Top 10 Attractions in Liechtenstein

The tiny Prin­ci­pal­i­ty of Liecht­en­stein is an inde­pen­dent state in the ter­ri­to­ry between Switzer­land and Aus­tria. Liecht­en­stein is one of the most pic­turesque Alpine coun­tries in Europe. Despite the fact that the coun­try cov­ers an area of ​​only 160 square kilo­me­ters and its pop­u­la­tion is only 35,000 peo­ple, Liecht­en­stein has a very strong econ­o­my thanks to favor­able tax laws. Sur­pris­ing­ly, this is one of the most indus­tri­al­ized coun­tries in the world, which you can nev­er tell from the forest­ed slopes and alpine mead­ows of Liecht­en­stein. Peo­ple have lived here since the Ear­ly Stone Age, but the area became tru­ly impor­tant dur­ing Roman times, even­tu­al­ly becom­ing the Prin­ci­pal­i­ty of Liecht­en­stein in 1719 and gain­ing full auton­o­my in 1806. Today, Liecht­en­stein is a pop­u­lar tourist des­ti­na­tion with excel­lent win­ter sports infra­struc­ture , numer­ous hik­ing trails, impres­sive muse­ums and cas­tles. I sug­gest you learn about the 10 most out­stand­ing sights of Liecht­en­stein.

Capital of Liechtenstein Vaduz

One of the most pic­turesque and small­est cap­i­tals in Europe, Vaduz with its tourist infor­ma­tion cen­ter offers every­thing a trav­el­er needs to know about their vis­it to Liecht­en­stein. From here you can eas­i­ly explore the main sights of Liecht­en­stein, includ­ing the par­lia­ment build­ing on the banks of the riv­er Rhine and Pieter-Kaiser-Platz. Also worth see­ing is Rataus­platz with its his­toric City Hall and the 1873 neo-Goth­ic Pfar­rkirche parish church, also known as St. Flor­in’s Cathe­dral. Even though it is closed to the pub­lic, you will cer­tain­ly want to take some pho­tos of the impres­sive Vaduz Cas­tle, the seat of the Liecht­en­stein monarch.

Art Museum

Locat­ed in Vaduz, the Liecht­en­stein State Art Gallery (Muse­um of Fine Arts) dis­plays many fine pieces from dif­fer­ent peri­ods. In addi­tion to fre­quent tem­po­rary exhi­bi­tions, its per­ma­nent col­lec­tion includes art dat­ing back to the 19th cen­tu­ry — paint­ings, sculp­tures and even the col­lec­tion of the Prince of Liecht­en­stein. Most of the roy­al col­lec­tion is locat­ed in the Liecht­en­stein Muse­um in Vien­na, but there is some­thing to see in Vaduz. Muse­um address: Stad­tle 37, FL-9490 Vaduz, Liecht­en­stein.

Castle Gutenberg

High above the vil­lage of Balz­ers in the south of Liecht­en­stein, the majes­tic Burg Guten­berg Cas­tle is a superbly pre­served fortress from the Mid­dle Ages and one of Liecht­en­stein’s most vis­it­ed sights. The cas­tle is built on a ledge 70 meters high, which has been inhab­it­ed since Neolith­ic times. Many impor­tant archae­o­log­i­cal finds have been made here, includ­ing an ancient stat­uette of Mars Guten­berg — now housed in the Liecht­en­stein Lndesmu­se­um. Par­tic­u­lar atten­tion should be paid to the chapel and rose gar­den, along with many cul­tur­al events dur­ing the warm sea­son. In sum­mer, numer­ous con­certs and the­atri­cal per­for­mances are held here. Address: Fursten­strasse 50, 9496 Balz­ers

Liechtenstein National Museum

A must-see attrac­tion is the excel­lent Liecht­en­stein Nation­al Muse­um in Vaduz (Lan­desmu­se­um). The state-owned muse­um is housed in a bril­liant­ly pre­served old inn from the 15th cen­tu­ry, which Wolf­gang Goethe Faust vis­it­ed in 1788. Out­stand­ing exhibits include an excel­lent 1:10,000 scale mod­el of the prin­ci­pal­i­ty, as well as exhi­bi­tions focus­ing on the coun­try’s ear­ly his­to­ry, weapons and reli­gious art. Address: 9490 Vaduz, Liecht­en­stein

Cities of Nendeln and Eschen

The small towns of Nen­deln and Eschen are the main com­mu­ni­ties in Liecht­en­stein’s low­lands, def­i­nite­ly worth a vis­it. Nen­deln is known for its old Roman vil­la, tra­di­tion­al Schadler pot­tery, and the old­est craft school in the coun­try. Among the main attrac­tions of the city is a ceram­ics fir­ing work­shop with tiled kilns. In Eschen, the 14th-cen­tu­ry Pfünd­haus and the pret­ty City Chapel are worth a look. Eschen is the start­ing point for all major excur­sions in the region.

