Nidwalden, Switzerland
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Bite-sized (current population ca. 30,000) canton in central Switzerland, about 15 km south of Luzern. You could walk from one side to the other in about a day.
Important bits of history:
1291 - The burghers of Nidwalden joined with their counterparts from the neighbouring cantons of Obwalden, Uri and Schwyz to declare an 'Eternal Alliance', i.e. a mutual assistance pact and an agreement that they did not want to be ruled by the Austrians any more.
This is generally reckoned to be the founding of the modern state of Switzerland, and has led people from the afore-mentioned cantons to believe that only they are 'real' Swiss and that their compatriots in Zürich, Bern, Geneva, etc are suspect late-comers who deep down inside rather wish they were Germans, French, Austrians, etc. instead.
1481 - A Swiss civil war was averted at the last minute when the various parties were summoned to Stans, the capital of Nidwalden, by local holy man 'Brother Klaus'. He managed to get them to sign the Treaty of Stans, and thereby promise to resolve their differencies peacefully. This was another major step towards the founding of the modern state of Switzerland, and Brother Klaus is revered in the region to this very day. No-one remembers any more what it was that the rival parties were getting ready to fight about.
16th Century - Like most of Europe, Switzerland was plagued by religious warfare. In Nidwalden, the catholics won.
It is important for visitors to remember that the area is still strongly catholic. It is therefore not a good idea to make any derogatory remarks about the Pope or his church here; at best it will be considered extremely bad manners, at worst it could be dangerous. Most of the Swiss Guards you might have seen at the Vatican are recruited from round here.
1798 - Napoleon exports the French Revolution to Switzerland. When the Nidwaldeners pointed out that they'd had their own form of liberty, equality and fraternity for 500 years, he invaded the place and burnt down most of it. About half the able-bodied men in the canton were killed trying to stop him.
Although all that was over 200 years ago, the Nidwaldners have never forgotten that the Obwaldners (that's the people in the next-door canton) conveniently forgot the 'Eternal alliance' and helped the French troops to march into Nidwalden by showing them a secret path through the mountains, thereby bypassing the main defence line. The Nidwaldeners had assumed the French would never find the path and had left it unguarded. This treachery led the Nidwaldners to pursue a 200-year long feud, not aginst the French but against Obwaldners, or 'Schifflers' they are known in the local dialect. Although the emnity has abated in recent years(1), it's still not a good idea to make favourable remarks about Obwalden or its inhabitants when in Nidwalden. Or vice versa.
1980 - Completion of the Seelisberg motorway tunnel.
At a stroke, Nidwalden stopped being an inaccesible backwater and found itself catapulted into the modern world. Many Nidwaldners still don't know what to make of it all.
One of the things that makes Nidwalden an interesting place to visit is that here an essentially rural area has been quickly dragged into the modern world. The old way of life (basically; farming, inpenetrable local dialect and customs, a distrust of all foreigners and a frightening degree of in-breeding) is giving way to the new at a frightening pace. The new way of life has just about triumphed, of course, although you'll have a hard time convincing people from Zürich, Bern, etc that the Nidwaldners aren't just a bunch of quaint yokels.
The main towns in Nidwalden are.
Hergiswil. A bit of a dump, to be honest, although rumoured to be the home of several exotic people who are domiciled there for tax reasons. Has perhaps the worst climate of anywhere in Switzerland. Da Franco's italian restaurant is definitely worth a visit; if you've got a bit of money, go to the posh part of the place upstairs - your palate won't regret it. Don't forget to look at the photos of all the celebs Franco claims has visited his restaurant.
Stansstad. The poshest town in Nidwalden. Very pretty but quite dull. Try the Pontile restaurant and the Pizzeria on the harboiurside, which offers spectacular views of the Lake. If you're into that sort of thing, the 'Seebar' is Nidwalden's only strip club.
Stans. The biggest town, and the most lively of an evening. All the trendy young people gather in the Jlge Bar to drink over-priced beer (and of course, to meet other trendy young people.) The Stanserhof bar is a cool place, often filled with cool 20-somethings. Go and look at the two statues in the Main Square - one is of local war hero Winkelried (the statue makes it very clear what he did to deserve his fame) the other is of a naked woman with the grim reaper looking over her shoulder. Then go and look at the Rosengarten. It's a very interesting local museum, which on Fridays doubles as the local registry office. So if you hang around long enough you might get onto a complete stranger's wedding photograph.
Buochs. Fairly quiet place. On Summer evenings, though, the Krone Beer Garden is the place to be. Has a very nice quay, centred around the wonderful Rigiblick hotel, where your correspondent spent his first night on Swiss soil. Buochs also has Nidwalden's only cinema, but tourists should first check, as most films shown there are dubbed into German. If not, the code E/df will be displayed next to the film title on the poster.
