Appenzell, Switzerland

Hans, Rather than just stop for 2-3 hours, you might consider staying at least one night in Appenzell so you can have a look around. I was there last year, and really enjoyed my stay (except for the rain). During the summer, concerts with local bands are offered one night a week (if I remember correctly, Thursday night). While in that area you could also take the Cable Car up to Ebenalp, and visit www.aescher-ai.ch/ (if you're adventurous, you could stay overnight there). Happy travels!

We loved Appenzall to and we took the cable car to Ebenalp and visited the cheese factory. We spent all day there!

What is "a bit out of the way"?

The Appenzell cheese factory is also very interesting to see. For a free admission, you are allowed to walk through the factory, at your own pace, and view the cheese making process. My son spent several hours watching it. Of course, at the end, is a souvenir shop with the pugent cheese and accessories for sale. This is a beautiful region of Switzerland with green rolling hills. Lots of B&Bs in the area for an overnight stay. Have fun.!

Thanks one and all for your replies!!! Hans

Just to toss you an native point of view, I'd say bypass Appenzell. While it IS picturesque (the town AND the canton), it is extremely touristy and lacks a bit of authenticity. Last time I was there, the many of the people in the group walked around a bit and then literally went to wait for the bus to pick them up. If you do go, though, your notion of 2-3 hours is sufficient!

My hubby & I didn't have a good time in Appenzell. We got horribly lost in the pouring rain trying to find Haus Lydia. We had the upstairs room w/the WC across the hall.I hit my head HARD twice w/the sloped ceilings & ended up w/a severe concussion. The area food prices were expensive. We spent >$50 fora soup & salad dinner.

Debbie Sorry to hear about your accident. How were the Swiss medical folk? Did the hospital have private rooms or open wards?

@ Debbie, Sorry to hear about your unpleasant experiences in Appenzell. Hopefully you recovered quickly. During my stay in Appenzell last year, the weather was miserable and rainy so I wasn't able to see as much as I had hoped. I had planned to spend one night at Ebenalp, but the locals said they were expecting SNOW there in June, so I didn't make it there. However, as it turned out my visit to Appenzell worked out fine. As it happened, the town was having some kind of a large medieval festival for several days to commemorate the town burning to the ground a number of years ago. The local residents were all dressed up in period costumes, including helmets and spears, and there were a LOT of events happening at the time including music concerts. I had no idea there were Swiss Bagpipers, so found that very interesting! However, the weather just wasn't improving so I decided to head for Lucerne one day early, as I knew there would be more "indoor" activities to keep me occupied there. I hope to return to Appenzell on a future trip and hopefully make it to Ebenalp.

Thank you one and all. It turns out that during the weekend of Aug 6 - Aug 8 there is going to be in Appenzell a folk music festival. We have attended a similar festival, that time a yodeling and alpenhorn festival, several years ago in a small town near Bern, and it turned out to be as pure folk as they come (very few tourists, almost no use of the German language, only Swiss Duetch, real pure folk music etc.). Based on that experience we have decided to spend at least one day in Appenzell during that weekend. Again thank you all. Hans

Thanks for the concern over my concussion. I'm actually a 2x brain surgery survivor & a RN. Consequently due to my weakened skull, I have concussions about 2-3x/year & self treat unless I become unconscious. I slept whenever I could the remainder of the trip & put up w/the pain/nausea/vomitting, etc... as this was a trip of a lifetime & I couldn't afford to be sick.