Appenzell

Appenzell is a small town in a green upland of dairy farms in the north-east, and it is the most self-consciously traditional place in Switzerland — not as a performance for visitors, but because that is genuinely how the canton runs itself.

The Landsgemeinde

On the last Sunday in April, the citizens of Appenzell Innerrhoden gather in the town square and vote by raising their hands.

It is not ceremonial. This is the canton’s legislature: laws are passed, taxes set and officials elected in the open air, by a show of hands counted by eye, in front of everyone. Men traditionally attend wearing a sword or bayonet as proof of citizenship.

It is one of only two cantons that still do this, and it is open to watch from the edge.

The other half of that history is less charming: Appenzell Innerrhoden was the last canton in Switzerland to give women the vote in cantonal matters, and it did so in 1990 — not by choice, but because the Federal Supreme Court ordered it. Women had already had the federal vote since 1971.

The town

One long main street of houses painted in strong colours with signs, figures and dates across the fronts, and shops selling cheese, embroidery and the local herbal liqueur.

It is small — you see it in an hour — and it is the reason the town is on the list of the ten most beautiful towns.

The Appenzeller Volkskunde-Museum covers the local farmer painting, a naive style with cattle processions and farms, which is the canton’s own art form and rather good.

Ebenalp and the Aescher

Half an hour away, a cable car climbs to Ebenalp at 1,640 m, and from the top a path leads through a cave — the Wildkirchli, inhabited in the Palaeolithic and later a hermitage — and out to the Aescher, a guesthouse built directly against a vertical cliff with the rock as its back wall.

The Aescher has been photographed to death, appeared on a National Geographic cover and become one of the most recognisable buildings in Switzerland. It is fifteen minutes’ walk from the lift and the walk is easy.

The Seealpsee, a lake in a bowl below, is an hour further down and is the other classic image of the region.

The cheese and the drink

Appenzeller cheese is washed during ripening in a herbal brine whose recipe is genuinely secret — held by a handful of people, and the marketing has made an industry of the mystery. It is one of the strongest Swiss cheeses.

The Schaukäserei at Stein shows the making; see cheese dairies.

Alpenbitter is the local herbal liqueur, and Appenzeller beer is the one Swiss beer that travels.

The cattle processions

Alpfahrt in late May or June, and Alpabfahrt in September: the herds move up to and down from the summer pasture, the lead cows in flower headdresses and heavy bells, the herders in yellow breeches and red waistcoats, singing.

It is free, entirely genuine, and among the best things to see in Switzerland. Dates are published by the tourist office and depend on the grass.

Getting there

• By train — Zurich about two hours via Gossau or St. Gallen; St. Gallen 45 minutes on a narrow-gauge line.
• By car — straightforward, but the trains here are part of the pleasure.

When to go

Late April for the Landsgemeinde. June to October for walking and the Ebenalp. September for the cattle coming down.

Winter is quiet, with cross-country skiing on the plateau and the small Ebenalp ski area.