Costa Rica. Between volcanoes and rainforest, discover a country full of natural wonders – with Stéphane
Dähler, who is open-minded and happily shares what is home and dear to his heart
Switzerland’s birthday was celebrated with great passion in Costa Rica this year on August 1st. Around 250 guests, including many families, accepted the invitation of the Swiss Club Costa Rica to a festive celebration that could hardly have been more patriotic.
For days, Beat Kälin waits, without knowing exactly what for. From nine in the evening until nine in the morning, he stands guard. Sometimes a field hare hops
Safe, beautiful, democratic: Costa Rica is considered the Switzerland of Central America. Last week, the Foreign Minister was here.
On Sunday, September 22, 2024, it wasn’t just the St. Gallen City Run and the election of the St. Gallen city government – a small group of interested people also met in the city’s new pop-up at the train station. The Sala d’Attesa is a “Chiosco”, brasserie, and bar all in one. And also the location for our first publicly recorded podcast with an audience.
A man from Thurgau had success cultivating pineapples in Africa and Central America. Now his journey has come to an end.
The well-known entrepreneurial Dähler family operates a pineapple farm in Costa Rica. As part of a reader trip, a group gained in-depth insight, including into their new project.
Johann Dähler was the Swiss Pineapple King. But then his plantations in Ivory Coast were lost, and he was ruined. Together with his sons, the man from Thurgau is seeking new fortune in Costa Rica. On his hacienda, 13 million pineapple seedlings are in the ground. He says: “I am the only stress.” By Brigitta Hochuli
Report On a rental car road trip through the booming tourist hotspot in Central America, you meet Swiss people who have found their happiness here. In Costa Rica, however, it is not man but nature that plays the main role.
Costa Rica meets Eastern Switzerland: Stéphane Dähler is primarily known as “son of”. His father, Johann Dähler, emigrated from Thurgau to Ivory Coast and was the first to import fresh pineapples to Switzerland in the late 1970s.
On white sandy beaches, we were very close to howler monkeys and iguanas, strolled through bird-rich cloud forests and swam with turtles. Come along on the 14-day journey along Costa Rica’s southwest coast.
In 2012, the Dähler family started a new beginning in Ivory Coast. At that time, the Dählers converted the pineapple plantation, which had been cultivated until 2000, to rubber trees. Jolanda Dähler, the wife of the late Pineapple King Johann Dähler, has many interesting things to report about it.
The pineapple is also known as the queen of fruits. Yet, in stores, it is offered at a discount price. How a production company in Costa Rica therefore wants to take a new path.
Nature, crafts, and agriculture: Nicaragua is a destination for all those who seek authenticity and want to discover new things. As well as the differences to the more touristically known neighboring country Costa Rica.
Johann Dähler built a pineapple empire, lost it, and started over. His three children now live in Costa Rica, he himself in Ivory Coast, and their paths often cross in Switzerland.
In May, Stéphane Dähler and Hansruedi Hefter will be the first Swiss tour operators in 20 years to undertake a tour through Ivory Coast.
Stéphane Dähler runs a travel agency in Costa Rica. Eastern Switzerland is currently experiencing a turbulent time. A friend tells how he tries to help everywhere.
Stéphane Dähler helps stranded tourists at the airport and has a passion project: the return with a group of tourists to his homeland: Ivory Coast.
Fredy Hiestand once helped the entrepreneur from Thurgau, Johann Dähler, out of a tight spot. Now the Croissant King cultivates sustainable cocoa in the Pineapple King’s country and fulfills a long-cherished dream.
Johann Dähler’s three children export pineapples from Costa Rica worldwide and have founded the travel company Swiss Tropical Tourism.
At the end of the trip, we visited the Swiss Bruno Lötscher, who emigrated to Costa Rica at a young age. A few years ago, he and his wife Aura bought about 40 hectares of land in southern Costa Rica. There, they founded an organic cocoa plantation and process their own cocoa themselves.
Three brothers from Appenzell manage one of the largest pineapple plantations in Costa Rica. Although they have never truly lived in Switzerland, they still preserve the values that have always been their strength.
