A Section of the Rhine Valley High Trail from Berneck to Rheineck

Wednesday May 31, 2023 -- The best weather forecast was for Eastern Switzerland this day, and since we were worried about early cloud cover in the mountains, we decided to head to the very far northeast corner of the country to complete a section of the Rhine Valley High Trail (Rheintaler Höhenweg) which we had already attempted to do a couple of times, but had to change plans at short notice due to fog etc.

We started in Berneck (a really cute village from which we also started a few years ago walking south along the Rhine Valley High Trail when we had better views, those photos are HERE), but this time we walked northwards, to Rheineck on Lake Constance. Because it was a hot day, we left home early so that we could start at 9:30 (a 2-1/2 hour trip). But in Berneck it was already too warm, and even though our climb through the vineyards was along a very long set of steps (usually a good way to climb), we were glad of the large forested sections, even though most of the trail was on wide forestry roads. The air was too hazy to get a good view of the Vorarlberg mountains of Austria to the east and the Liechtenstein and Swiss mountains to the south, but for a change we had a few good glimpses of Lake Constance (Bodensee). The major drawback was that we could hear the noise from the Autobahn for most of the second half of the walk.

Our original plan was to walk to the tower ruins above Rheineck before heading home, but by that time we were too hot and tired. And looking at webcams showed us, that the weather back home near the mountains had been just as nice until at least noon, so we could have taken advantage of a local hike and left this one for a better fall day....

(Interesting Note: The trail here follows the borders of Canton St.Gallen and Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, and we crossed the border a couple of times along the way).

The Rathaus (Town Hall) in Berneck, a very pretty building

Keeping "The Thinker" company, like last time, only last time he was unter the arches in the town hall. (See photo HERE)

Various buildings in Berneck. Town Hall bottom left, and the one top right is a secondary school.

A little chapel to check into. 

Some nice stained glass windows in the chapel

After looking around Berneck for a bit, we started on our hike at shortly before 10 a.m. It was a 4-hour, 13-km hike. We caught the 15:26 train, and had about 2-1/4 hours for the trip home. Note that the entire hike was along the border of St.Gallen (Berneck, Au, St.Margrethen, Rheineck) and Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Walzenhausen). Mostly on the St.Gallen side. 

Our trail takes us up through the vineyards north of the town. 

A look down at the town of Berneck

Looks like a mini castle

A stretch of paved road before heading up through the vineyards

Every corner has some pretty details

This part of the Rhine Valley has a good climate for growing grapes. 

Looking back over the town of Berneck as we continue through the vineyards

Some very nice peonies!

Long sets of stairs through the vineyards, and a couple of forested sections to get to the top of the hill. 

Making our way up the hill

All over the country the farmers are harvesting the hay, and baling it in this form, what we call "Marshmallows". (Each of these bales is 200 kg. There have been instances of farmers being hurt or killed by such bales rolling on them)

VIDEO:

Stacking the "Marshmallows"

More lovely flowers

Walking along Trail no.86: "Rheintaler Höhenweg". We are headed toward the Grimmenstein Ruins. We always like to visit fortress ruins (in this case, it was unfortunately being renovated). 

We got to the upper plateau and are headed to the Meldegg restaurant which is perched on the edge with a view to the south. This village is called Wilen, and on this stretch to the restaurant we were actually walking in Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden. 

Our first glimpse of Lake Constance (Bodensee) to the Northeast. Most of the area in the lower regions there is in Austria

From the terrace of the Meldegg restaurant (closed this day) there is a nice panorama view to the south, past the cities of Au and Heerbrugg (Canton St.Gallen) to the mountains in Liechtenstein. On the other side of the Rhine Canal is Austria. Obviously it would have been better had the air not been so hazy. 

In this small corner of the country we are still in Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, before we headed down into the forest to Gletscherhügel

So many pretty fields of daisies!

Imagine the work to apply all those wooden scales, even if they do come in strips. 

This meadow needs mowing... 

The style of the farmhouses in this region

Another restaurant (Restaurant Gletscherhügel) with a very nice view, of the city of St.Margrethen, which is where you cross the Austrian border. We didn't stop here, but found a nice picnic spot along the forest trail nearby. Now we are back in Canton St.Gallen

About 3.5 kilometers (an hour of walking) was spent in the forest, sometimes along smaller trails like this one, but mostly wider forestry roads. We didn't mind this time because it wasn't all straight in one direction, and we were glad of the "coolness" from the shade. 

The Grimmenstein ruins were a bit disappointing... as they are currently being reconstructed. Sometimes you wonder why they don't just let them fall apart, as this one looked like a dilapidated pile of rocks. But a nearby sign indicated that this ruins is a protected historical monument. 

Another hour to our destination at Rheineck. We started in Berneck and passed by both the Meldegg Restaurant and Gletscherhügel. 

This is the Weinberg Castle, with a very nice view of Lake Constance. We detoured to the castle in the hopes that they had a restaurant where we could have a cup of coffee, but it turns out they only do wine tasting. 

The Weinberg castle is from at least the 15th Century and was renovated in the 1980's, converting the castle into a winery. 

Now we get views down onto the city of Rheineck on the left of the Old Rhine Canal, the end of our hike. On the right of the canal is Austria. 

A close-up look at the old town of Rheineck and the church which we had a look at before getting to the train station. 

Rheineck, Switzerland on the left of the canal (called the "Old Rhine" here), and Gaissau, Austria on the right. Unfortunately there was a lot of vehicle noise from the Autobahn. 

Instead of a cable car or bus, there is this small train which runs from Rheineck up to a community called Walzenhausen, 270m above the lake. Our trail met up with the railway line, and we watched the little wagon go up the hill. (Whereas Rheineck is in Canton St.Gallen, Walzenhausen is in Canton Appenzell A.)

It also baffles me that nature would create some birds with these exorbitantly showy feathers. 

We don't often see such stone farmhouses

Approaching the city of Rheineck, we glimpse the ruins of the castle "Old Rheineck". We decided we'd walked long enough and didn't want to detour there after all. 

What determines if a house is a castle or not? The structure or the people who live there?

St.Jakob's Evangelical Church in Rheineck, which was shared by both Catholics and Evangelicals until 1932 when the Catholics built their own church. 

I'm getting good at recognizing architecture. I knew right away that this was Neo-Gothic

Very interesting how the history is written on the wall!: St.Jakob's church was first documented in 1433, and rebuilt in the 16th Century as a Gothic church. The parish church was both used by Catholics and Protestants as of end of 16th Century, but a new Catholic church was built in 1932. Architectural changes were made in 1722 to Baroque, and end of 19th Century to partly Neo-Gothic. 

Heading through Rheineck toward the train station

Details of the town of Rheineck

Main street in Rheineck.

Location of our hike at the border of Austria in the far northeast corner of Switzerland

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.