u/edjusted

Hi, I plan on doing some hiking in Appenzell in late Sept. The plan is to go from Wasserauen to Seealpsee, up to Aescher/Ebenalp, then on to Schafler & Schafler Ridge and back down to Seealpsee.

The question is, once I get to Schafler, would it be "better" to go:
Schafler to Mesmer back down to Seealpsee
or
Schafler to Alpenalp to Seealpsee?

I'm ok with slightly steep inclines downhill as long as they're fairly short, and/or there are stairs/cables to help. (Actually, stairs are great!). I do have a mild fear of heights but am willing to "get over it" for a bit.

Is there a big difference in the two routes (besides the longer distance with Mesmer) in terms of difficulty or steepness or views?

I'm looking to pick the way with the best combination of less steep declines and better views.

The wife and I are considering a trip to Switzerland for about 10 days...

Option 1 is arriving around Sept 10 and Option 2 is arriving around Sept 20

We're planning on mostly doing outdoorsy stuff, like exploring towns, some light hiking. We'll looking at doing a small "loop"...Bern, Murten, Wengen/Lauterbrunnen, Locarno/Foroglio, Appenzell.

There seems to be a pretty decent price difference in lodging between those 2 times, especially in Wengen.

We do like the idea of less crowds and cheaper prices for the later dates. But are there any downsides we should be aware of? Would the weather be that much difference? I've read that some of the mountain areas start closing down, but that seems to be more in October.