Way of Life in Quiet Appenzell Is Purely Swiss

Searching for the “real” Switzerland can be a very daunting task since every region of the country, from French-speaking Geneva to the Austrian border, has a picture-post-card appeal all its own.

Yet any visitor would be hard put to discover a canton that better manages to embody everything we conjure up as an image of the Swiss countryside: green and peaceful mountain meadows, cows garlanded with bells and flowers, lonely shepherds’ huts on a hillside, folk festivals as joyful as the farmhouse chalets wreathed in radiant geraniums.

Such is Appenzell, a soft and silent land blessed with people who have kept their way of life on the measured pace of nature and the gentle mountains around them.

Few cantons have a more colorful citizenry than Appenzell. Women still wear an enormous ceremonial headgear of handmade lace with matching collar. Cowherds sport brilliant yellow trousers and scarlet vests as they take their cows to the Alpine meadows in May and return in September. They also wear a distinctive pan-shaped earring of gold or silver that shows they are cowherds who will spend time on the mountain making Appenzell’s renowned cheese.

Perhaps the most colorful of all are the houses, hotels and other village buildings. Facades are painted in primitive style with Alpine scenes and flowers, all in riotous colors.

In this 700th anniversary year of Switzerland’s founding, perhaps no other canton will whisk one back to the country’s pastoral origins with such certitude.

How long/how much? Give Appenzell and its surrounding mountains and villages at least two days, better three or more if the bucolic life gets in your blood. Lodging costs are much more moderate than in Swiss cities and major resorts, dining the same.

Getting settled in: Hotel Appenzell, directly on Landsgemeinde Square, is a gabled house with a gaily painted facade that is fairly new yet prides itself on keeping to the Appenzell style inside and out while giving guests every modern convenience. Bedrooms are handsome and spacious. The cafe-restaurant serves local specialties, and there is a flowery outdoor terrace for summer dining. The hotel’s pastry chef has a pretty little shop to show off his tempting and much-sought creations.

Gasthof Weissbadbrucke, a few minutes outside town, is one minute from the Weissbad rail station. Little red trains make the run from Appenzell through Weissbad to the ski and hiking center at Ebenalp every hour, sometimes every half-hour. The gasthof , a simple but comfortable house in the chalet style, sits by a little brook where guests have been known to land trout. There are also rooms with shared baths here.

Regional food and drink: Appenzell is most noted all over Switzerland for its cheese, much stronger and sharper than Gruyere and Emmental, the other cheeses the Swiss use to make their fondue, which few Swiss actually eat in summer. Locals prefer to make wintertime fondues with Appenzeller cheese, a truly hearty dish.

They also use the cheese for a local specialty, chashornli (cheese horns), another hearty dish of macaroni-type pasta covered with Appenzeller and baked with slivers of onion on top. It is often served with a white wurst made of beef.

The local wind-dried beef makes a wonderful hors d’oeuvre since it is much moister than the usual dried beef. Alpenklubler dried sausages are yet another local treat, along with fresh trout and other fish from mountain streams and lakes.

Fine local dining: Wirtschaft zur Traube is a historic old house (1560) at town center that serves just about all of the regional dishes. An excellent chashornli with a white wurst is $10, several sturdy soups about $2 and a number of grills in the $14 range. The menu is extensive, as is the wine list, and dining inside or on the flowery terrace balcony is a delight. Traube also has three double bedrooms that go for $61 to $88 B&B; double.

Restaurant Walhala (beside the railway station) is a fairly new addition that has quickly gained an enviable reputation for fine fish and French dishes. It’s beside a small pond with swans paddling about, and the decor is very pleasant.

Going first-class: Romantik Hotel Santis, named for the mountains that hover over Appenzell, is the town’s showplace and rightly so. The beautifully painted facade shines over a geranium-rimmed terrace (a popular local gathering spot for coffee or drinks), right onto Landsgemeindeplatz. Bedrooms have every comfort, mini-bars, TV and furnishings of period reproductions. Santis is a member of the Best Western group, certainly one of the best we’ve ever visited.

On your own: Days in Appenzell can be lazy indeed, with long walks around the gentle countryside or mountain hikes down from the top of ski-lift stations. From the Ebenalp station (four miles from town), it’s about 1 1/2 hours back to Appenzell. There’s a hang-gliding and para-gliding school at Ebenalp, with sporting types remaining aloft for four hours and more.

Check in at the local tourist office on Hauptstrasse by the city hall and find out where you may watch them make cheese (no charge) or observe local women doing the magnificent hand embroidery that the region is noted for.

From May until the end of October, there always seems to be a festival of some sort going on in Appenzell or other nearby villages of the district, including cattle shows, festive costume displays, even a yodel Mass. And many of the hotels have nightly programs of Appenzeller music, which include the region’s beloved dulcimer.

GUIDEBOOK

Appenzell, Switzerland

Getting there: From Los Angeles, fly Swissair nonstop to Zurich, or American, TWA, Air Canada or a number of European carriers with changes. An advance-purchase, round-trip ticket is about $1,134. Take a train from Zurich’s airport to Appenzell, about 65 miles. The train will cost $26 one way, $44 round trip. A Swiss Pass, allowing unlimited train, bus, lake-steamer and city-tram travel, is one of Europe’s great travel bargains, and very convenient.

A few fast facts: The Swiss franc recently sold for 1.45 to the dollar, about 69 cents each. Come to Appenzell any time between late May and late October, Christmas through March for skiing.

Where to stay: Hotel Appenzell ($102 double B&B;); Gasthof Weissbadbrucke ($69-$79 double B&B;, $56 with shared bath); Gasthaus Edelweiss ($75-$82 B&B; double); Hotel Alpenblick ($68 double B&B;); Romantik Hotel Santis ($98-$150 B&B; double).

For more information: Call the Swiss National Tourist Office at (213) 335-5980, or write (222 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 1570, El Segundo 90245) for brochures on Appenzell and the region, another on travel tips for Switzerland, information and costs for the Swiss Pass and map of the country.