After leaving Basel, I travelled to Vaduz in Liechtenstein. This was my first visit to this principality, which is situated in the Alps, between Austria and Switzerland.
The journey took two hours from Basel to Sargans by train. Sargans is in Switzerland and you then get a bus direct to Vaduz. A first class train ticket cost €70.19. I love travelling by train in Switzerland. They arrive on time and are clean. You get an assigned seat, when booking a first class ticket, which can be important if you travel during a busy time.
Do be careful if you book this journey. I travel extensively by train and this journey is one where I saw the largest price differential on booking sites. The same journey cost €145.90 on another website.
The local buses are right outside the train station. Bus 11 takes you into Liechtenstein. They leave every 30-45 minutes and you can purchase a ticket from the driver when you board. I recommend you pay by card, unless you have the correct change. It cost 8.00 CHF (€8.60) each way, when I travelled.
You will know when you have left Switzerland and entered Liechtenstein. You can see where the border used to be and the Swiss flag will no longer be flying from buildings. You will now see the red and blue flag of Liechtenstein with its golden crown. The number plates on the cars are black and start with FL. This stands for “Fursrentum Liechtenstein” (Principality of Liechtenstein). One interesting thing I learnt is that a number plate is assigned to an owner and not to a car.
The journey took 35 minutes to get to Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein. There are three bus stops close to one another and I got off at the Post Office.
A little about Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein is a landlocked country, German is its official language and the Swiss Franc (CHF) is the local currency. It is the fourth smallest country in Europe and the smallest landlocked country in the World. It’s also an extremely wealthy country and is one of the few in the World with no national debt. It has one of the highest GDP’s in the World.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the head of the state. It’s considered a semi-constitutional monarchy i.e. it has a parliament but the Prince is the head of state. The current Prince (Hans-Adam II) has reigned since 1989.
Liechtenstein has eleven municipalities and Vaduz is its capital. I was extremely excited to spend time in this unique country and learn why it is so successful.
Six thousand of Liechtenstein’s forty thousand residents live in its capital Vaduz. While I arrived on an extremely wet and grey Sunday morning, I was eager to start sightseeing.
I was too early to book into my hotel so I left my luggage in a locker in the reception area. The main street of Vaduz is pedestrianised and has some beautiful buildings along it. The imposing castle, the residence of the monarchy, overlooks the city high on a hill. You cannot visit inside the castle or the grounds unfortunately.
I was cold and hungry but delighted when I saw vegetarian bean stroganoff with jasmine rice on a menu. I decided to eat first and then plan how I was going to spend my time.
I spent two days in Vaduz and this is what I saw and did.
Vaduz Main Street
The main street is pedestrianised in beautiful cream brickwork. There are several designer shops, tourist shops, restaurants and cafes along it. A distinctive cream coloured building sits at the top of the street and it houses government offices.
However, it’s the various statues which stand out. Some of them are amazing and others a little strange !
Just beside an information center is a miniature model of the Liechtenstein castle. As you cannot visit it, it’s great to see this in detail.
When you look up from the main street, you do get a glimpse of the actual castle from various places.
Tourist Stamp
You can purchase a tourist stamp for your passport in the tourist office. I miss the days when you got stamps arriving and/or leaving every country so I paid 3 CHF (€3.20) for one.
Kunstmuseum
The Kunstmuseum (Art Museum) is right on the main street. As it was still raining, I decided today was the day to visit museums. There is a cafe at the entrance and you purchase your ticket from a counter at the back. I didn’t have a tourist card for Vaduz and the full price was 10 CHF (€10.74).
As I knew very little about Vaduz and Liechtenstein, I was anxious to start learning. However, this wasn’t the museum to go to first.
This museum mainly has modern art. While I am not a huge fan of modern art, I usually find a few pieces I enjoy seeing. I almost walked on and into several exhibits here though, as it wasn’t obvious what they were.
The exhibits included:
- A chess board set up ready to play
- Some pieces of broken stained glass placed on the ground
- Some discarded clothes placed on the ground
- Some matchbox cars placed on what looked like black gravel with a shovel at the end
- Some meat cleavers on a wall
There was a lady walking around with two small children and they were all stopping at each item and having a discussion. They seemed more impressed with everything than I was !
In another small area there are computer terminals where you can listen to artists explaining their work. Clearly I needed this induction so I sat and listened to the artist responsible for the discarded cloth. He is from Los Angeles, a city I lived in for many years. He explained how he gets his inspiration and strategically places his fabrics. He explained that he spent ten hours arranging them for a museum opening in LA. However, the following morning he got a call saying that a cleaner had swept them all up, thinking they had been discarded. He had to rush to the museum and he replaced them in ten minutes. I got a real kick out of this story and loved his honesty !
