Switzerland Guide
Ostschweiz and Liechtenstein
Switzerland's rural northeast – known as Ostschweiz – is one of the least celebrated areas of the country, and is often sidelined by tourists anxious to get to the famous Alpine regions further south. This means that you can enjoy the mountains and lakes, medieval town centres and verdant countryside in relative peace, free from hard-sell tourism and the glitz and glamour of big-name resorts. Most visitors haven't even heard of the main city of the northeast, St Gallen, and yet its magnificent Baroque cathedral and well-preserved medieval town centre make it a major cultural landmark. Just to the west, Winterthur has a set of excellent museums to complement its urban neighbour, Zürich.
Immediately south of St Gallen lies the hilly backcountry of Appenzell, sheltering a close-knit, still largely isolated community of farmers and craftspeople occupying the foothills of the Alpstein range. The Säntis peak tops 2500m – mediocre in Swiss terms, but still tall enough to enjoy plenty of snow, vistas stretching to the horizon and quality hiking in the web of valleys beneath it. Further south, walled in by Alpine giants, is isolated Glarnerland.
The River Rhine, which bulges out into the huge Bodensee (Lake Constance) in Switzerland's northeast corner, throws a protective loop around this part of Switzerland, forming international frontiers with Germany to the north, and Austria and the tiny independent statelet of Liechtenstein to the east. At the westernmost tip of the lake, the cosmopolitan German city of Konstanz is divided from its Swiss twin of Kreuzlingen only by an arbitrary frontier between buildings. The beautiful river journey west from Kreuzlingen runs past Stein-am-Rhein and ends at the atmospheric medieval town of Schaffhausen, dubbed "Rheinfallstadt" for its proximity to the mighty Rhine falls, the largest waterfall in Europe.
Highlights
1 Winterthur Easygoing city with an array of world-class art museums.
2 Schaffhausen Beautiful but little-visited market town, crammed with superb medieval architecture.
3 Rhine falls The Wagnerian spectacle of Europe's largest waterfall.
4 Stein-am-Rhein Switzerland's most picturesque village square, ringed by frescoed facades.
5 Abbey library, St Gallen A splendid Rococo interior, lined with books from floor to ceiling.
6 Appenzell Quiet, rustic village set amid the craggy Alpstein range.
7 Braunwald Remote car-free mountain hideaway.
8 KlausenPass Spectacular pass road, one of the country's most scenic drives.