Appenzell or Chur

The area around Appenzell is pretty dairy country with green rolling hills. The town itself is very attractive. I remember waking up to the sound of cow bells as the cows were led through town. There may or may not be some odor from the cow pastures; I simply do not remember.

Unlike Appenzell, Chur is in mountainous country, so I think your choice depends to a considerable degree on what sort of environment you're looking for. I haven't been to Chur. I headed there on one spur-of-the-moment jaunt and encountered snow (in June). I chose to turn back rather than dealing with weather for which my wardrobe wasn't prepared.

My Ticino time has been spent mostly in and around Lugano. We're talking decades ago, at which point Lugano was livelier and felt more stereotypically Italian to me, whereas Locarno was more old-line-resort-for-wealthy-British-tourists. That may not have been a fair characterization even then, but it was my impression. Locarno has transportation advantages, for sure. There's a very nice PostBus ride up the Valle Verzasca, for example. And the Centovalli train ride to Domodossola in Italy is quite interesting.

From Lugano I enjoyed day-trips to Gandria and Morcote.

I've not been to Ascona at all. On trips through Bellinzona I've often thought that it looked like a nice, not especially touristy, town. It has multiple castles.

I have visited Chur on a day trip from a mountain resort and while I would have gladly spent a couple of hours more there, it is not so attractive to grant a much longer stay. I do not know Appenzell, but for its cheese. I would prefer St. Gallen that is a nice little city with more attraction, first of them the old library with incredible ancient books.

As for the Italian side, Locarno and Lugano are fairly similar. Ascona maybe worth a couple hours from Locarno, the beautiful seaside area is not large. Bellinzona relatively uninteresting.

Since lachera mentioned St. Gallen: I visited it very briefly. I assume that it is the place for "sights", but I found Appenzell more attractive to look at. St. Gallen may have better transportation connections; I haven't checked.

I've been to both and my suggestion would definitely be Appenzell. It's a smaller town with an interesting culture. There are some good hiking opportunities in the area, including Ebenalp and this.....

http://www.aescher-ai.ch/