Appenzell

Located in Eastern Switzerland, the town of Appenzell is the capital of Appenzell Innerrhoden, the Roman Catholic half of the two half-cantons. The other half is Protestant and called Appenzell Ausserrhoden. The attractive town, with its distinctive, colourfully decorated houses, nestles amid lush green hills. The Appenzell folk are rightly proud of their cultural heritage and don their colourful traditional costumes for special occasions. The cattle drives to and from the alps are true Swiss picture-postcard scenes and often depicted in local naïve art. The town is also one of Switzerland’s most active centres for yodelling, alphorn playing and other Swiss folklore traditions. Appenzell is also famous for another tradition: the annual Landesgemeinde, an open-air parliament held in the town square, where citizens of the canton elect the local government and vote directly on major issues.