billowing smoke. In late Spring, it’s time for Öberfahre, the traditional departure of shepherds and livestock up into the high pastures of the Alps which sees the town out in its finest traditional attire and the cow’s adorned with their biggest and poshest bells. By mid-summer, it’s time for Sennenball and Stobeten, both traditional music and dance events. At the end of summer, the cows return (in equally dramatic fashion to their departure) for the annual Livestock show. And, soon enough, it’s time to restart the cycle.

An array of traditional Sylvesterchlausen costumes at the Appenzeller Brauchtumsmuseum

The only thing seemingly glazed over at the museum is some of the downsides to Appenzell’s tradition and cultural preservation. Many of these traditions parade alongside quite conservative (most would call them antiquated) values surrounding federalism and the roles and rights of women. For example, Appenzell Ausserrhoden only extended women’s suffrage at the cantonal level in 1989. One might find this shocking, only to learn that Appenzell Innerhoden, just down the road, had to be forced by federal mandate in 1991 to extend women the vote... not a great look.

To be fair, while much of the world thinks of Switzerland as a bastion of direct democracy, the country as a whole has remained astonishingly behind most of the developed world in terms of social rights. On the federal level women were only granted the right to a vote in 1971, more than 50 years after most of the western world.

While the weather may or may not be changing here more frequently, one thing is certain, Urnäsch is unlikely to be making drastic changes any time soon. The population of this small farming village has stayed more or less constant for the last 200 years and its 2000 or so residents are passionate about preserving their culture and traditions.

Since 1976, the sleepy main street of Urnäsch, made up of just a few lovely old buildings, has played host to the purpose of our visit, the Museum für Appenzeller Brauchtum. Translated, this is the Appenzell Museum of Folk Art and Traditions which tells the tale of cultural life in Appenzell across a deceivingly large layout that spans, what seems to be, most of the conjoined old buildings in the Urnäsch town center.

A mix of spring and winter vibes in Urnäsch

Crossing the Divide into Appenzell Innerrhoden

By the time we left the museum in Urnäsch the snow was starting to properly dump, and we popped into a small coffee shop near the train station for a bit of warmth while we waited for the train to Appenzell. In proper Urnäsch fashion, the small shop was packed and echoed with sounds of folk music played by three young girls in full traditional Appenzeller garb. While the playing was excellent, the looks on these teens faces suggested they would rather be anywhere on earth than in front of the heaps of onlookers crowding the shop. I am not sure what that says for the future of culture in Appenzell, but we didn’t linger long enough to find out. Next stop Appenzell Innerrhodden.

The train to Appenzell, the town for which the Cantons are named, takes all of 15 minutes crossing forests and farm fields. A quick look at the map and the landscape going by out the window offered no good explanation for the schism of these two half-cantons which separated in the early 1500’s. The border goes over hill and dale, crossing rivers at odd angles, striking through farm fields, and up mountain peaks.

As with all six of Switzerland’s half-cantons (the other four being Basel-Stadt, Basel-Land, Obwalden, and Nidwalden), you need to look to the history books to find a suitably detailed answer to why there are two Cantons, but in these other cases the geography foretells the answer. Basel Stadt or city is separated from the Landschaft, or rural landscape as the result of a brief civil war in the 19th Century while Obwalden and Nidwalden sit in two separate valleys.

Appenzell’s split was rooted in the Reformation. As we discussed at length after our visit to Geneva, the new religion splintered Switzerland into a patchwork quilt of Catholic and Protestant Cantons but, in Appenzell, the divide was more contentious. In an effort to preserve the peace, in April 1525 the Landesgemeinde (we will touch on that in a moment) voted to let each parish in Appenzell choose its faith.

The result, Appenzell Ausserrhoden would practice Protestantism while Appenzell Innerrhoden would practice Catholicism. While the peace largely held, there were continued attempts to make all of Appenzell Protestant until 1531 and the conclusion of the Second War of Kappel, one of Switzerland’s several religious civil wars (a good discussion for another day).

View from the train between Urnäsch and Appenzell

Direct Democracy in the Streets of Appenzell

The edge of Landesgemeindeplatz in Appenzell

After changing our plans at the last minute, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect on arriving in Appenzell. The snow was still falling pretty heavy and we headed straight for the town center in search of some lunch.

