Saint Gallen combines the history of the Abbey District and important textile collections with pond trails, a botanical garden and a play trail through the city. Your stay offers a range of options: you can explore cultural heritage and collections or set aside time for walks and other outdoor activities. The time required also varies considerably—from a tour of the old town to a longer hike around the ponds.
Cultural Heritage, Textiles and Natural History
The Textile Museum St.Gallen houses one of Switzerland’s most important textile collections. On display are historical embroideries and handmade lace, as well as non-European textiles, historical fabrics and costumes from several centuries. The breadth of the collection makes the museum a distinct highlight alongside the history of the abbey: the focus here is on textile crafts and clothing, not just the city’s history.
Around 612, the wandering monk Gallus laid the foundation for the Abbey of St.Gallen. The Abbey District of St.Gallen, together with the Abbey Library and Abbey Archives, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1983. Today, the Abbey Library contains 170,000 books. Saint Gallen is therefore home both to a historic abbey site and to a vast collection of books, making them central to a cultural visit.
The Natural History Museum St.Gallen offers a different focus. Visitors can explore its exhibitions independently using themed trails with answer keys and museum boxes on specific topics. A guided discovery tour of the exhibition is designed for the first cycle of primary school; stops include live wood ants, a badger that visitors can pet and encounters with dinosaurs. This makes it a different kind of experience from a visit focused mainly on collections or history.
Pond Trails and Green Spaces
The “Drei Weieren” area includes the Mülenen Gorge, the Drei Weieren ponds and Notkersegg. It is an important recreational area for the people of Saint Gallen. Swimming and mini golf are also available there. If you plan to take the Mühleggbahn from Saint Gallen to the “Drei Weieren,” check the timetable in advance: services may change.
The 21 ponds that still exist today can be explored along five pond-trail routes; this number may change if the inventory is updated. One specific option is pond-trail route 2. It connects MĂĽleggweier, Drei Weieren, Wenigerweier, the former RĂĽtiweier and Brandweier. The stated walking time is 2 hours and 45 minutes. The route offers a clearly defined longer walk, while the ponds as a whole can be explored via several routes.
For a different walk, the Mülenen Gorge Trail starts in St.Gallen’s old town and follows the Steinach through shady greenery. Around the Drei Weieren, a short and a long circular trail lead to viewpoints overlooking Saint Gallen and Lake Constance. These paths offer different perspectives: the gorge trail follows the watercourse, while the circular trails lead to the viewpoints. Swimming and mini golf are additional activities in the recreational area.
The Botanical Garden St.Gallen offers a distinctive experience among the city’s green spaces. Around 8,000 plant species from all over the world grow across 2 hectares. The garden is divided into around 20 sections, including geographical, educational, crop-plant and collection sections. Events, exhibitions and guided tours showcasing its botanical treasures are held regularly. The garden’s variety of sections makes it interesting not only for its size, but also for its thematic layout.
How Much Time for Each Highlight?
The time estimates can also help you plan your visit to the city: touring all the sights in the old town without visiting museums takes around 1.5 hours. Pond-trail route 2 takes considerably longer, with a walking time of 2 hours and 45 minutes. These are separate activities—a tour of the old town without museum visits and a longer hike—not a combined time estimate for both. This makes it easier to gauge the scope of your planned sightseeing and walks.
If you want to balance culture and natural history, you can treat the Textile Museum, Abbey District, Abbey Library and Natural History Museum as separate themes rather than combining them into a single tour. For time outdoors, the pond trails, the path through the Mülenen Gorge, the garden’s sections and the play trail each offer a different kind of visit. The St.Gallen Play Trail includes 65 play areas spread throughout the city. It is a public, freely accessible and free outdoor recreation activity in the city and its surroundings; the number of play areas may change as locations are added or removed. This makes it possible to tailor your stay to your interests and the time available.
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