Appenzell is a town that has kept hold of itself, and that is the first thing you notice when you ride in. Houses are painted in bright colours, with decorated gables and flower boxes, and the main street feels more like a village than a town of five and a half thousand. The canton it governs, Appenzell Innerrhoden, is the smallest in Switzerland by population, and it clings to traditions that others have dropped.
The best known of them is the Landsgemeinde, held on the last Sunday in April, when citizens gather in the open square and vote by raising their hands. Men once wore swords to the meeting, and some still do as a ceremonial item. It is one of the last places in Europe where this form of direct democracy is practised in public, and there is something moving about a square full of people voting in the open air. Women gained the right to vote in the canton only in 1990, after a federal court ruling, a reminder that tradition can be a mixed blessing.
For lunch, the local cheese is the thing. Appenzeller is a firm, aromatic cheese washed in a herbal brine whose recipe is a closely guarded secret, and it appears in everything from a sandwich to a baked dish with potatoes and onions. The sweet side is the Biberli, a gingerbread-like pastry filled with almond paste. The cafes in the old town serve both, and the pace is leisurely.
Behind the town rises the Alpstein, a compact limestone massif with the Säntis as its high point, and the roads leading into it are rewarding: green hills dotted with farms, little villages with wooden shingled houses, and now and then a view of cliffs. Fuel is available in the town, which is large enough to have stations, and parking is easy at the edge of the pedestrian area. The weather can turn quickly, with cloud wrapping the peaks by early afternoon, so go early if you want the views.