The Traditional Swiss Villages That Keep it Local

You often hear about traditional craftmanship and old manual skills dying out or being replaced by modern practices. Luckily Switzerland hasn’t fully adopted a modern way of life. In fact, many of the small villages, towns and farms in Switzerland not only continue to use the old traditions, but you will find the local communities working hard to promote these traditions and skills through things like workshops, museums and tourism to ensure the knowledge is kept well and truly alive.

From Appenzell in the west to Ticino and Valais in the south, here are some places worth visiting for an authentic Swiss experience.

Appenzellerland – Local crafts and farming traditions

This whole region oozes tradition and sustainability with local produce, local crafts and traditional practices.

A special tradition that is part of the lives of the people here is the annual processions of cattle, that move between the villages and the local pastures.

Each person, cow, goat and bell has its part to play. The white goats, guided by children, lead the way. Next in line are the cows, their huge bells and the herdsmen. Finally, the horse and cart carrying supplies are found at the end. There is music, bell chimes, colour and tradition all woven into each procession.

See my Appenzell page for more details and below for the Urnäsch village traditional farmers market that coincides with the processions.

Villages and their traditions

Many villages spread around the rolling hills of canton Appenzell are highly self-reliant, with the local farmers, craftspeople and artisans preserving and using the old techniques and traditional way of life. This makes farming a tough, very physical job on the steep hilly farms, however, the communities don’t just work hard together, they also celebrate hard together.

Urnäsch – Traditions and Celebrations

Urnäsch Silvesterchlausen

Silvesterchlausen is a special New Years Celebration that goes back centuries. It takes place on the 13th of January each year throughout the region and starts early in the morning, going through until midnight. Locals dress up as characters called ‘Silvesterchläuse Mummers’. The Urnäsch Mummers wear extremely ornate headgear (shown above). According to the Appenzell Tourism Website, these are made by hand over “hundreds of hours”.

Workshops are popular with the locals. In Urnäsch it is possible to:

• Make Lanterns from sheets of iron by welding and flame cutting
• Hand-craft the wooden facades of houses from local trees – hand tools are used for the complete process.
• Learn antique furniture techniques
• Learn how to make home-made Gin and design labels
• Make Woodwork crafts

Many of these crafts are sold at markets in the small villages throughout the year. See this link for a calendar showing the dates and locations here.

Urnäsch Farmers Market (Bauernmarkt)

Around mid-September each year, the farmers’ market, centrally located at Kronenplatz in Urnäsch offers more than 50 stalls full of local produce from farming families.

There are food stalls, entertainment, and pig races and traditional music played during the day.

In the morning, the alpine descents arrive in the village of Urnäsch, with the herdsmen moving through the village between about 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

A shuttle bus runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to the outdoor parking spaces on Appenzellerstrasse and at the Furt work station.

The Cheese Dairy in Stein

Zinal and the Val d’Anniviers

The story of the Zinal and Ayer hamlets in Val d’Anniviers

The area around the small village of Zinal (1670 m) was once occupied by small hamlets that were known as village-mayen – meaning they were only occupied seasonally. As far back as the 16th century, the locals would move from the mountains to the Rhône valley several times a year travelling either on foot or with carts pulled by mules. These people must have been pretty tough and rugged individuals!

In early spring they would go to Sierre to do work in the vineyards and gardens, going back in autumn to harvest the grapes.

In summer they would travel back up to the hamlets to tend to the livestock, bringing them up to the high altitude pastures and preparing hay then in Winter they would make their way back down with the livestock to Ayer to Zinal, feeding the animals the hay, cut in summer.

My guess is – at this stage, they would then hide away in the quiet valley and wrap up warm until spring. If they had snow like this who could blame them…

This lifestyle changed with the coming of tourists in the 19th Century, attracted by the natural environment and the staggering peaks of the Imperial Crown (five peaks over 4,000 m). At this time a couple of large hotels were built to accommodate the growing numbers of tourists.

