Eastern Switzerland, although geographically part of the Central Plateau, merits its own section. When you head east from Zurich towards Lake Constance, after Winterthur you feel as if you have left the industrial centre of the Central Plateau behind. It is truly rural. However, the birth of Switzerland as an industrial nation happened here. In the 19th century it was like Jura here. The country dwellers needed something to do in winter to make ends meet. The textile industry filled the gap. Today’s travellers do not notice much of this industry, even though the St. Gallen Embroidery is still world-renowned. Instead, on the way from Winterthur to Romanshorn on Lake Constance, you discover the gentle hills of Thurgau, where the apple trees blossom in spring. On the trip through St Gallen to Rorschach you see the first typical Appenzell farmhouses on the humps of the hills. It is an astonishingly beautiful landscape, as is shown in the works of the renowned local painters.
If you make Schaffhausen, the westernmost city in Eastern Switzerland, your starting point to discover the region, here’s an insiders’ tip from the Swiss Travel System. Take the boat trip on the Rhine and then through the lower lake of Lake Constance to Kreuzlingen. Even in Switzerland there are few landscapes which are as lovely and as romantic as this. And you can enjoy it from the water. The boat goes along the shore of Lake Constance from Kreuzlingen to Rorschach, at the eastern end of the lake. From there you get breathtaking views of the lake. Or if you prefer, get on a bigger boat in Kreuzlingen and experience the “Schwäbische Sea“.
Perhaps then go another day from Rorschach through Sargans to Chur. Go along the foothills of the eastern Swiss Alps on the way to the starting point for a trip in Grisons’ Alps. Click here for information about the Alps region >
