One day in the Happy Valley, Liechtenstein

Welcome to one of the tiniest and richest countries in the world!(Sixth smallest country to be precise)

This Happy valley(As fondly called by the people of Liechtenstein), which flaunt itself for having no army of its own, greeted us with all its reverence.

Liechtenstein, a tiny principality(Imagine just 160 square km) landlocked between Switzerland and Austria, is a pure fairytale comes to life.

This happy valley was a heaven on earth for the killing views it offered.

Thanks to the friend who invited us to Liechtenstein. We stayed in Nendeln at a friend’s place for the night. 

Nendeln

When such views are offered at your doorstep, why not spend a day in such a place?

The another best part about staying in her place was hearing those snippets of travel adventures she had all around world. How can I not mention about her tasty prawn curry and crispy dosas!?

Vaduz Castle – The icon of Liechtenstein

Seeing these well maintained roads to Vaduz castle in google, we carried our luggage to leave directly from Vaduz to Zurich.(Time saving idea of mine!)

As we reached the bus stop, we could see Vaduz castle standing atop the hill, amidst falls colours, giving the town a ‘fairy land’ feel. The castle can be pretty much seen from anywhere in the capital city, Vaduz.

When we enquired one lady in Vaduz about the way to reach castle, she looked at our luggage and asked whether we were planning to reach castle with these luggages in hand and said that we had to climb steep steps in the beginning of the trail.

Know what?

The royal roadway stretched with well-maintained lawn and trees on both sides, which we saw in google, were not accessible for walking. (That’s only for vehicles it seems)

Phew!You have to walk through the gravel path to reach the castle.

When you are in the sixth smallest country in the world, why not?

We climbed our way to castle with our luggages in hand. Here’s the proof! 

When we reached, we were offered some spell bounding views of both the city as well as the castle.

Castle is not open for tourists as it is still a royal residence. But the panoramic view was worth the climb.

When in Liechtenstein, you stumble upon a vineyard near bus stop too!

A private vineyard near bus stop!

Good to Know

Note that Liechtenstein shares border services with Switzerland and so if you have a Schengen visa for entry into Switzerland, then you can automatically enter Liechtenstein.

While people entering Liechtenstein from Austria needs a Schengen visa that allows entry into Switzerland or Liechtenstein.

Your Swiss travel pass is applicable in the buses of Liechtenstein.

I am not sure whether train journey in Liechtenstein is covered in Swiss travel pass. Though we boarded an Austrian train doubtfully, luckily no one came to check our tickets. LOL!

If you are entering from Switzerland, you can board your train to Sargans from where you can take a bus or train to Liechtenstein.

Our Lyca sim was not working in Liechtenstein. So a screenshot we took before reaching was our saviour.