Dallenwil. Innocuous.
Ennetbürgen. Like Dallenwil. A nice place to live, but not to visit.
Beckenried. Had a terrible reputation for unfriendliness and distrust of foreigners (i.e. people from anywhere except Beckenried) but has mellowed a bit in recent years. If you get a chance, don't miss the 'Sami Klaus' procession through the centre of the village on December 6th. It's too weird to describe...you'll just have to see it for yourself. Beckenried has several excellent restaurants (many serving fish from the lake) but most people go there for the Klewenalp cable car. If you're a snowboarder, that's the place to be in Nidwalden (apparently.)
Wolfenschiessen. Like Beckenried used to be, but with the added disadvantage that proximity to the mountains means that the sun never shines there in the Winter. To be avoided.
Emmeten. Very pretty village half way up a mountain, with breathtaking views of Lake Lucerne. The frequent landslides blocking the only road to and from the place mean that even getting there is an adventure. Try the many bars for that authentic 'drunken farmer' atmosphere. Don't worry if a pissed-up yokel with a big beard starts trying to talk to you, but you can't understand a word that he says. Most of the locals couldn't understand him either.
The three main mountains, the Buochserhorn, the Stanserhorn and the Bürgenstock, are all about 6,000 feet high and treated by the Nidwaldners as an ideal destination for a Sunday afternoon stroll. If you can't get to the top in three hours, you've been eating too many pies. It's worth mentioning here that the Bürgenstock is home to one of the most exclusive Hotels in the World. Even if you can't afford to rent a room, it's worth a visit just to admire the superb views it offers, and to mingle with the Rich And Famous.
In the Winter, most Nidwaldners go skiing, either up the Klewenalp or in nearby Engelberg, putting aside the fact that it's actually in Obwalden. Skiing IS dangerous, but more dangerous still is the queing for a cable car; the Swiss are not the most patient of people and regularly attempt to push in, which usually results in several 'lively' discussions.
Another good thing about Nidwalden, from the hitch-hikers point of view, is that the local aerospace industry means there is a thriving English-speaking community. But even if you don't meet a gang of Brits in a local bar, you should enjoy your visit. Maybe you'll like it so much you'll decide to stay until you can say "Ich bin ein stolzer Riesssäckler! Hau ab du verräterischer Schiffler!"
(1) Even in living memory, it used to be the done thing to teach any Nidwalden girl suspected of courting a boy from Obwaldner a lesson by smearing her front door liberally with cows**t.
Important bits of history:
1291 - The burghers of Nidwalden joined with their counterparts from the neighbouring cantons of Obwalden, Uri and Schwyz to declare an 'Eternal Alliance', i.e. a mutual assistance pact and an agreement that they did not want to be ruled by the Austrians any more.
This is generally reckoned to be the founding of the modern state of Switzerland, and has led people from the afore-mentioned cantons to believe that only they are 'real' Swiss and that their compatriots in Zürich, Bern, Geneva, etc are suspect late-comers who deep down inside rather wish they were Germans, French, Austrians, etc. instead.
1481 - A Swiss civil war was averted at the last minute when the various parties were summoned to Stans, the capital of Nidwalden, by local holy man 'Brother Klaus'. He managed to get them to sign the Treaty of Stans, and thereby promise to resolve their differencies peacefully. This was another major step towards the founding of the modern state of Switzerland, and Brother Klaus is revered in the region to this very day. No-one remembers any more what it was that the rival parties were getting ready to fight about.
16th Century - Like most of Europe, Switzerland was plagued by religious warfare. In Nidwalden, the catholics won.
It is important for visitors to remember that the area is still strongly catholic. It is therefore not a good idea to make any derogatory remarks about the Pope or his church here; at best it will be considered extremely bad manners, at worst it could be dangerous. Most of the Swiss Guards you might have seen at the Vatican are recruited from round here.
1798 - Napoleon exports the French Revolution to Switzerland. When the Nidwaldeners pointed out that they'd had their own form of liberty, equality and fraternity for 500 years, he invaded the place and burnt down most of it. About half the able-bodied men in the canton were killed trying to stop him.
Although all that was over 200 years ago, the Nidwaldners have never forgotten that the Obwaldners (that's the people in the next-door canton) conveniently forgot the 'Eternal alliance' and helped the French troops to march into Nidwalden by showing them a secret path through the mountains, thereby bypassing the main defence line. The Nidwaldeners had assumed the French would never find the path and had left it unguarded. This treachery led the Nidwaldners to pursue a 200-year long feud, not aginst the French but against Obwaldners, or 'Schifflers' they are known in the local dialect. Although the emnity has abated in recent years(1), it's still not a good idea to make favourable remarks about Obwalden or its inhabitants when in Nidwalden. Or vice versa.
