The quiet charms of tiny Liechtenstein
Only 37,000 people live in this beautiful nation
Each week, we spotlight a dream vacation recommended by some of the industry's top travel writers. This week's pick is Liechtenstein.
Liechtenstein "shouldn't really exist," said Mark Richardson at The Globe and Mail. The tiny mountainous country covers just 62 square miles — about the same as Washington, D.C. — and it's surrounded by Austria to the east and Switzerland "to the everywhere else." Yet the pocket-size principality is a proud and independent nation. Home to 37,000 people, Liechtenstein has its own parliament, and a prince and princess who live in a castle overlooking the capital, Vaduz. It also has a lot of money and near zero unemployment, thanks to a lucrative banking sector. Still, the country isn't costlier to visit than its neighbors. I drove across Liechtenstein twice last month, when the whole nation looked picture-postcard pretty, with tidy forests and manicured pastures surrounded by snowcapped Alpine peaks.
The landlocked nation has no airports or harbors, so most visitors drive in, usually from Zurich, about two hours away, or Munich, about four hours. "There's no sign on the bridge over the Rhine from Switzerland that says 'Welcome to Liechtenstein' — or if there is, I didn't see it." As I soon discovered, "this is an understated country in every way." On the drive to my hotel, I got lost on a twisty mountain road and had to ask some hikers for directions. Thankfully, everyone in the German-speaking country seems to know English, as well as where everything is. Indeed, it became apparent that most of Vaduz had dined at my hotel's Michelin-starred restaurant. "Oh, you ate at the Restaurant Marée?" several locals remarked the next day. "Such a good choice."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It doesn't take long to drive the country's 15-mile length along the Rhine valley, but traversing the nation's 7-mile width takes far longer, because the roads running east "wiggle their way up into the mountains." High above the valley in Triesenberg, I stopped to enjoy a sweeping view before heading south. I pulled over again at the Swiss border, near the site of one of the most exciting incidents to occur in Liechtenstein this century. One night in 2007, 170 soldiers from Switzerland got lost during a training exercise and accidentally invaded the tranquil principality next door. Apparently, nobody in Liechtenstein noticed — "which is just as well, because it has no army of its own."
Read more at The Globe and Mail, or book a room at the Park Hotel Sonnenhof. Doubles start at $380.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Bird flu worries mount as virus found in milk, cows
Speed Read The FDA found traces of the virus in pasteurized grocery store milk
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Palazzo Durazzo Suites in Genoa: a palatial gem in northern Italy
The Week Recommends Live your Italian dream in this astonishing and recently restored palace in the heart of the city
By Nick Hendry Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 25, 2024
Cartoons Thursday's cartoons - TikTok in the firing line, protests on campus, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Gaza hospital blast: What the video evidence shows about who's to blame
Speed Read Nobody wants to take responsibility for the deadly explosion in the courtyard of Gaza's al-Ahli Hospital. Roll the tape.
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Giraffe poo seized after woman wanted to use it to make a necklace
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Helicopter sound arouses crocodiles
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Woman sues Disney over 'injurious wedgie'
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Emotional support alligator turned away from baseball stadium
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Europe's oldest shoes found in Spanish caves
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Artworks stolen by Nazis returned to heirs of cabaret performer
It wasn't all bad Good news stories from the past seven days
By The Week Staff Published