Shan and Liechtenstein Festival

Just three kilo­me­ters north of Vaduz, at the foot of the Dry Schwest­ern moun­tain range, is Shan, a live­ly small indus­tri­al city with an old Roman fort. The 18th-cen­tu­ry pil­grim­age church Maria zum Trost dom­i­nates the town pic­turesque­ly, with great views of the town. As one of the old­est cities in Liecht­en­stein, Schan is home to the DoMuS cen­ter with exhi­bi­tions of local his­to­ry and art, as well as the near­by Muse­um of Cal­cu­la­tors and Print­ing Devices. Shan is also a good place for walk­ing tours on numer­ous routes of vary­ing dif­fi­cul­ty. Shan hosts the famous Liecht­en­stein Fes­ti­val, a two-day cel­e­bra­tion with a max­i­mum of music, enter­tain­ment and deli­cious food.

Culinary masterpieces Triesenberg

Triesen­berg is the largest munic­i­pal­i­ty in Liecht­en­stein, locat­ed in a beau­ti­ful loca­tion in the mid­dle of an Alpine val­ley, just six kilo­me­ters from the cap­i­tal Vaduz. The pic­turesque vil­lage of Triesen­berg is known not only for its mag­nif­i­cent scenery and unique dialect, but also for its Triesen­berg­er Vochen food fes­ti­val. It is held every year from mid-Octo­ber to the end of Novem­ber. Dur­ing the fes­ti­val, all local restau­rants and hotels serve the tra­di­tion­al dish­es of this unique vil­lage, passed down from gen­er­a­tion to gen­er­a­tion by the locals. There is no short­age of beau­ti­ful views from pret­ty rus­tic chalets and small inns. Triesen­berg is a great place to explore attrac­tions in Liecht­en­stein.

Eschnerberg Historical Trail

Thanks to its alpine nature and pic­turesque towns, Liecht­en­stein is a hik­er’s par­adise, attract­ing tourists from all over Europe to its moun­tain peaks, wood­ed slopes and green val­leys. Numer­ous hik­ing trails criss-cross across the coun­try, but one of the most pop­u­lar trails is the 15-kilo­me­tre Eschner­berg His­tor­i­cal Trail, which con­nects the cities of Ben­dern and Schel­len­berg. Along this fun trail are the ancient vil­lages of Lützengut­le and Malanser, as well as a range of breath­tak­ing views of the Rhine and the sur­round­ing moun­tains. Anoth­er pop­u­lar hik­ing route is the Path of the Princes through the pic­turesque Rati­con moun­tain range and with the superb scenery of the peaks of the Three Sis­ters moun­tain range.

Winter attractions in Malbun

Known as Liecht­en­stein’s only win­ter resort, the small town of Mal­buna is a good place for win­ter sports enthu­si­asts. The alpine ridges near the Sam­i­na­tal Val­ley always have per­fect snow, and the first ski lifts were installed here in the 1960s. Today, Mal­bourne has many groomed trails and ski runs to enjoy one of the longest win­ter sea­sons in the Alps. More than 23 kilo­me­ters of pistes are main­tained through­out the win­ter, offer­ing suit­able ter­rain for skiers, and three ski lifts are capa­ble of tak­ing ath­letes to alti­tudes of around 2,000 meters. For chil­dren, there is the Mal­bi Kinder­land park with edu­ca­tion­al lessons and enter­tain­ment pro­grams.

Schellenberg Castle

The cas­tles of Liecht­en­stein are men­tioned in the lists of the most per­fect­ly pre­served cas­tles in Europe. There are five main cas­tles here, two of which have sur­vived intact: this is the home of the mon­archs Vaduz Cas­tle, and Schel­len­derg Cas­tle in the vil­lage of Balz­ers. Of the rest of the cas­tles, only ruins have sur­vived, but they also have their own unique charm. One of the main attrac­tions of Liecht­en­stein is Schel­len­berg, where you can also explore sev­er­al ancient ruins. Among them is the Upper Cas­tle (Obere Burg), built in 1200 with all the ele­ments of a typ­i­cal medieval cas­tle. The Low­er Cas­tle (Untere Burg) was estab­lished in 1250, but by the 16th cen­tu­ry both had fall­en into dis­re­pair. There are also the ruins of Shalun Cas­tle, also known as Wald­schloss.

Liecht­en­stein is worth a vis­it, if only because the sights of one of the small­est coun­tries in the world are orig­i­nal and unique. It has its own his­to­ry, tra­di­tions and cui­sine.