Rebstein – St Anton (1107m) – Waldegg (986m) – St Gallen

This gentle hike literally starts from the bottom of the Rhine valley and ends in the pretty town of St Gallen. Passing through the very scenic and less visited regions of Appenzellerland, it is a lovely hike at any time of year – spring, summer, autumn or winter. While we have already done it in the Summer, it is now becoming somewhat of a tradition for us to do it around New Year’s time. So 2017 was no different and we enjoyed an incredible blue-sky winter’s day.

Starting from Rebstein, we follow the signs to the highest hill above, which is St Anton at 1107m. Already after 15 minutes of hiking, the views of the Rhine valley are wonderful.

Already 400 height meters higher and close to Fegg, we are in the winter snow and have a drink and Swiss chocolate at a perfectly located bench.

From Fegg it is another 40 minutes to St Anton. This is the highest hill above the most northern section of the Swiss Rhine valley, therefore offering great panoramic views of 4 countries – Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

After reaching St. Anton, we walk along the quiet road for around one kilometre to reach Landmark. From here we follow the signs to Gäbris with its fantastic views across the Alps.

Just after the restaurant at Unter Gäbris and before reaching the summit of Gäbris, we turn left and head north. Now we no longer have views of the Alps but instead enjoy the rolling Appenzell hills with views to Lake Constance.

Onwards we walk, passing by Ebnet, Frühweid and then slightly uphill again to Waldegg.

This is a very popular restaurant with its own bakery. Always a good place to stop and re-charge the batteries! Especially the bakery is really worth seeing as it is set up with old baking equipment that you can still see in use.

You can even wander in and watch the bakers in action. If you are lucky, you even get to try some freshly baked goodies.

Once we manage to part with the bakery, we stroll down towards the town of St Georgen. Afterwards it´s todays final uphill to Freudenberg with its curious solitary trees.

Finally we get to enjoy the views over St Gallen and Lake Constance. Beautiful!

We head down into the town and catch the train back to Rebstein – a wonderful hike.