The "Joke Trail" from Heiden to Walzenhausen in Canton Appenzell

 (This post created on April 24, 2025)

Thursday November 5, 2015 -- WOW we are having the best weather here! A few record-breaking days, although I read that this is not totally unusual for Switzerland at this time of year. (Combination of mountains and special winds).

Taking advantage of this warm weather means four excursions this past week. Thursday's excursion with my good friend Renate was a bit more low-key, in the lower hills at the far NE corner of Switzerland near the Austrian border. We walked about 8 km along a popular trail called the "Joke Trail" (Witzweg) from Heiden to Walzenhausen in Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden.

The jokes set on plaques along the way were written in local Appenzell dialekt, passed along by some old Swiss native. Not side-splitting funny, but good for a laugh or two! (You have to read the words phoenetically, and also understand some Swiss-German.... luckily the German version was written underneath!)

There was low cloud (fog) on the lake, so we didn't see much of the Bodensee (Lake Constance), but had a very pleasant walk together in the late Autumn sunshine. 

Local Trail no.977 in eastern Switzerland near the border with Austria is a themed trail called "Witzweg", or "Joke Trail". Starting in Heiden at 10:50, we got to Walzenhausen at about 2:30 p.m. There is a funicular line to Rheineck, but it was being renovated at the time, so we had to take a bus down to the Rheineck train station. 

At 10:50 we started in Heiden higher on the hillside south of Lake Constance. The time to walk to Walzenhausen is about two hours. 

There were so many pretty Appenzell-Style houses to admire along the way, some in the shadow of lower gullies. 

So nice that the cows can still be out in the pastures at this time of year!

View to the west over the Appenzell countryside

Another beautiful property

This is a restaurant called "Restaurant Harmonie"

What a lovely farm! From here we should have a view of Lake Constance, but there is a layer of fog hanging over the lake. 

Some of the trees still have their fall-coloured leaves!

The sign reminds us that we are walking along the "Witzweg" ("Joke Trail") and there are several such panels along the way with jokes written in the local Appenzell dialect. 

The joke here translates as: "An Appenzell man enters a shop in St.Gallen and asks to purchase a pair of underwear. The sales lady asks "how long?", and he answers: "What? Do you also rent them out?" " 

Enjoying some time on a bench above the town of Walzenhausen. (Down below is the city of Rheineck. My friend Renate doesn't like having her photo taken, so this is our "Selfie" for the day!

View toward the mountains in Austria, as we are very near the border here. 

Heading into the little village of Walzenhausen now, to the bus stop. This is the end of the "Joke Trail". 

A final joke: " The judge says to the accused: You can decide now what you would prefer, eight days in jail or 200 Francs. The accused answers: Well, if it makes no difference to you, I'll take the 200 Francs!"

This is what our walk looks like on Google Satellite Maps. 

By bus we returned to the train station in Rheineck. As we had a few minutes, we looked at a few of the nice buildings near the train station. This building is the fire house. 

Some very nice half-timbered houses here. The late afternoon sunshine (it is now 3:10 p.m.) provides some very nice lighting. 

The church in Rheineck (we did not go in). 

Location of Walzenhausen within Switzerland, near the Austrian border.