Saint Gallen

Saint Gallen (St. Gallen, German: Sankt Gallen) is the main city of eastern Switzerland. For travellers, its main draw is the centuries old Abbey of Saint Gall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a world famous historic library. It's a place packed with listed heritage buildings and well-maintained museums. And if you are tired of all the urban highlights, Saint Gallen also serves as a gateway to the Appenzell Alps.

Understand

 * Saint Gallen Tourism website

By plane

 * Zurich International Airport ( is the closest international airport to St. Gallen. Direct trains between St. Gallen and the airport run twice an hour with a travel time of exactly one hour, see SBB
 * Bodensee-Airport Friedrichshafen . would be an alternative airport.

By train
St. Gallen is the major hub for northeastern Switzerland. Trains between St. Gallen and Zurich depart several times per hour with a travel time of at least 1 hr 2 min. The St. Gallen train station is 500 m from the old town and is surrounded my numerous hotels, restaurants, and shops. If you want to get quickly to Munich, 3 times a day the Eurocity from Zurich stops at Saint Gallen. The main train station also acts as terminus for a number of local train lines running to Appenzell and Trogen.

By bus
Outside the main train station is a central hub for bus and Postbuses to get around St. Gallen and to surrounding smaller villages.

Get around
The Old Town of St. Gallen is almost void of traffic and is therefore best enjoyed on foot. The VBSG buses connect to the fringes of the city and run frequently and punctually. Bus tickets can be purchased at major bus stops or on the bus from the onboard vending machine. Standard fare is Fr. 2.50 and is valid for one direction only. Taxis are always waiting at the train station and along the Marktplatz in the old town.

The Trogenerbahn is your connection from St. Gallen to great hiking trails in Speicher and Trogen.

Bike rental is available at the train station, but check the opening hours before planning a trip.

By car
Parking is available underground in the Migros shopping centre garage, near the train station. The garage is spacious and safe but like many things in Switzerland it closes on Sunday.

See


Within the city centre, just a short while from the Stiftsbibliothek, there are several museums:



If you are interested in beer, visit St. Gallen's local brewery, Schutzengarten. Schutzengarten also hosts a beer bottle museum and a restaurant next door to the brewery.

On top of the northern hill at Rotmonten there is the Peter und Paul Wildlife park.

On the top of the southern hill there are three little lakes called "die drei Weihern". In the summer you can swim there and you also have a nice view over the city. It is an excellent place to jog or simply spend an afternoon.

At the eastern corner of the city you can find the Botanical Garden which houses over 8000 plants.

In August there is the Inline one-eleven, 111-km Inlining Marathon.

Do
The best event guide (in German) can be found on the homepage of the cultural magazine Saiten at: http://www.saiten.ch/kalender/index.php


 * Football: FC St Gallen play soccer in the Super League, the Swiss top tier. Their home ground is Kybun Park (formerly AFG Arena), capacity 20,000, at Zürcherstrasse 464, 3 km west of city centre. In 2025 it hosts matches in the UEFA Women's Finals.
 * FC Wil play in Challenger League, the second tier, at Stadion Bergholz (aka Lidl Arena; capacity 6000), in the adjoining city of Wil.


 * American football: Helvetic Guards play in the European League of Football at Bergholz / Lidl Arena in Wil.
 * Säntis and the Alpstein range are an easy and spectacular day trip from St. Gallen.

Buy
The area between the Bahnhof (railway station) and the Old Town is the Marktplatz, the main street of a collection of pedestrian-only streets filled with shops. Within the area, there are numerous shoe stores, tea shops, coffee houses, perfumeries, and mainstream clothes stores like H&M.

While the weather is nice, there are occasionally flea markets set up along the streets of Old Town, just a few streets away from the Abbey. If you happen to be lucky and catch a glimpse of some tents, check them out. There are some surprisingly good deals and treasures.

Eat
Nothing can be more St. Gallen than the OLMA bratwurst. You can get a juicy OLMA bratwurst, served with a hard roll, at a number of street stands around Marktplatz and around the entire city.

Drink
St. Gallen has its own brewery that makes at least two beers that are definitely worth a try. These are the "St. Galler Klosterbräu" and the "Schwarzer Bär".

Connect
As of June 2022, Saint Gallen has 5G from all Swiss carriers.

Go next

 * Rorschach 10 km away is on the shores of Lake Constance, with a pleasant promenade and in August an international sand-sculpturing contest. A 40 km hiking route connects Rorschach to Kreuzlingen.
 * Vaduz is the sedate capital of Liechtenstein.
 * Zürich has an old centre and big city attractions.
 * Appenzell to the south is at the heart of the Alpstein mountains, a picturesque area of green pastures, steep wooded valleys, pretty farm buildings and mountain hikes.