Appenzell and Schwagalp Loop from Sankt Gallen

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. St Gallen

   St Gallen grew up around a hermit's cell. In the early seventh century an Irish monk called Gallus settled in a forest valley here, and a monastery grew up that became one of the great centres of learning in medieval Europe. Today the abbey district is a UNESCO site, with a baroque cathedral, an abbey library, and a plan of the cloister, a famous ninth-century drawing that shows what an ideal monastery should look like.

   Read the complete St Gallen write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   St Gallen is where the day begins. Next is Appenzell.

2. 2. Appenzell

   Every year on the last Sunday in April, the people of Appenzell Innerrhoden gather in the main square, men and women, many with a ceremonial sword or a bayonet at the hip, and vote with raised hands. The Landsgemeinde is one of the last open-air assemblies of its kind in Switzerland, and it takes place in the middle of this small town, which has been the capital of the half-canton for centuries. Women only gained a vote at the cantonal level here in 1990, after a federal court ruling, which tells you something about how conservative the valley is, and also how proud.

   Read the complete Appenzell write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Appenzell comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is Wildhaus.

3. 3. Wildhaus

   Wildhaus is the village where Huldrych Zwingli was born, and that makes it, quietly, one of the cradles of the Swiss Reformation. Zwingli, who became the leader of the Protestant movement in Zürich and died in battle in 1531, was born in 1484 in a farmhouse here, and the small timber building still stands, now a museum. It is a modest place, a wooden house with low ceilings and small windows, and it gives a feel for the mountain farming community from which the reformer came.

   Read the complete Near Wildhaus write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 63 km into the recorded legs you reach Wildhaus. Next is Schwagalp.

4. 4. Schwägalp

   Schwägalp is a pass road, a mountain pasture and a cable car station all at once, and the third of those is the reason most people stop. At 1,278 metres, on a high saddle between canton Appenzell and the Toggenburg, it is the lower station for the Säntis cable car, which climbs in a few minutes to the summit of the Säntis at 2,502 metres. The mountain is the highest of the Alpstein range, a compact, craggy massif that rises abruptly out of the Swiss plateau, and on a clear day the view from the top extends across six countries.

   Read the complete Schwagalp write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Schwagalp, late in the day at 1278 m. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is St Gallen, mostly downhill.

5. 5. St Gallen

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete St Gallen write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at St Gallen. That is the ride.