Chapel of St. James – View of Säntis loop from Gonten

01:53

11.2km

740m

Running

Hard run. Very good fitness required. Sure-footedness, sturdy shoes and alpine experience required. The starting point of the route is right next to a parking lot.

Last updated: September 9, 2026

Waypoints

Start point

Parking

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549 m

Schäfer-Kanzelberg Forest Trail

Highlight • Trail

The Kronberg is always worth a hike.

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3.40 km

Scheidegg Mountain Inn

Highlight • Mountain Hut

Mountain inn Scheidegg - first restaurants
It is not possible to determine exactly when people started travelling to Kronberg for other purposes. It can be assumed that after the discovery of spas outside the country's borders - Gontenbad in the 18th century, Jakobsbad after 1845 - people also hiked in the Kronberg area. There was certainly an increase in tourism after the Urnäsch-Gontenbad route of the "Appenzeller Bahnen" was opened to scheduled traffic on August 16, 1886. However, sources already document the existence of summer restaurants for several years before that.
Later, restaurants were set up on Kronberg but also in Gross Chenner. The following innkeepers are documented in advertisements: On Jakobi 1893, butcher Baumgartner, probably "Kreuz" innkeeper Conrad Baumgartner (1852-1900), in the summer regularly from 1894 and perhaps until 1898 Josef Anton Neff, whose dates of birth and death could not be determined in Gonten. Josef Anton Huber (1872-1931), "Mandlis", as the owner of this Alp, must also have run a restaurant on his property since 1899 or at least had someone run a restaurant there. On June 20, 1906, he had an advertisement in the "Appenzeller Volksfreund" announcing that the "Ruheplatz" inn on his Alp would be closed all summer. Perhaps this is related to the opening of the "Kronberg" inn on the Jakobsalp on July 14, 1906 by Johann Baptist Hersche in Gonten.
We do not know until when the restaurant was open every Saturday and Sunday when the weather was nice. Perhaps until 1917, because on June 13, 1918, the buildings belonging to the canton, the alpine hut and stable, were destroyed by fire and were not rebuilt due to reforestation.
Text / Source: Luftseilbahn Jakobsbad-Kronberg AG, St. Josefstrasse 2 · 9108 Jakobsbad
kronberg.ch/de/unternehmen/geschichte.html

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4.19 km

Chapel of St. James

Highlight • Religious Site

The Chapel of St. Jakob Gonten is located southwest below the Kronberg peak at an elevation of 1,445 meters in the Appenzell Alps in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden. In 1464, mention was made of the chapel, hermit's cottage, and healing St. James's Spring. In 1456, mass was still read from a portable altar. The chapel was rebuilt in 1859.

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