I walked across a country!
I may have walked on a flat, paved road with sidewalks. It may have been the 6th smallest country in the world. I may have chosen the smallest point to point of the country. Bet you bet your bottom dollar, I walked across Liechtenstein!
High five a million angels!
I wore hiking shoes so you knew I meant bizness. Overdressed for the occasion, I wore full-on Patagonia while going for a granny stroll. Fitting.
austria- liechtenstein – switzerland
Starting in Austria, I walked a paved road east to west through Liechtenstein and ended in Switzerland.
I stayed in Feldkirch at blaue rose – Hotel mitten in der Altstadt- a cute, small medieval town. Doing as Europe does best. Castle, river, old town. That sounded pretentious as I typed. It’s got all the hits.
liechtenstein by public transport from austria
I didn’t have high hopes for public transport accessibility to Lichtenstein because it was Good Friday, but the buses ran quite frequently.
I heard the bus only accepted cash, so initially I spent 35 minutes wandering Feldkirch for ATMs. One charged €3.5/ to withdraw, the other €5.50 so yeah, obviously didn’t withdraw cash.
I took Bus 11 from Feldkirch to Vaduz . They accept card on board (see, cheap decisions are always the best decisions) so I bought a day pass for 9.50 using my Dutch debit card since they use euros in Austria- I got confuffled! The ticket is in Swiss Franc’s because that’s the currency of Liechtenstein! If I just used my Wise card for the foreign transaction, I probably could have saved at least 0.28 cents in fees since I was charged €10.50 on my Dutch card. Grrrrrrrrrrr
I got off at the stop just after the border check called Schaanwald Zollamt, then walked back to Austria (I love being able to say stuff like that).
Then began the trek across the entirety of Liechtenstein.
The walk was mostly flat. I couldn’t tell you the elevation gain, but my guess is approximately 0. Here I go saying hiking words like I’m climbing Everest.
It took 1.5 hours total, stopping for some snaps along the way. There really wasn’t much to see- industrial area, residential area, but telling people I hiked across an entire country sounds badass.
Clearly, I’m still trying to impress people.
My friend hiked the Pacific Crest Trail (starting in Mexico through the USA and into Canada), and I wanted to leech onto that achievement.
After my cross-country expedition, I caught the same bus line 11 from Bendm Post to Vaduz.
In the Vaduz tourist info centre, you can pay to get a passport stamp (like in San Marino), but because I forgot my passport, I just angrily stared through the glass windows instead. I did eventually go inside and asked for a map/ what good hikes (actual uphill sloping terrain) there were. My Dutch data worked, so I didn’t necessarily need the map, especially because the recommendations were rubbish.
The 2.5-hour circular hike started at Vaduz Castle and went to the ruins at Burg Schalun (Wildschloss). I ate my Feldkirch-bought bakery sandwich because Lichtenstein uses the Swiss franc-kly why is everything so expensive?
Then I went back down in the direction of the princely cellars Hofkellerei des Fürsten von Liechtenstein, which were closed since Good Friday is a national holiday here. This may have been the one thing I wanted to see; the tourist info guy told me I didn’t need a reservation when I asked earlier, but he failed to mention it would be closed.
Honestly, if I worked at a tourist info centre, I would inform the frick out of tourists. I’d know everything about the city. At one point, I wanted to work at this rickety old town tourist info centre in my small hometown that National Geographic once called “strip mall hell”. That’s how enthusiastic I am about sharing travel knowledge-about a 9/10.
Back in Feldkirch, most of my food came from the Spar supermarket, except for the restaurant I splurged at called Schützenhaus.
The wait staff were lovely, and the spaetzle was delish. Everything was reserved when I went in for lunch at 11:30, but I was able to squeeze in at an empty table until their 13:00 reso. They have outdoor seating, but beggars can’t be choosers and all that (they wouldn’t let me sit there).
From Feldkirch, I headed to Zurich, Switzerland, by train – sit on the right-hand side for views of the gorgeous lake. The train does a switcharoo reverse uno in Bund, so you may need to musical chairs it a tad.
