Appenzell Alps Day Trip from Zurich – Farm Life & Cheese Tasting
Description
Venture to the Heidi-like region of eastern Switzerland on this full-day guided coach tour from Zurich. Discover the secrets behind Switzerland’s famous cheese! Trace the path of raw milk from grazing cows on lush meadows to production at the Appenzeller show dairy. Take in breathtaking mountain views on an aerial cable car ride to the top of Hoher Kasten and learn about local customs on a guided stroll through the charming village of Appenzell, where old traditions are still alive. Even better, you’ll travel in a personalized small group with a maximum of 16 people, ensuring a relaxed and immersive experience.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Depart from central Zurich (Sihlquai Bus Station) in an air-conditioned minivan and set out on a scenic drive along beautiful Lake Zürich via the City of Rapperswil with its medieval castle to the gently rolling hills of the Appenzellerland with photo stops en route.
Discover a typically Swiss farm and taste a glass of fresh cow milk.
Find out how natural Swiss milk and herbs are turned into Switzerland's tangiest cheese at the Appenzeller show dairy in Stein AR. Marvel at the imposing cellar storing up to 12,500 wheels of cheese and try to guess the top secret ingredients of the world-famous Appenzeller cheese during a cheese tasting.
Your tour continues to the village of Brulisau where you'll board the aerial cable car to the panoramic Mt. Hoher Kasten. At 6,000 feet (1,800 meters), enjoy breathtaking views over the Rhine Valley and Austria's Voralberg region. Go for a walk through the Alpine Garden or enjoy lunch at the spectacular revolving mountain restaurant (not included).
Stroll through the town with your tour guide and learn about ancient traditions and customs of this region while browsing local specialty shops in the pedestrian zone with its decoratively painted wooden facades for around 15 minutes. Enjoy the remaining time to continue exploring the charming village of Appenzell at your own pace.
After a great day, we will drop you off again in Zurich, where the tour started.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Not suitable for infants under 6 years, exceptions only on request.
Reviews(148)
The day tour «Castle, Cheese and Chocolate» is an interesting, varied tour. Starting with a visit to the beautiful town of Rapperswil on Lake Zurich with its castle, rose gardens and lake promenade with many restaurants. Then followed a beautiful drive through the gentle, green hills over the Etzel Pass to Einsiedeln. After visiting the imposing church followed a visit to the show cheese factory where we learned a lot about cheese making. A treat is the cheese and sausage tasting at the end of the tour. Worth a visit is also the beautiful shop with many local products and valuable souvenirs. Afterwards we headed back to Zurich – again and again with a wonderful view of the blue «Zürisee» – where we visited the famous chocolate museum in Kilchberg; a must for every chocolate lover! We had plenty of time everywhere to explore the sights in detail. The tour guide Monika deserves a lot of praise. She makes the top with a lot of commitment and great knowledge and background information about the history and culture of Switzerland. I can only warmly recommend the tour to anyone who wants to explore the diverse Switzerland away from the huge tourist flows. Just dead from A to Z!
Super varied tour. The leadership in diary/cheese making was top, including excellent catering. Absolutely recommend the whole tour, Rapperswil is very pretty and also the monastery Einsiedeln is impressive! Not too much speed, I personally appreciated that. Top tour guide!
It was great. Had a good variety of stops. Loved the dairy farm. Small group which made it more fun. Guide was very good.
An excellent full day of exploring! Started w/a visit to a beautiful hillside farm and hearing from the farmer his day w the cows, complete w seeing them walk back up the hill and past us for the milking line! Cheese samples and seeing how it’s made, pastry samples, chocolatier explanation of how his company makes their very own delicious chocolates using local ingredients and samples! A ride up to the top of Appenzell in Hoher Kasten, tram ride. Enjoyed a delicious lunch while rotating 360 for views, although it did become cloudy at the top. Then toured a beautiful town, complete w shopping time. We did it all! Thank you Monika! You were the best!!
Awesome tour. Martin was excellent as driver and guide. Loved every aspect of the tour. Particularly enjoyed the Dsiry farm and hearing the passion of the farmer. Views from the mountain and meal at the revolving restaurant (extra optional of own) was fantastic.
This is a great tour--a very long day but it moved along well. The visit to the farm was really enlightening and speaking with the farmer was great. CHeese tasting was good and the chocolate tasting was also fun. We had time to shop in the town as well after the chocolate tasting. The only disappointment was going to the top of mountain but that is only because snow was so thick you couldnt see...but would have been amazing if weather cooperated. Restaurant on top of mountain had great views , OK food. ALl in all, I would definitely recommend.
Our guide Martin was such a lovely and knowledgeable man. We absolutely loved the tour through the farm and the city of Appenzell not to mention all the delicious goodies we left with! The museum and the chocolate boutique were amazing as well.
This tour felt very disjointed and a bit too long if I’m being honest. I was mostly interested in the dairy farm and cheese factory visit but was excited for the other stops. I did very much enjoy the dairy farm visit and found it informative. I also enjoyed the information provided from your guide Thomas! He was knowledgeable and forthcoming with information. He welcomed all my questions. After the cheese factory visit, I found the day to drag out a bit. First things, the lunch stop was late in the day falling close to 2pm. We had one option only and it was the restaurant at the mountain top stop. It was expensive and mediocre. After this, we were taken to multiple store fronts in the village of appenzell. I think it’s nice that samples were provided from the stops but honestly it felt awkward having 15 people hovering in small shops while the guide picked up the samples to pass around. I think the backend of the tour could be shortened to just a free time experience in Appenzell. Best to let people browse the lovely shops at their leisure instead of being led around like sheep for an hour. Major room for improvement on this tour but I do like the concept of it.
The cow farm and its owner. She was very welcoming and explained about the process of preparing milk to be sold. We learned a lot.
Visiting the farm where I learned a lot about cows. Also, the farm was sustainable having a solar panel.
