Liechtenstein - A pebble in the midst of mountains

In August 2019 I chose to visit the European microstate of Liechtenstein. This was the first time I had been in such a small country, nonetheless it is a prime location for travelling and exploring.

Fair warning, this post will be different from my previous ones regarding my 2019 ‘A country a month’ challenge because Liechtenstein is a small country I ended up visiting the neighbouring countries/cities and therefore a portion of the content of this post will be about those places as well.

The visited regions and places were mainly German speaking locations which is a language I know very little of, luckily a friend of mine tagged along and they were quite fluent in German which proved useful out there as in some places English was not spoken or very little of it.

Konstanz (Germany)

Our first stopping point was in the south German city of Konstanz just across the Swiss border and overseeing the beautiful Bodensee lake which connects Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

We were here for just a few hours and didn’t do much other than walking around a bit around the town centre and stopping for a quick bite.

Here I got to try the local Bavarian sausage in a restaurant overseeing the Rhine river and the sausage felt likely a novelty to me as there is a certain procedure to how it is presented and how it is meant to be eaten. For the non-initiated in Bavarian sausage eating procedure such as myself this can be a cause of embarrassing, i.e. the waiter and locals might give you a funny look.

Liechtenstein

This beautiful flat country surrounded by giant mountains, and in comparison giant countries, has a superb location and is the hardest country to get lost in that I’ve visited.

It’s definitely worth getting an encompassing view of Liechtenstein which from the neighbouring mountains is not hard to do. That image of a stretching valley of a country is very pleasant to observe as there is a river that runs right alongside it.

Said river is none other than the Rhine, which I had also witnessed in Konstanz. This segment of the Rhine actually serves as a border and divides Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

Along the river you can visit the ‘Old bridge’ which is made out of wood primarily and in a way is a portal from Switzerland to Liechtenstein and vice-versa, it even contains some plaques, halfway through, that indicate where one country ends and the other starts. I believe the bridge is exclusive for pedestrians and bikes so it’s definitely a great photo op place.

There’s not much to say or see in Vaduz the capital of Liechtenstein. A couple of hours here are more than enough to see the main attractions and get to know the town a bit.

I vividly recommend hiking around Liechtenstein as the mountains are incredibly beautiful and playful in a way that they seem to blend into each other and it’s easy to loose track of which mountain is which. Malbun was the most recommended area to hike/visit by locals and it was truly majestic as it’s a peaceful little village up in the mountains that is sought for its ski resort status.

Lucerne (Switzerland)

After crossing Liechtenstein geographically and from my list we headed to the city of Lucerne where we did some more hiking and I got to swim in a lake.

Lucerne is also a great place to party and at night the city is vibrant and auspicious to good food and good entertainment.

We hiked Bürgenstock mountain which is in the opposite side of the lake from Lucerne. A fairly easy hike that takes roughly 2 hours to do and along the way provides ton of photo ops as well as the pleasant and steady company of nature. The views are incredible from up there and there’s also a nifty cafe on the top that serves food and refreshments. If you’re wondering how the goods get up there, well it’s through the Hammetschwand elevator which at the time of writing is the highest exterior elevator in Europe.

That same afternoon, after the hike, we continued to cruise around and drove to Brienzersee which is one of the 2 lakes that give Interlaken (literally translates to “between lakes”) its name, the other being Thunersee.

Brienzersee lake was buzzing with boat activity and its shores occupied by locals and tourists enjoying the lake as well as local vendors selling some much appreciated ice-cream.

Eventually I managed to dip into the lake and ended up swimming for a bit in the Brienzersee. This proved to be a very enjoyable moment given how the water was crystal clear and the surrounding view was astounding.

Zürich (Switzerland)

After visiting and cruising around Lucerne we both returned to Zürich to spend our last morning and afternoon in the city before travelling back home.

Zürich downtown is beautifully wrapped by river canals and a very clean city, sadly we didn’t had enough time to do much and stayed roughly in the same district the entire time. The alleyways in the city contain hidden gems and my friend found out about this amazing spot right in the centre of Zürich that provided an amazing view of the river and the city to an extent.

That spot is Lindenhof hill, a neatly tucked away square.

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To conclude this post I’d suggest if one wants to visit Liechtenstein one should also think about the neighbouring areas/countries as it’s very likely one would enjoy themselves jumping the border and just visit the beautiful surroundings of Liechtenstein.