Switzerland Countryside and Traditions Tour from Zurich

The whole tour was awesome. Appenzell was a very beautiful small village. It is a must to visit Appenzell.

Excellent one day Alpine trip if you have only one day. Great van with guide and only 10 people.. Avoided the big bus tour stops with flexible schedule and time.

The cable care ride to the top of that breathtaking mountain view was great! Monica was a great tour guide. The view is priceless

5 stars experience Our gentleman guide was very good. I gives him 5 stars review. he went an extra mile to take us to cable car ride on our own expence. Cable car ride was not included in original plan.

The guide, Monica, was very pleasant and friendly and shared her wealth of knowledge in an interesting way. The tour is well-paced and the trip through the countryside gave a good insight in the agricultural activities of the region. We enjoyed the visits to the cheese factory and chocolate outlet. We spent some time in the small town Appenzell with its beautiful streets, interesting small shops, and museum.

This was an amazing small group tour. We went up into the Swiss countryside and saw some spectacular views of Swiss life on the farm. We saw cows, goats, and enchanting farmhouses while learning a lot about the customs in the Appenzell area. Karen, our guide, was very knowledgeable and entertaining. We first stopped at the Lindt chocolate factory but were only able to visit their sales area. That would be my only change recommendation so that a tour of the factory itself could be included but I know timing would be difficult since it was already a 10 hour tour. Our next stop was a cheese factory near Appenzell and here we did get to learn all about the art of cheese making as well as enjoy a generous cheese tasting. Our last stop was the town of Appenzell which was lovely. The museum is quite worth visiting and we enjoyed visiting the local Catholic church. Behind the church was the Catholic cemetery which was beautiful. Each plot had flowers planted in the ground and watering cans were provided next to the water spigot along with tools for weeding and pruning - very nice touch. We also enjoyed the local shops and costumes. This was a very enjoyable day!!

This trip was excellent. The drive through the countryside was beautiful. We decided not to go up the mountain by cable car and spent a couple of hours in Appenzell. What a charming little Swiss village. The shops were quaint, the restaurant served excellent food, and the village was very picturesque. We loved this tour and the tour guide, Beat, was fantastic. He was very knowledgeable and shared all kinds of information about the region and life in Switzerland. Highly recommended.

This was not the most exciting trip, but we did see some beautiful countryside. The stop at the Lindt chocolate store was just that----a store. Cheese factory amounted to a video, observing cheese being churned, with no explanations, and cheese tasting. Both of these visits were short, but there was nothing else to do. When we reached Appenzell, our group was divided. We had traveled in two vans, so one group went on up the mountain to ride a cable car, while the rest of us were on our own to tour the town. We were there on a Monday and the problem was that most of the shops were closed. When the other group returned, we were to take a walking tour, but we had already done that. Fortunately, those who had walked the town's streets were taken back to Zurich in one of the vans. The female we then rode with, was much more informative than the gentleman we had for most of the tour. He was driver and guide and spoke in a monotone. Perhaps, had we not already seen other parts of the country, this would have seemed like a good introduction.For us, it was our last day and it really didn't add to our experiences. Thankfully, we were dropped off at our hotel, which was not originally included.

Didn't expect to just be dropped off for five hours while the rest of the group continued on to a mountain. So we had five hours of free time.

2 hours of free time walking around Appenzell was fine, although the guides didn't provide much information. But then another hour of walking around Appenzell with a tour guide after the other half of the group returned from the mountain gondola option, was redundant. Had I known the two tours would be traveling together I would have booked the mountain gondola option as well. The extra tour time could have been spent stopping at scenic lookoffs, visiting the castle en route or an entirely different experiences. Would I do this tour again - no, but it was better than sitting in the airport for 10 hours.