The Liechtenstein Alps

Tucked into the heart of Europe, the tiny teardrop-sized (and shaped) micro-country of Liechtenstein rests somewhere between Switzerland and Germany. Blink and you might miss this tiny wee place of just 38,000 inhabitants (a country smaller than most towns!). Small it may be, but Liechtenstein is packed full of delights. Castles perch on clifftops, narrow church spires rise up above the buildings and trees, the little towns buzz with the bustle of busy life, all of which is set against the jaw-dropping backdrop of the massive Alps, the peaks peeking over the small country like a guardian angel. We’ve established it’s not a big place but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t make its way onto your next Central European road trip – if only for the sake of saying you’ve been to Liechtenstein and adding one more country to the list. But if you come, why not stay awhile? Explore this wonderful little principality from town to mountains – in fact, roughly half of Liechtenstein is mountainous. Stunning in both summer and winter months, Liechtenstein is home to its own slice of Alpine beauty, complete with its own ski station (there are 23 kilometres of slopes whose ski resorts are served by 9 ski lifts). Crowned by towering mountains, Liechtenstein contains 32 mountains which soar higher than 2,000 meters. The highest point is Vordergrauspitz, clocking in at an impressive 2599 m. Compared with the nation’s small size, there are so many routes to hike – you can read details of several favourite routes here. Happy hiking!

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Tip: Note that Liechtenstein does not have its own train system; it shares trains with its neighbouring countries. There is a country-wide Liechtenstein bus, but really you’ll want your own car when visiting Liechtenstein, particularly if you plan to hike or ski.

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More Liechtenstein

• Gutenberg Castle
• Vaduz City Centre
• Vaduz Castle

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Vaduz Castle, Liechtenstein

Schloss Vaduz or Vaduz Castle is the royal residence of the Prince of Liechtenstein, the very real ruler of the very real and very tiny principality buried in the heart of Europe. Vaduz Castle overlooks the town of Vaduz, capital of the minuscule country (or micro country) of Liechtenstein. In fact, to give a bit of perspective here, there are about 5,400 people living in Vaduz and just 40,000 in all of Liechtenstein – that’s roughly the size of UCLA (University of California – LA). Built by the Werdenberg-Sargans starting in the 12th century and expanded from thereon, Vaduz Castle was bought by the Liechtensteins (yes the country is named after a family, what modesty they have!) in 1712. This was quickly followed by the formation of the Principality of Liechtenstein in 1719 via the acquisitions of lands and lordships hidden away deep in the dark, rugged Alps – today one of Europe’s smallest countries. Restored a few times in the early 1900s and the 1920s, by 1938 Vaduz Castle had become the official royal residence of the Princely Family of Liechtenstein. Unsurprisingly for a country named after its current ruling family, Vaduz Castle is still the Liechtenstein family’s royal residence today.

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Pro tip: The castle is not open to the public (guess the prince doesn’t want us ordinary plebs walking over his fancy carpets!) but you can see the castle from nearly everywhere in Vaduz, and you can get a bit closer if you head up the hill. Want to get inside a Liechtenstein-ian castle? Head over to nearby Gutenberg Castle, which today functions as a museum.

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Other Great Castles in and near the Alps

• Gutenberg Castle – Liechtenstein
• Tures Castle – Italy
• Neuschwanstein Castle – Germany
• Schloss Hohenzollern – Germany
• Chateau d’Annecy – France
• Kreuzenstein Castle – Austria

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Vaduz City Centre, Liechtenstein

Vaduz City Centre, Liechtenstein

The Principality of Liechtenstein is a micro-country snuggled deep within the massive mountains of the Alps. With 38,000 citizens spread over several ‘cities’ (each with a couple thousand people, they are more like villages), Liechtenstein feels more like a single vast town than a proper country. But a real country it is – and for a long time, this real country was known as a millionaire and billionaire tax haven. Headquarters to many international companies and banks, Liechtenstein has one of (if not the highest) GDPs per person in the world and one of the lowest unemployment rates – 1.5%! The  small capital of Vaduz has a distinctly Germanic Alpine feel – the above town hall and cathedral fit the style perfectly. Yet the quirky modern art displays and the glossy windows of the fancy banks remind us that Liechtenstein rests firmly in the 21st century. Sitting on a backdrop of mountains and castles, some of which are still owned by the royal family, Vaduz fells fallen out of a German fairy tale – the Brothers Grimm and the Black Forest do not seem so far away. Though you can drive from one end of the country to the other in 30 minutes, this micro-country packs a bundle: admire formidable fortresses like Vaduz Castle and visit the museum in Gutenberg Castle, hike through the dark Alpine forests in the summer and ski the dark snow-capped mountains in the winter, wander the streets of Vaduz, Schaan and Balzers, or enjoy a glass of the locally-grown red wine.

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Visit More Places in the Alps Mountains

1. Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany
2. Annecy, France
3. Megève, France
4. Valnonty in the Valle d’Aosta, Italy
5. Sacra di San Michele Monastery, Italy
6. Innsbruck, Austria

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Gutenberg Castle, Balzers, Liechtenstein

Gutenberg Castle, Balzers, Liechtenstein

Bigger is not always better. In fact, some of the littlest places hold the most charm. Sometimes, these ‘tiny places’ can even be countries! Many of these dwarf nations, like Luxembourg, Monaco, Andorra, San Marino, the Vatican and Liechtenstein are located in Europe, and are vestiges of a time when the continent was far more divided, each bit of earth ruled by a local lord who was in turn ruled by a king – who was often connected to local and faraway kingdoms through royal marriages and court appointments. Liechtenstein is one of these tiny nations. Nestled deep in the Alps between Switzerland and Austria, the nation’s total population is a mere 37,000 with an area of 160km² – far smaller than the surface of other well-known ‘tiny’ places such as Corsica [8,680km²], Rhode Island [3,140km²], and Ibiza [571 km²]. Yet despite its small size, Liechtenstein has some amazing characteristics, including Gutenberg Castle in Balzers. Starting its life as a 12th century medieval church, it was slowly fortified throughout the Middle Ages, with the addition of a wall, keep, towers, gate and merlons by the lords of Frauenberg, a noble house hailing from the Swiss canton, Graubünden – only to fall into the greedy hands of the house of Hapsburg in 1314. Surviving wars, sieges, fires, and the like, the castle was inhabited until 1750 before falling into disrepair, and saved in the 20th century by the Principality of Liechtenstein as a monument of local history, culture, tradition, and architecture. Sitting pretty on a backdrop of rolling green hills and overlooking a meadow filled with jolly little houses and patches of wildflowers, the dramatic and fierce Gutenberg Castle is a prominent symbol of this proud but often overlooked tiny European country.