Appenzell’s Iconic Cliff Restaurant

If you are travelling through Switzerland and you are looking for a truly Swiss experience you will definitely like the trip my husband and I did last weekend. We’ve had a friend from the States over for 3 weeks and we wanted to show him some unique places of Switzerland. Since Appenzell is close to my parents we spent the night with them and then in the morning drove the car to Wasserauen. There you can take the gondola to the top of the mountain where you get to do a short 10 minute hike downhill to the restaurant Äscher. What is so special about it, you ask? Well, it is halfway built into the giant mountain walls that tower over the house on the right side. You also get an amazing view on the surrounding alps and mountain lake. The hike even leads you trough a small cave! After the restaurant you have to walk the way back to the gondola to get down or you hike to Wasserauen for about 1.5 hours.

From Wasserauen it only takes 10 minutes to go to the capital of the Swiss state called Appenzell. The nearby city of the same name is more like a village but you will see lots of nicely restored old buildings that are typical to the area as well as enjoy local food.

In summary:

Start: Gondola from Wasserauen to Ebenalp (you can find more information here)

Hike: Ebenalp to Äscher and back (I can recommend drinking a “Suure Most” (sour apple cider) on the summit, since that is a traditional Swiss drink.

End: Drive from Wasserauen to Appenzell to experience an old, traditional Swiss town.