Liechtenstein is famously expensive, but its best assets cost nothing: the Fürstensteig ridge, vineyard paths under the castle and Rhine dyke walks. Add Coop and Migros picnics, CHF 2.60 bus tickets and free Sunday gallery hours to keep three days under CHF 60.
Liechtenstein's signature ridge hike, free and open around the clock. Bus 21 climbs from Vaduz Post to Gaflei (1,483 m) in 25 minutes for CHF 3.60; the cliff-cut path with fixed cables reaches Alpspitz at 1,942 m.
The Coop supermarket on Äulestrasse sells filled Bürli rolls around CHF 4.50 and half-litre water for CHF 0.85. Carry it to the shaded benches and fountains along pedestrianised Städtle, opposite the government building.
The Prince's own vineyard wraps the slope below Vaduz Castle. A public gravel path runs free between the Pinot Noir rows from Feldstrasse up to the castle road, with interpretation boards on the princely wine estate and Rhine Valley terroir.
Vaduz's neo-Gothic cathedral, built 1873 by Friedrich von Schmidt, opens daily with no entry charge. The walled garden beside it holds the Princely Family crypt where Prince Franz Josef II and Princess Gina are buried.
Vaduz's cheapest full supermarket sits two stops north in Schaan. Bus 11 costs CHF 2.60 each way. Own-brand Alpine cheese runs about CHF 3.20 per 200 g and a 1.5-litre water is CHF 0.60 — half what Städtle kiosks charge.
A working village bakery rather than a tourist café. Ribelmais-flour breads, Nusszopf slices and the local Schaaner Törtchen sit at CHF 2.50-4.80, with filter coffee at CHF 3.50 — roughly a third of Städtle terrace prices.
Cross the Rhine into Switzerland for CHF 3.40. Buchs has an Aldi and Lidl that Liechtenstein lacks, plus a Thursday-morning produce market on Bahnhofstrasse. The 15-minute ride crosses the old wooden-covered Rhine bridge zone.
The last wooden covered bridge across the Rhine, built 1901 and now pedestrian-only. Walking it puts you in Switzerland and back in Liechtenstein inside ten minutes, with the Alpine ridge catching the last light upstream.
A single LIEmobil day ticket covers the whole country for CHF 8.60. Bus 21 winds 16 km up to Malbun at 1,600 m in 40 minutes, climbing past Triesenberg's Walser terraces and the Gnalp-Steg tunnel.
Skip the CHF 26 Sareis chairlift. The valley-floor loop past Zeg and the Malbunbach is free, signposted and roughly flat, with chamois and ibex regularly visible on the Ochsenkopf slopes through the marked viewing points.
Break the bus descent at Triesenberg. The Walser Museum on Dorfzentrum charges CHF 3 and covers the 13th-century Walser migration that gave the highlands their dialect. The terrace outside is free and looks 600 m down onto Vaduz.
Liechtenstein Center on Städtle 39 stamps passports for CHF 3 until 18:00. Afterwards the Rheindamm — the raised flood dyke running the length of the Rhine — gives a free, level 4 km walk north with the Swiss Alpstein opposite.