Riding around Liechtenstein

I spent a long weekend in the tiny, hilly Principality of Liechtenstein, including one day riding around the country on e-bikes that did not go according to plan.

Liechtenstein is a small country with the population of a town (70,000), lying between Switzerland and Austria. The Swiss Franc is their currency and travellers flying there are likely to fly into Zurich or St. Gallen in Switzerland. Flixbus runs a direct 3 ½ hour service to the capital, Vaduz, from Munich, so I decided to check it out one long weekend. 

For some reason, there were passport checks on the German side of the border before we crossed from Lindau, Germany into Bregenz, Austria. In the last hour of the journey, the bus travelled through four countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland and finally Liechtenstein. The Vaduz bus terminal was a big, empty car park just past a bridge across the Rhine river from Switzerland, descriptively called Vaduz Rheinparkstadion. My hotel was walking distance from there.

Vaduz has a lot of well-maintained and aesthetically pleasing yards with impressive detail on the plants. In my few days in Liechtenstein, I observed yard maintenance taking place; it was clear that this was a social obligation if not merely a status symbol. Liechtenstein had one of the highest GDP per person numbers in the world; perhaps their wealth is exhibited by the effort on their yards. 

Car number plates begin with FL (Fürstentum Liechtenstein / Principality of Liechtenstein). Liechtenstein has a Prince whose existence and wealth are easily observable due to the tiny size of the country. The Prince’s vineyards occupy prime real estate in the city centre, which may not be replaced with houses. 

After checking into my hotel, I visited the town centre and saw their little parliament building, among others. 

I then did a brief hike up to Vaduz castle. The castle could be seen from outside, but not visited, as it is the residence of the Prince. The path toward the castle has signs providing facts about Liechtenstein, the castle and the ruling family. The local greeting is “Hoi”!

On the second day, I took a bus to Malbun, a town that is elevated significantly above Vaduz. The bus route has many hairpin bends as the vehicle makes its way up the elevation while travelling a relatively short distance as the crow flies. 

Liechtenstein is a hiking destination and this day I wanted to run a relatively mild hiking trail. I covered the 12Km Schönberg-Path trail in Malbun with 700 metres of ascent in under three hours. I tripped over some roots at a relatively uncomplicated part of the trail, but the damage was minimal. The day was hot, but the views were enjoyable.

After cleaning up and getting some rest, I went to Torkel, the restaurant owned by the princely family, which had a Michelin star, for dinner. Unfortunately they were doing an eight-course asparagus special for €120, to which I did not wish to subject myself. I went someplace else to eat.

After the trail run of the previous day, I was not the most energetic person on day 3. However I still had the motivation to cycle the North-South extent of Liechtenstein. It helped that I’d already bussed myself to the high altitude areas of Malbun and Triesenburg the previous day, so I felt fine with skipping those. 

Bicycle tourism is a major thing in Liechtenstein. I came across plenty of people at my hotel who arrived cycling out with bicycles in their cars. A good proportion of these were e-bikes that would give the rider an electric battery-powered push to ease their riding effort. 

I had observed a set of e-bikes parked outside the tourist office at the city centre, but had not managed the past two days to go past the office while it was still open. On day 3, I finally learned that they cost CHF60 (60 francs or about €64 at the time) for a day. This seemed a bit steep to me. I instead opted for the LIEbike, a government-operated bike sharing scheme that allowed rental for the entire day for CHF20. 

The problem became quickly apparent after I purchased the ticket and tried the first bike. Its seat was rather low and I could not raise it; my legs were uncomfortably folded even at the fullest extension possible. This was no way to ride 50-60Km around the country. I had walked close to a kilometre to the town centre because this bike had a 70Km charge. 

There was another bike closer to my hotel that had a lower charge than 60Km. I walked back toward it in the hope that it would be better. It wasn’t. The seat was low and the e-bike engine provided no assistance whatsoever when I pedalled. I decided I had wasted enough time walking that day and kept going. 

The Rhine makes up the western border of Liechtenstein with Switzerland. I cycled southward along the river toward Balzers and saw Burg Gutenberg (Gutenburg Fort) from a distance. As the bike was painful to ride and too heavy to pull along, I did not try to climb the hill. 

I walked through a weekend market, then headed back north towards Vaduz and Schaan, beyond. I looked for bike stops on the way and came across many empty bike stop. Somewhere before Vaduz, I found a bike stop with another bike that had good charge and whose seat was at the right height. Its electric engine worked. It was a joy to ride for a few minutes before the left pedal fell off.

Nevertheless, I rode it for quite a bit, kicking the left one in on a regular basis with my left leg to prevent it from falling off. 

At Schaan, I found a replacement bike and stopped for lunch and an ice cream. I then set off with the new bike looking to make it to the northern parts of Liechtenstein. 

This e-bike also did not have a functioning engine. I was again pedalling an unnecessary amount of deadweight on hilly terrain on a bright, sunny and increasingly hot day. Fatigued from this and the previous day’s exertions, drowsy and now mentally drained from changing bikes three times in one day, I returned to the hotel to relax. 

I could have done without the bike troubles, but it was a nice short vacation to a new country regardless.