There were some more interesting displays on other floors. I enjoyed seeing some artwork by Pablo Picasso and Edvard Munch on the ground floor. I also saw some lovely artwork on the first floor including an amazing painting of Cologne Cathedral.
I was disappointed not to see any artwork by local artists so I learnt nothing about Liechtenstein but I was glad to be dry.
If you like modern art, you will enjoy this museum – if you don’t I keep your 10 CHF and spend it elsewhere.
Landesmuseum
I next went to the Landesmuseum which is also on the main street. I was told you can pair a ticket to also attend the Treasury. I had read about the items on display in the Treasury so I purchased both tickets.
They cost 13 CHF (10 for Landesmuseum + 3 for treasury = €13.95 ).
Now this is the museum I should have visited first to really learn about Liechtenstein !
The first thing you see on each step of the stairs, is the name of countries in Europe with dates. I first thought this must be when they became Republics or were established. My eyes immediately went to my native country – Ireland and 1922 was beside it. But Portugal had 1976 and Liechtenstein 1984 so I wasn’t sure what this signified. I found out later !
This building has several floors with rooms per area on each floor. Some of the highlights in my opinion are:
- Taxidermy display of native animals including deers, squirrels, ducks etc. Signs telling you about them are everywhere. There are a few rats which are a bit creepy but most of the animals are beautiful.
- The quartz room has lots of rocks and quartz displayed. Most of the signs are in German
- A fascinating history display about gender equality. Women were allowed to vote in Liechtenstein in 1984 (the mystery of the steps was resolved !). They were allowed to work legally from 1926 though. Various referendums occurred before 1984 (1971 – 51% voted against, 1973 – 55% and 1981 – 59%). A referendum passed in 1984 with 50.7% in favour. The steps on the stairs showed when women were granted the right to vote in each country. I was delighted to see that my native country was progressive regarding this !
- Prison Art – displays of artwork from prisoners in various countries including Cyprus, Germany, Italy and Taiwan. Some are really beautiful.
- A religious section with various statues, manuscripts, furniture etc.
- Some examples of furniture used several years ago
- Area explaining Liechtenstein’s exports. There was an interactive display where you can select an area and learn more about it in detail. I spent ages here as I was so intrigued how this small country had become so wealthy. Thirteen companies are responsible for the majority of this success. Most are in pharmaceuticals, surgical tools, technology and jewellery. Swarovski being the most well known Worldwide.
Treasury Museum
What a gem this is and well worth the 3 CHF entrance fee. While I was given a paper ticket for the Landesmuseum, I was given a coin to enter this.
The entrance is on the main street just down from the Landesmuseum. You go to a small area with a steel door. You put the coin in a slot when the light is green. When I arrived it was red and I had to wait for a few minutes. Then a security guard arrived and he told me to put the coin in the slot. I was then shown into an extremely dark long room.
In the center there is a display case. On each wall there is some artwork and photographs. The guard gave me a book. It had numbers (1-150) on it corresponding with each item in the glass case. I was the only visitor and he stood in a dark corner and seemed to be watching me.
The glass cases hold historical items from Liechtenstein. The Faberge Eggs were my favourite, especially the beautiful “Apple Blossom” one. Several others were painted by individuals including the royal children.
Other highlights are the stamps, the jewellery and the tiaras. They also displayed two small Liechtenstein flags which were taken to the moon by US crews. This was an interesting historical fact that I didn’t know before seeing this.
The artwork is all of scenes of Liechtenstein, Germany and Switzerland.
Due to the security around the displays here, you can’t take photographs, are allowed 15-20 minutes and numbers entering at one time are restricted. While they have lights inside the cabinets, it is quite dark to protect the artwork. Sometimes it was hard to read the descriptions in the book due to the muted light.
This is probably the best value I have got for 3 CHF as I really enjoyed this. The mystique around the security was also a little bit of an adventure.
Stamp Museum
This museum is free to visit and is also located on the main street. It has lots of displays of stamps from all over the World. Multilingual signs explain the history and how stamps first evolved.
There is a whole section of hanging files which you can open and view the ones you want to see. I found some from Ireland and Italy.
You can purchase a postcard here and post it. I purchased one of my favourite Faberge Egg that was displayed in the Treasury Museum – “Apple Blossom”. It cost 3.40 CHF (€3.65) to post it to Italy and it was in my post box when I got back home.
This museum is wonderful and you can easily spend thirty to sixty minutes here.
