Adults-Only Hotels in Ostschweiz
Lake Constance, Appenzell and Säntis: Eastern Switzerland blends gentle rolling hills with alpine charm — quiet, authentic and grown-up.
8 Hotels in Ostschweiz
Eastern Switzerland — the quiet insider tip
Eastern Switzerland is the country's most underrated holiday region. While everyone rushes to Grisons and the Bernese Oberland, Eastern Switzerland offers a calm you have to go looking for elsewhere. No mass tourism, no hyped destinations — but real landscape and genuine hospitality instead.
Adults-Only hotels in Eastern Switzerland are family-run houses with character. Prices well below the Swiss average, quality at Swiss standards. The value for money in Eastern Switzerland is by far the best in the country.
The Appenzell region — tradition you can touch
The Appenzell region is Switzerland straight out of a picture book: rolling hills, painted timber houses, cows with bells, alphorns at the alpine cattle drive. But it is no museum — rather a living region with a culture all its own that has held its ground for centuries.
For Adults-Only guests the Appenzell region is exciting for two reasons: the cuisine (Appenzeller cheese, Biber gingerbread, Alpenbitter) and the hikes. The Alpstein with the Säntis (2,502 m) offers mountain tours that rival the Bernese Alps — only without the crowds.
The Berggasthaus Aescher, built into the cliff face and world-famous since a National Geographic cover, lies an hour's walk from the Wildkirchli. Not a hotel, but an experience you set out on from your Adults-Only base down in the valley.
Lake Constance's southern shore
The Swiss side of Lake Constance is quieter than the German one. Rorschach and Arbon offer lakeside promenades that recall the Riviera in summer. Lakeside hotels with their own lido and panoramic views across the lake towards Konstanz and Meersburg.
Tip: St. Gallen lies 15 minutes inland and, with its Abbey Library (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and a surprisingly good restaurant scene, provides the cultural counterweight to the natural experience.
Getting there and the best time to visit
From Zurich you reach St. Gallen in 1 hour and Lake Constance in 1.5 hours. From Munich it is a good 2.5 hours via Bregenz. Best time: May to October for Lake Constance, year-round for the Appenzell region. In autumn comes the alpine cattle descent — a spectacle you have to have seen at least once.