Appenzell

Our report on the tiny Canton of Appenzell in Switzerland's northeast corner, where women's suffrage didn't happen until 1990

You're looking for a place to spend a week or so on your next trip. Maybe a small, quiet village, preferably one with loads of charm that has visible connections to past centuries. It would be nice if the townspeople still observed traditional customs and dress. There should be a selection of good restaurants and a wide choice of accommodations.

However, since you don't plan to spend all day every day in your chosen village it should be near a big city or two, have plenty of recreational opportunities and be a place from which to embark on easy daytrips to interesting sights and towns - by rail and/or auto. If the village happened to be near the borders of two or three other countries that would a plus, too.

And, naturally, you don't want it to be too expensive.

The place you are looking for is Appenzell, the principal town of the tiny northeastern Swiss canton of the same name. It fills the bill perfectly.