Weissbad, Switzerland: And Why You Should Be Eyeing The Vastly Underrated Side of Switzerland
You have all heard of Geneva, Zurich, and even possibly Zermatt, but let me tell you about Weissbad, Switzerland, and why you should be eyeing the vastly underrated side of Switzerland for your next trip (post-pandemic, of course) with your partner or even by yourself.
I am so stoked for this post because when I was researching places to travel to a couple of years ago, Weissbad was barely on the map. It was somewhat challenging to find anything of use as I was making reservations and even more complicated when it came to see what there was to do. A lot of articles talked about how this area is kind of made fun of by the rest of the country, and maybe that’s what piqued my interest. Still, also all those others places (Zurich, Zermatt, and Geneva) are obvious spots and perhaps you, like me, want to be a little less obvious. So let me help you with that, and as the Swiss say “Gute Reise” (have a good trip)! I don’t know if they actually said that, I just used Google translate.
Weissbad is a tiny, sleepy village in the east of Switzerland. Located just a short drive south of St Gallen (likely where you would be taking the train in from, and worth a visit in its own right with tons of great restaurants, beautiful churches, an excellent little distillery and my favorite the textile museum - don’t knock it before you try it), Weissbad’s roads weave between beautiful streams, classic Swiss-German architecture, sitting under the peaks of Ebenalp, Hoher Kasten and the needle in the sky Säntis, and the ever prominent sound of cowbells.
You don’t come here to live up the social life. You come here to get away from the cities, to get back to your roots, to sit in fields of grass and call out the shapes of the clouds, to eat cheese and drink and Appenzeller beer with a local farmer as you hike down from the peaks and to be silly and spin around the hills and sing the Sound of Music (yes, I did).
I stayed at the Gasthof Frohe Aussicht, and it was everything you could ask for with quaint rooms and excellent locally sourced and inspired meals. But what was truly beautiful was that it sits at the mouth to the surrounding mountains, and so as you sit outside enjoying your Appenzeller beer, as one does, you can just pan around at all of the ridges and know there are hikers and climbers abound. Though even more so, it sits a short drive or tram car ride down to the Ebenalp trail, and that’s where it becomes obvious why you are here.
The Ebenalp trail leads you up to Seealpsee, a small mountain lake with two guesthouses (a mix between a hotel and a hostel) right there. You have views of the beautiful peak of Säntis as well as being surrounded at times by local cows that make their way through the woods and hills as you hike, and the constant ringing of their bells becomes extremely meditative.
From there, you can hike up to Säntis, though it is not for the faint of heart nor those without some good hiking miles on their boots. And while there are a few more trails nearby, the one you want takes you up just under the peak of Ebenalp to one of the most unique places I have ever seen, a mountain hostel built long ago into the side of the mountain, Aescher Wildkirchli. Enjoy your efforts and the view by treating yourself to some of the best röstis (basically a potato fritter, but better after a hike like the one you will have done) and yes…another Appenzell beer.
You can, of course, choose to take the cable car up and down, but where is the fun in that?
There is so much hiking to be done here. Though when you need a break, St Gallen and Appenzell are a short drive away for something a little different.
In the end, it’s a hard place to leave. If you are like me, you feel a connection to the mountains, and certain areas have an almost magnetic draw to them that you will take every last look you can, soak it all in, and know on some level at some time, you will be back here. It’s almost predetermined.
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