Art Museum
In the same building as the post office is a small Art Museum which is also free to visit. It just has one room and the displays change regularly.
When I visited it had some great photographs and artwork. These included two amazing photographs of the sea crashing against some rocks.
Cathedral of St. Florin
The Cathedral of St. Florin is situated just off the main street. This neo-gothic building was built in 1874 and upgraded to a cathedral in 1997. It’s a Catholic church and contains the Princely Crypt which is open to the public on All Saint Day (November 1). Various members of the royal family are buried here. I wondered if they allow the Royal family attend at other times though.
The interior is quite small with beautiful detail in the ceiling and lots of stained glass windows. The decorative piped organ is in the upstairs balcony.
Hiking
One of the reasons I wanted to visit Liechtenstein is to go on a hike. I was amazed to learn that it has the densest network of hiking trails in Europe. There are over 400 km’s of trails going up to 2,600m above sea level.
The 75 km “Liechtenstein Trail” takes you right across the country and I’d love to return soon to complete this. You can purchase a pass which includes transporting your luggage, packed lunches for each day and overnight accommodation. This takes eight days and is considered a level three hike i.e. intermediate difficulty level. You can of course just navigate the trail yourself and stay wherever you want.
Unfortunately the weather wasn’t cooperating with my plans to go on a long hike and have a picnic along the way. Therefore I decided to explore some of the trails around Vaduz as it was raining quite heavily.
I took the left hand turn off the main street and walked towards the castle first. The road was a mixture of a tarmac road and a gravel path. It has a gentle incline. It was great to see the castle up close. It looks large and while part of the outside is just a grey brick, it has some distinctive towers. There were cars and tour buses parked nearby and other tourists were taking pictures and admiring the view.
I then accessed a trail just by the car park. Very quickly I was in a dense forest. The path was extremely well maintained for a forest trail. There were signposts along the way and lots of multilingual signs with geographical and historical facts. Several showed birds native to the area but I didn’t see any of the birds. There were also a few seats and water fountains along the way.
I came to a great viewing point with a timber bridge overlooking the valley below.
I continued on the trail and arrived at the ruins of Schalun Castle, also known as Wildschloss. This is one of five castles in Liechtenstein which were built in the 12th century and are now in ruins. You can walk around the exterior which has breathtaking views across the valley below. While it was dull and wet, the fog added a mystique across the lush green landscape.
I walked along another trail for a while but it was quite slippery and the rain was getting heavier. So I decided to return to Vaduz and I walked part of the way I had come up. I didn’t pass by the castle but walked through a residential area which had some beautiful homes and very interesting architecture.
I really enjoyed my morning hike and I was very impressed with how well maintained the trail is. It is also well signposted and even though I only met a small number of people, it felt extremely safe.
Food, Beverages, Transport etc
There are several restaurants and cafes along the main street in Vaduz. I was very impressed with the variety and value for money within a small area. There is also a large Co-Op (grocery shop) across the road where you can purchase food to either prepare yourself or take on a picnic.
I enjoyed a few meals in Vaduz including the Vegetarian Bean Stroganoff I had on my first day. I had this in a hotel restaurant and it cost 28 CHF (€30.00). I also enjoyed Falafel served with salad and fries in the Centrum Bar. This is a Mediterranean Cafe serving a wide array of kebabs, salads and grilled meats. My kebab cost CHF 21.00 (€22.60) and it was delicious and a suitable portion size. This bar is a music venue and I’d love to visit it again and listen to some live music.
One night I had a Red Thai Curry with tofu in the restaurant overlooking the square. This had communal tables and the staff were extremely welcoming. My meal was delicious and the curry cost 19.00 CHF (€20.40)
I enjoyed great coffee in Liechtenstein and they also have their own local wines. I tried a rose and a white wine. They cost 6-8 CHF (€6.44-€8.60) and you could purchase bottles in the tourist shops or at the Co-Op.
There is a tourist trolley bus which takes you from the tourist office to the castle area. Also, I got the bus back to Sargans from outside the Post Office. A sign tells you when the bus is due and it came right on time !
Final Thoughts
I was delighted to visit this unique country with the big name and proud history. I was surprised how much there is to see and do in the center of Vaduz.
Just like Switzerland this is an expensive country to visit. However, services are of a high quality and everything appeared to be very efficient. It’s also a very safe country to visit as a solo female traveller and I found all locals I encountered helpful and welcoming.
I am looking at my calendar for next year to see when I can hike the Liechtenstein Trail. I love the idea of being able to walk across a country – albeit a small one. That has now gone very high on my wish list !
