Appenzell Day Trip from Zurich: Alpine Villages and Swiss Traditions

Appenzell is Switzerland at its most concentrated and characterful — a canton so small, so deeply conservative, and so proudly distinct from the rest of the confederation that it only granted women the vote in 1990 (the last Swiss canton to do so). As a day trip from Zurich, it offers an immersion in Swiss rural traditions, extraordinary Alpine scenery, and some of the country's finest dairy produce in a setting that could have been unchanged for two centuries.

The journey by train takes around 1.5 hours from Zurich Hauptbahnhof with one change at Gossau or Herisau. The town centre of Appenzell itself is tiny but beautifully preserved, with painted houses, a central square dominated by the magnificent town hall, and a clutch of restaurants serving Appenzeller cheese fondue, Siedwurst sausage, and Mostbröckli air-dried beef that represent the region's culinary heritage.

The real Appenzell revelation is the Alpstein massif above the town. Cable cars ascend to Ebenalp and its famous Äscher Cliff Restaurant — a 170-year-old guesthouse built into a cliff face that may be the most dramatically located restaurant in Europe. Book weeks ahead for summer visits; winter visits offer the Wildkirchli cave church instead.