These days it is possible to hike up to the original pastures and visit the traditional farm buildings that have been preserved to showcase the historical stories of this area.

Within the villages, many of the original farmhouses, community buildings and granaries have also been lovingly restored and are being re-used by the community and for tourism.

Héren cows

Héren cattle were part of the traditional way of life for the village-mayen people. They have certain characteristics that link them back to the wild auroch cattle that used to roam free throughout the European forests and grasslands. Their name originates from the Val d’Hérens region, west of Val d’Anniviers but they are also called fighting cows due to the fact that they designate the herd leader by fighting and locking horns. This habit has now become a spectator sport in the mountains (it is rare for the cows to become injured). More information can be found here.

Locally sourced Wine and food

The Désalpe practice of bringing the livestock up to the alpine pastures in summer and down in winter is also a celebration (as with Appenzell), by processions through the towns which include bringing down the cheese. The cows and sheep are lovingly decorated with flowers. Spectators line the streets and market stalls sell local produce.

Local Products found in Valais

There are plenty of ways to enjoy the local food and wine from the region. You can:

• Make your own in a bread-making barn in Grimentz or
• Buy the local AOP Rye bread
• Do a guided tour of the Rhône valley winery
• Visit the wine cellars – for a wine tasting experience – some are open for visits all year round (Good for a break from skiing).
• Try a Fondue picnic. The Rando Fondue kit can be picked up from the villages of Chandolin, St-Luc, Zinal, Ayer or Grimentz.finding-the-charming-village-of-grimentz-and-the-val-danniviers-formidable-mountain-roads

While in the region: In canton Valais there are several attractive villages that are car free with amazing sights and surroundings. I have listed them below.

• Zermatt – Matterhorn & skiing
• Saas-Fee – Hiking Paradise & skiing
• Riederalp – Aletsch Arena & skiing
• Bettmeralp – Aletsch Arena & skiing
• Blatten-Belalp – Suspension Bridge & skiing

Ticino – Scudellate – the revival of a mountain hamlet – Albergo Diffuso

Muggio Valley

The traditional manufacturing processes and culinary history of the local food are important to the small towns found in this very remote valley of Ticino.

It is easy to visit this valley without your car. With the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in December 2020, it is now a lot quicker to travel from northern Switzerland to the Muggio Valley by train and bus.

It takes around 3 hours 30 mins from Zürich main station by train & bus, to arrive in the small village of Scudellate at the far end of the valley. Admittedly you will need to make 4 changes to do this… To get to the towns of Muggio & Cabbio – considered two of the most attractive villages in Switzerland – it is 3 hours and 3 changes.

The Muggio Valley offers:

• The 700 year old Bruzella mill (between Bruzella and Cabbio) is still in operation. This mill has an old craft workshop, produces polenta and uses rare red maize native to Ticino.
• The village of Muggio has buildings made of local stone and Cabbio has lovely historical fountains.
• Muggio has views of the terraced slopes across the valley.

Scudellate

At the end of Muggio valley lies the small village of Scudellate – with only 20 inhabitants.

A special project to preserve this village has been made possible because of the vision and work of a local man called Oscar Piffaretti.

The project opens up the well-preserved and remote village of Scudellate, allowing tourists to experience the living traditions and local produce. The project is called Albergo Diffuso which translates as a scattered hotel and has been funded by, amongst other organisations, Swiss Mountain Aid. Additionally, there is another village in Ticino that has been transformed into an Albergo Diffuso, called Corippo in the Verzasca Valley.

The Scudellate village will offer:

• Refurbished buildings including: – The pretty Osteria Manciana which is a mini-hotel with dining rooms, the old schoolhouse has also been converted to accommodation and the Foresteria B&B with one other building being added on the Alpe Caviano.
• A shop will be added to the Osteria selling local produce
• Events will be offered such as cooking courses, wine tasting, and cultural excursions.

The refurbishments and building is being done in stages (21/22/23). For more information go here.