Europe's 6th Smallest Country, Vaduz Castle Above the Rhine, Kunstmuseum Rubens & Raphael, Rhine Valley Cycling & the Prince's Pinot Noir
📍 Vaduz, Liechtenstein📅 3-day itinerary
The capital of the 6th smallest country in the world (160 km², 38,000 people, more registered companies than residents), where the 12th-century Vaduz Castle perches on a limestone cliff 120m above the Rhine Valley as the private residence of the Liechtenstein prince (the wealthiest monarch in Europe), while the Kunstmuseum displays Rubens, Raphael and van Dyck from the Princely Collection, the complete country can be cycled end-to-end in 2 hours on the Rhine Valley bike path, and the tourist office stamps passports with the most coveted CHF 3 souvenir stamp in Central Europe.
The Castle Where the Liechtenstein Princes Lived in Vienna for the First 130 Years of Their Ownership Without Ever Visiting (They Bought the County of Vaduz in 1712 Purely to Get a Seat in the Holy Roman Empire and the Title "Imperial Prince") — and the Kunstmuseum Where 12 Rubens Works from the Princely Collection Include "Venus in Front of the Mirror" (1613)
The Complete Liechtenstein Country Cycled End-to-End in 2 Hours on the Flat Rhine Valley Bike Path (25 km from Ruggell to Balzers, the Swiss Alps Visible Across the Rhine the Entire Way) — and Malbun, the Ski Resort at 1,600m Where Every Liechtenstein Schoolchild Learns to Ski as Part of the National Curriculum
The Triesenberg Walser Museum Where the 700-Year-Old Colonists' German Dialect (Descended from 13th-Century Valais Swiss Migrants) Survived in the Liechtenstein Mountain Village Until the 20th Century — and the Day Trip to St. Gallen's Abbey Library (the 1758 Baroque Library Considered the Most Beautiful Room in Switzerland)