Appenzell seems to have an outsized number of bakeries on its main street and we pretty quickly found a seat. Warmed back up by some nice soup, Zwiebel-Wähe or onion tart, and a pastry for dessert, we were ready to explore the town. By that point we had a lull in the snow making for a nicer tromp around the town.

Just around the corner from the bakery, we found ourselves in Landsgemeindeplatz, the site of the annual Landsgemeinde in Appenzell Innerrhoden. This purest of direct democracies, where all eligible voters converge on the main town square and vote on legally binding propositions in public by a show of hands, was once the model for voting across much of Switzerland. Today, only two Landsgemeinde remain, one here in Appenzell Innerrhoden and the other in the Canton of Glarus.

On the last Sunday in April, guards block the entrance to the center of Landsgemeindeplatz checking the credentials of eligible voters. Voters have two options for showing their eligibility. They can either show their paper voting card (so this century…), or their “side rifle” typically a sword or saber passed down through the family over the generations.

Unfortunately, we were a couple of weeks too early to see the Landsgemeinde in action, but I am told it is quite the spectacle. Perhaps next year…

Appenzeller Exports

While you can pace most of Appenzell’s main town center in about 15 minutes, there are quite a few nice stops along the way to keep you busy. From the Landsgemeinde square we headed down Appenzell’s narrow main street, Hauptgasse towards St. Mauritius church.

Hauptgasse is lovely, lined with buildings thoughtfully decorated in true Appenzeller style. After a brief wander around the church, and a look at its impressive tower, we crossed a bridge over the river to Appenzeller Brauerei, the producers of Quöllfrisch, a ubiquitous light beer that can be found in supermarkets across Switzerland.

Formally, Brauerei Locher Aktiengesellschaft, the Appenzeller brewery was founded in 1810 and changed hands several times but has remained locally owned throughout. The outside of the building looks nice, but we honestly weren’t expecting much and only poked our heads in the door as an afterthought. In the end, I am quite glad that we did.

The inside of the brewery is far more spacious than the outside lets on. The older part of the facility has a small shop and bar that lets you peruse limited edition brews and, of course, try a few of the beers on tap. The former cellars down a few steps are now home to a small movie theater playing a cartoon about the beer making process and some of the historic equipment used to make Appenzeller beer is on display.

From next to the bar, a revolving door grants you free access to the newer facility where you can observe the modern beer making and bottling process from a small catwalk. All in all, a nice stop, and the best part, with the exception of the drinking, it was completely free.

Views from all around Appenzell

From the brewery we headed back up through the town center towards Appenzeller Käse, Appenzell’s other famous export. The cheese shop is not as well appointed as the brewery but none-the-less offers some free samples of Appenzeller cheese and the opportunity to purchase a slice. To be honest, Appenzeller is not my favorite Swiss cheese but, in a land where dairy reigns supreme, it’s easier to be a bit picky.

From Appenzell, it takes about 45 minutes to get back to St. Gallen as the train deceivingly loops back and forth to all the different little towns in Appenzell making it seem like the Canton is much bigger than it really is. All up, we had a lovely day in Appenzell. I am keen to go back and see some of the mountains but for now, I am content with a good slice of Swiss tradition.

We hope you enjoyed hearing about our trip to Appenzell, if you liked this post, you may be interested in checking out some of the other articles in our series One Year: 26 Cantons. If you are into learning more about Swiss culture, I recommend our post on Fastnacht, Carnival in Basel!

Until next time, gute Reise, and feel free to leave a comment on our social media!

Inside the Appenzeller Brewery in Appenzell

Odd looking Schloss Appenzell (left) next to Kloster Maria der Engel (right) on the edge of the Appenzell old town

Across the street from the cheese store is quirky-looking Appenzell Castle which is, unfortunately, not open to the public, and a small monastery that sells a delightful Winter Punch syrup in their tiny shop. Bellies warmed by some free samples of punch, we had the constitution for another lap of the town in the now dumping snow but by the time we came back around to the cheese shop we were both ready for the warmth of the train ride back to St. Gallen.

Appenzeller Käse at the edge of the Appenzell old town