“Liechtenstein? What are you gonna do THERE?”. Liechtenstein has a castle and mountains and that seems to be it. Not that different from the surrounding Austria and Switzerland – just more expensive and a good place to hide your money from taxes. BUT there is more to the small country (you can cross it from west to east in less than an hour and visit the whole country in 1 day) than meets the eye.
The capital city is Vaduz. It does not belong to the EU, but it’s part of Schengen and uses the Swiss Franc as a currency. Liechtenstein is a principality – meaning there’s no king, but the prince is the ruler.
Arrival: the closest airports are in Switzerland or Austria. I did a day trip from Zürich. You can take a train from Zürich to Sargans (city in Liechtenstein) and there change to a bus to Vaduz. To me it’s still a mystery why there is no direct train between Switzerland & Vaduz, since it’s the capital city. Zürich – Vaduz takes about 1h30min.
Transport in the country is mostly by bus. Which makes sense, since you could probably cross the country by bus within 1 hour.
What to do in Vaduz: Everything you can do in Vaduz is literally within 100m, all in the same street (except for the castle, for that one you have to walk up the road that starts in that same street). So half a day is definitely enough to see what you want.
– Visit the castle of Vaduz: the prince & his family actually live here. It stands on a mountain, overlooking the city and and “impressive” would be an understatement.
National holiday is on the 15th of August. A friend from Liechtenstein told me that on that day, everyone in Liechtenstein is invited at the castle to meet the prince and his family during the celebration. The prince has
– Landesmuseum & Treasure Chamber: History of Liechtenstein – definitely worth a visit. For me it was only the 2nd Treasure Chamber I ever visited and even though it’s not a huge room, the crown jewels are amazing to see.
Since we still had time in the afternoon, we took a bus to Feldkirch (Austria) to the christmas market. This is definitely worth the trip in december! Afterwards, you can take a train back from Feldkirch to Switzerland.
What I didn’t explore, is the beautiful nature of the country. Skiing, hiking, everything’s possible and within minutes away. So if you ever go to Liechtenstein – don’t forget to do this & tell me about it!
