Trip report: Liechtenstein
Date of visit: April 2015
People often ask me when I define a country as “visited”. Some ask if it is enough for me to set foot across the border. Or if I define a country as “visited” if I have a transfer at the airport. The answer to the last two questions is no. I must have done something in the country to make it count.
I don’t necessarily have to spend the night in the country. A day trip can be enough if I have a story to tell about the country. That’s why sometimes, even if rarely, my visits to a country last only a few hours. So it was when I traveled to Liechtenstein the first time.
The story of this visit was that I watched a football game. I was in Liechtenstein for about four hours, but I saw practically nothing except the stadium. Although this visit counts according to my logic, I was never completely satisfied with it. That’s why I visited the country a second time in September 2019…
Off the beaten path in Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein is one of the countries with the least tourists in the world. Together with San Marino and Moldova, it is among the top 3 in Europe in this category. Probably many non-Europeans don’t even know about the country’s existence. But the sixth smallest country in the world does indeed exist.
Sandwiched between Switzerland and Austria, it is only one of two doubly landlocked countries in the world. Doubly landlocked countries are landlocked countries that are exclusively surrounded by other landlocked countries. In other words, the inhabitants of these countries must pass through at least two other countries before they reach the ocean. The second doubly landlocked country is 2,800 times larger than Liechtenstein and is located in Central Asia: Uzbekistan.
But the lack of the sea will hardly be the reason why Liechtenstein has so few tourists. Rather, it is because Liechtenstein is not the most accessible country. Liechtenstein is one of only six countries in the world without an airport. Only four other micro-nations from Europe have none either. The sixth country without an airport is almost nine times as large as all other five countries combined: Palestine.
And so the fastest way to Liechtenstein for most travelers is via Zurich. Nevertheless, it still takes a good hour from Zurich to reach Liechtenstein. When you then think about what Liechtenstein has to offer, this trip no longer sounds so tempting. But more about that later…
One afternoon in Vaduz
With so few tourists, it was more than surprising that the first people I saw in Vaduz were a group of Chinese tourists. The group did not consist of 50 people, as one would normally expect. There were about six of them. “The rebels among their countrymen,” I thought. If you take the effort to travel from the Far East to this micro-state, you have the right globetrotter spirit.
Vaduz is not a real city but a village. The capital of Liechtenstein has only about 5,000 inhabitants and is the third smallest capital of Europe. It’s not even the largest city in Liechtenstein. That would be Schaan with about 500 more people than Vaduz.
The center of the capital is an approximately 200 meter long street with some restaurants, two museums, a tourist office and one or the other hotel. That’s why it doesn’t take longer than five minutes to go from one end of the center to the other.
What also stands out are the many banks. Finance is Liechtenstein’s main industry and the country is one of the richest in the world. The GDP per capita is one of the highest and the unemployment rate is very low. Liechtenstein also has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. Citizens sentenced to more than two years imprisonment must serve the time in Austria.
“Is there something to see in Vaduz, too?” you might ask. The answer is… not much. The biggest attraction in the tiny city center is the art museum. But if you’re not interested in art, you have to leave the center to get to Liechtenstein’s greatest attraction.
The castle in which the prince lives stands above Vaduz. In contrast to most European countries, Liechtenstein is not a democracy but a principality. Although the people elect the parliament and can vote on direct-democratic questions, according to the constitution the prince has the last word in case of doubt.
On the way to the castle we took a detour and first went to the Red House, another landmark of Vaduz. This old house, which is right next to a vineyard, is in my eyes the most photogenic place in the whole village.
Ten minutes later we were outside the locked doors of the castle. A well-prepared tourist would probably have noticed that the castle was not open to the public. Once a year the prince invites his countrymen to his castle, but you cannot enter the castle on the other 364 days of the year.
The ten other tourists up there took away our feeling of having made an epic mistake. After all, the way to the castle is relatively prominently signposted throughout the city. But if you took a closer look at the signs along the way, you would notice that the castle is not open.
Walking up to the castle is still worth it. On the one hand you can take a nice picture of the road in front of the castle. On the other hand, there is a viewpoint on the way from where you can see the city (or almost the whole country) from above.
We spent one more hour in Vaduz drinking coffee, because there was nothing more to do in the capital of Liechtenstein. Therefore, I unfortunately came to the conclusion that Vaduz is the most boring capital in Europe. Even Andorra la Vella appears next to Vaduz like a super exciting city.
We left Liechtenstein shortly afterwards. Although we thought about visiting another Liechtenstein village like Balzers or Malbun, we skipped this idea, because these villages do not offer us anything that we do not have in our home country of Switzerland. Nevertheless, I was satisfied with the visit, because at least this time I saw a little bit of the country.
Liechtenstein as a travel destination
In all fairness, I have to say that the strengths of Liechtenstein are not Vaduz or other villages, but the mountains. In the country there are fantastic hiking trails in beautiful nature. That is why Liechtenstein could also be seen as an add-on to Switzerland or Austria.
However, since you only come to Liechtenstein from Switzerland or Austria, the question arises why you should do so if you have the same landscapes in the other two countries. After all, Liechtenstein looks like most of Switzerland’s rural areas. The extra trip to the Principality does not bring any added value purely because of the landscapes.
Thus, Liechtenstein remains a niche country for country collectors and travelers who like to see places where the usual tourist does not go. But despite all my love for the inhabitants of the neighboring country, my conclusion is that traveling to Liechtenstein is not really worthwhile due to the complicated journey, the high prices and the lack of attractions.
Find the travel reports of the other countries I’ve visited here!
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