Switzerland and Germany Day 7

Start of day: Zermatt, Switzerland
End of day: Appenzell, Switzerland

This was our first of two truly long train days. I’m not even counting the Zurich->Wengen or Wengen->Zermatt days. Sleepy boy with his head down on a train table. In the background, there's a view from Swiss train window showing green meadows and mountains, with a travel pillow resting on the window ledge

We took the 8:37am train out of Zermatt¹, made a bunch of transfers, and finally made it to Appenzell around 2pm.

From the train station we had a short 8 minute, mostly downhill, walk to our hotel. Amenity-wise, the Adler Hotel in Appenzell was a step down from the Albatros in Zermatt, but both of us agreed that we didn’t really mind. It was a decent location and had a balcony for me to read while Rowan gamed with friends. It was near the high street of Appenzell where the restaurants and shops are. The hotel restaurant was closed for a few days; the hotel overall probably would’ve felt more lively if it had been open.

Adler Hotel in Appenzell at dusk, featuring distinctive curved facade with yellow awnings and mountains visible behind

View from hotel balcony showing feet propped up with e-reader, overlooking colorful Swiss houses and mountains

Cozy reading nook at Adler Hotel with wooden bookshelf, wicker chair, and natural light from window

What started as a gray day started to clear late afternoon and the beauty of the surrounding area started to grow on me. Appenzell was planned simply as a midpoint to break up what would’ve been a 9+ hour train day as we transited from Zermatt to Füssen, but now I think I would return and try to do some activities in the area. I mean, look at this!

Having more time, I would take the ~17 minute train to Wasserauen and then take the lift up. I might even consider staying at the Aescher Inn (photo), the very Instagrammable hotel/restaurant built into a cliff, but that would need to be a backpack not rolling-suitcase trip.

We walked up and down the main street and finally ate at Café-Hotel Appenzell, where we both enjoyed the weinerschnitzel (not pictured) and fries. Golden french fries served on a wooden board with a silver serving spoon

Here are some other views from around central Appenzell:

Yellow bench with German text 'Wie geht's dir?' near a fountain in Appenzell's town square, with traditional Swiss buildings in the background

Person in black t-shirt looking toward Appenzell town center with Swiss and regional flags flying above traditional buildings and mountains in the distance

Curved green metal benches in an Appenzell town square with traditional half-timbered buildings

Cobblestone square in Appenzell with large tree framing view of rolling green hills and a church tower

Evening view of Appenzell showing yellow traditional buildings, church with white tower, and mountain backdrop with people walking

Traditional Swiss painted building facade in Appenzell with ornate decorative panels and Bazar Elite shop at street level

After dinner we wandered down to the supermarket for some snack provisions for the trains tomorrow, including my favorite: Hand holding a package of Pågen Gifflar cinnamon rolls with Swedish flag, in front of a bakery display case

Tomorrow: what else? More trains.

Footnotes:

We actually had to scurry for this. We’d planned to talk it but upon trying to check out we discovered the reception person was running an errand and we couldn’t check out. This 10 minute hiccup would’ve messed us up but they were nice enough to run us down to the station after helping us settle the bill. ↩

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