1980 - Completion of the Seelisberg motorway tunnel.
At a stroke, Nidwalden stopped being an inaccesible backwater and found itself catapulted into the modern world. Many Nidwaldners still don't know what to make of it all.
One of the things that makes Nidwalden an interesting place to visit is that here an essentially rural area has been quickly dragged into the modern world. The old way of life (basically; farming, inpenetrable local dialect and customs, a distrust of all foreigners and a frightening degree of in-breeding) is giving way to the new at a frightening pace. The new way of life has just about triumphed, of course, although you'll have a hard time convincing people from Zürich, Bern, etc that the Nidwaldners aren't just a bunch of quaint yokels.
The main towns in Nidwalden are.
Hergiswil. A bit of a dump, to be honest, although rumoured to be the home of several exotic people who are domiciled there for tax reasons. Has perhaps the worst climate of anywhere in Switzerland. Da Franco's italian restaurant is definitely worth a visit; if you've got a bit of money, go to the posh part of the place upstairs - your palate won't regret it. Don't forget to look at the photos of all the celebs Franco claims has visited his restaurant.
Stansstad. The poshest town in Nidwalden. Very pretty but quite dull. Try the Pontile restaurant and the Pizzeria on the harboiurside, which offers spectacular views of the Lake. If you're into that sort of thing, the 'Seebar' is Nidwalden's only strip club.
Stans. The biggest town, and the most lively of an evening. All the trendy young people gather in the Jlge Bar to drink over-priced beer (and of course, to meet other trendy young people.) The Stanserhof bar is a cool place, often filled with cool 20-somethings. Go and look at the two statues in the Main Square - one is of local war hero Winkelried (the statue makes it very clear what he did to deserve his fame) the other is of a naked woman with the grim reaper looking over her shoulder. Then go and look at the Rosengarten. It's a very interesting local museum, which on Fridays doubles as the local registry office. So if you hang around long enough you might get onto a complete stranger's wedding photograph.
Buochs. Fairly quiet place. On Summer evenings, though, the Krone Beer Garden is the place to be. Has a very nice quay, centred around the wonderful Rigiblick hotel, where your correspondent spent his first night on Swiss soil. Buochs also has Nidwalden's only cinema, but tourists should first check, as most films shown there are dubbed into German. If not, the code E/df will be displayed next to the film title on the poster.
Dallenwil. Innocuous.
Ennetbürgen. Like Dallenwil. A nice place to live, but not to visit.
Beckenried. Had a terrible reputation for unfriendliness and distrust of foreigners (i.e. people from anywhere except Beckenried) but has mellowed a bit in recent years. If you get a chance, don't miss the 'Sami Klaus' procession through the centre of the village on December 6th. It's too weird to describe...you'll just have to see it for yourself. Beckenried has several excellent restaurants (many serving fish from the lake) but most people go there for the Klewenalp cable car. If you're a snowboarder, that's the place to be in Nidwalden (apparently.)
Wolfenschiessen. Like Beckenried used to be, but with the added disadvantage that proximity to the mountains means that the sun never shines there in the Winter. To be avoided.
Emmeten. Very pretty village half way up a mountain, with breathtaking views of Lake Lucerne. The frequent landslides blocking the only road to and from the place mean that even getting there is an adventure. Try the many bars for that authentic 'drunken farmer' atmosphere. Don't worry if a pissed-up yokel with a big beard starts trying to talk to you, but you can't understand a word that he says. Most of the locals couldn't understand him either.
The three main mountains, the Buochserhorn, the Stanserhorn and the Bürgenstock, are all about 6,000 feet high and treated by the Nidwaldners as an ideal destination for a Sunday afternoon stroll. If you can't get to the top in three hours, you've been eating too many pies. It's worth mentioning here that the Bürgenstock is home to one of the most exclusive Hotels in the World. Even if you can't afford to rent a room, it's worth a visit just to admire the superb views it offers, and to mingle with the Rich And Famous.
In the Winter, most Nidwaldners go skiing, either up the Klewenalp or in nearby Engelberg, putting aside the fact that it's actually in Obwalden. Skiing IS dangerous, but more dangerous still is the queing for a cable car; the Swiss are not the most patient of people and regularly attempt to push in, which usually results in several 'lively' discussions.
Another good thing about Nidwalden, from the hitch-hikers point of view, is that the local aerospace industry means there is a thriving English-speaking community. But even if you don't meet a gang of Brits in a local bar, you should enjoy your visit. Maybe you'll like it so much you'll decide to stay until you can say "Ich bin ein stolzer Riesssäckler! Hau ab du verräterischer Schiffler!"
(1) Even in living memory, it used to be the done thing to teach any Nidwalden girl suspected of courting a boy from Obwaldner a lesson by smearing her front door liberally with cows**t.
