page_title: Altstätten
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Altstätten / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial view of the swiss city of Altstätten
context_page_description: Altstätten is a small historic rural town and a municipality in the district Rhine Valley, in the canton of St. Gall in Switzerland. It is located with some secure distance of about 5 kilometres west from the Alpine Rhine in the flat and wide St. Gall Rhine Valley, which also designates the border with Austria. It further gives access to the higher situated Appenzell to the west.
  The official language of Altstätten is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.
context_section_description: Altstätten has an area, as of 2006, of 39.5 km² (15.3 sq mi).  Of this area, 63.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 21.1% is forested.  Of the rest of the land, 12.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (2.9%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).
  The municipality is the capital of the Rheintal Wahlkreis and formerly the capital of the Oberrheintal district.  The traditional farming city is located on the western side of the Rhine river between the Appenzell hill country.
caption: Aerial view of Altstätten
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