
What to see in Vaduz, capital of Liechtenstein
Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein, is a town with a dynamic attitude, located near the right bank of the Reindeer and guarded from the summit of Mount Gaflei (1485 metres). It has just over 5 thousand inhabitants and its center essentially revolves around two streets: Stadtle e Aulerstrasse, where most of the monuments are concentrated, including the Town hall, the town hall, which dominates the square of the same name.
On the Stadtle they overlook the Parish church nineteenth-century with neo-Gothic architecture, the Government Palace built at the beginning of the 900s and the Liechtensteinisches Landsmuseum, il National Historical Museum which, from prehistory to today, tells everything about the principality, with its fabulous collections of ancient weapons, coins, ethnographic documents, goldsmith's artefacts, sacred art and various finds.
Not far away, housed in a building called Englenderbau, the Art Gallery of the Principality appears, which exhibits in rotation the masterpieces belonging to the National Art Collection and those from the private collections of the Princes, with numerous works by masters from the XNUMXth to the XNUMXth century. In another wing, the same building also houses the Postmuseum des Furstentums Liechtenstein , where you are left speechless in front of the very rich collections of stamps from the Principality, sorted by theme and subject.
Once these monuments and museums have been exhausted, all that remains is to focus on Castle of the Princes of Vaduz, an architectural element that gives a Vaduz un fairytale touch: perched on the cliff overlooking the town, it shows off the lines of a stately residence, the result of the profound changes it underwent between the 500s and 600s, despite the original medieval layout dating back to the XNUMXth century. Princes usually live there, which is why it is not open to tourists.
La visit to Vaduz it thus runs out quite quickly; a stop for a sandwich in one of the restaurants in the main street, and you can get back on the road to explore the Upper Samina Valley, a sort of Country of the Bells south of the capital, surrounded by marvelous mountain landscapes, villages with characteristic Walser architecture and always lively holiday resorts.
Vaduz and surroundings
An atmospheric village about 6 kilometers from Vaduz it is, for example, Triesenberg, a small cradle of Walser civilization which, in addition to the typical houses, also houses the Walser Museum. From the town, in a southerly direction, a serpentine panoramic road leads to Triesen, a village of three thousand souls with a very well preserved centre: worth seeing is the Gothic chapel of St. Mamertus and the seventeenth-century one of Saint Mary. From Triesen there are also numerous beautiful hiking trails in the magnificent areas of Lavena, Falknis and Rappenstein. Continuing south on national road 16, you come across Balzers, another small town with just over three thousand souls, in the center of an unexpected archaeological area, where several prehistoric finds have been brought to light. Worth seeing are the beautiful Gutenberg Castle, the Sanctuary of Mary Help of Christians and the Gothic Chapel of St. Peter, in the suburb of Mals.
If from the capital Vaduz instead head north, you can take the road to the Mount Gaflei, on which the Walser settlement of Masescha, with a picturesque 1484th century church and a network of paths which, pasture after pasture, reaches the open space of the old Hotel Gaflei at an altitude of 2000 metres, and allows you to continue towards the highest peaks (over XNUMX metres) of the Tre Sorelle massif . Another important Walser village, also north of Valduz, is Planken, reachable from the town of Schaan via a secondary road; from the rock terrace you can enjoy a spectacular view of the Rhine Valley and the surrounding mountains.
Search for last minute offers
We compare airlines and travel agencies in search of the best priceHow to get to Vaduz
Useful Information
Could it be interesting for you
- What to see in Stockholm in 4 days, what to do in the capital of Sweden
- Edinburgh what to see and what to do in the capital of Scotland
- What to see in Copenhagen, capital of Denmark
- What to see in Berlin, places of interest: from the Brandenburg Gate to the Castles
- Istanbul, the city between East and West
Comment first