Last month saw me spending a few days in and around Innsbruck. One of those days was spent in Liechtenstein, which became number 19 on my mission of visiting every European country. I think i've got 23 to go, but that rather depends on what you consider 'Europe' to consist of - if you only count EU members visiting Liechtenstein was a waste of time. Since Liechtenstein doesn't get much screen time on FT I thought i'd write up my trip there.

Getting to Liechtenstein from Innsbruck is pretty easy. You catch a train to Feldkirch (two hours)and then get on a bus. Liechtenstein Bus route number 11 runs from Feldkirch through Liechtenstein and on to Sargan which is in Switzerland. It takes around 50 minutes to travel from Feldkirch to the central stop in Liechtenstein's capital Vaduz.

My train to Feldkirch was IC118, a remarkable train which leaves Salzburg at 0700 and terminates in Munster 44 stops later at 2029. My second class ticket cost 9 euros. Standard class seating is a mixture of compartments and open plan, I went for a compartment and had one to myself almost all the way to Feldkirch.

IC compartment interior



Leg room was plentiful



The train, with an OBB Taurus locomotive at the head



The scenery on this journey is wonderful





The bus leaves from the station forecourt. It seems rather odd to make a
journey across three countries in a double decker bus but then Liechtenstein is a bit odd in many ways.



The impression of Liechtenstein as very small country was only heightened as the bus made its way to Vaduz as most of the passengers who boarded seemed to know each other. The villages through which the bus passes are fairly uninteresting but the view of green fields and mountains is very nice. Liechtenstein's bus stops are very well cared for, they all have smart signage and good shelters.



Vaduz Post bus stop is about two minutes walk from the tourist information center and within five minutes walk from most of the main places of interest. Activities center around the Rathaus (City Hall) and a variety of restauraunts can be found here, mostly very expensive. I went to a Thai place in the end (one of the cheapest in the locality) and it cost me nearly 20CHF for chicken curry, rice and a bottle of coke - nearly £15! It was a nice curry mind you, and a good sized portion. The whole area is a complete tourist trap and I didn't like it at all.

I thought the Rathaus looked a bit odd, kind of like it should be in the Western USA rather than the Alps.



Vaduz is built at the base of a mountain and the city is dominated by the castle which house's the Royal family. The walk up to the castle is described as 'gentle' on Liechtenstein's official tourist website but it didn't look very gentle to me.



In fact it looked so ungentle that I decided to walk down to the Rhine instead. The river is about 15-20 minutes walk from the Rathaus and forms the border between Switzerland an Liechtenstein. Looking back along the road you can see just how small Vaduz is.



The views across into Switzerland are quite typical of the scenery in the area.



The river is spanned by a covered wooden bridge which is several hundred years old though it has been recently restored.



The border is clearly marked



After lying in the shade in Switzerland for half an hour or so (it was a hot day) I walked back into Vaduz to see the old and new Parliament buildings





I took the bus back to Feldkirch, the border is clearly marked by virtue of being the end of a motorway toll zone.



Overall I found Lietchtenstein a bit disappointing. I was expecting more older buildings and for it to be more mountainous. I wasn't expecting so many tourists. But it still made for an interesting day trip.

I had time to quickly look around Feldkirch before my train back to Innsbruck. Feldkirch is a beautiful old city, actually far more like I thought Vaduz was going to be than Vaduz itself turned out to be.



My ticket back to Innsbruck cost 14 euros but it got me a ride on one of OBB's Railjet trains which are modern, fast (lot of good that did on bits of this line which had a 30KM/H limit) and comfy. They have free wifi and the information display in the carriages includes a moving map. Definitely a good way to travel. I do wish i'd reserved a seat on this train, masses of people got on at Feldkirch so I was quite worried about finding somewhere to sit. In the end it wasn't a problem but I could have saved myself the worry.



I hope you enjoyed reading this TR even if it didn't involve any aeroplanes or lounges. Now to try and figure out how to get to San Marino from Florence...