Hannah Goodwin
Vaduz's industrial-style city contrasted against the snowy Alps.
Girl math—if you go to the most expensive city in the world but visit a different country while you’re there, you’re actually saving money. It’s cheaper than booking two separate trips!
This is what I told myself as I painfully choked out 10 Swiss francs, about 11 USD, for my dinner, which consisted of a ready-made supermarket lasagna, a Coke Zero, and an orange. It was my first time in Switzerland, and my funds were low. I couldn’t afford to splurge the 15 franc fee to enter a Zurich museum or pay 17 francs to visit the Lindt factory. Instead, I had put my entire excursion budget into a day trip to Liechtenstein.
A small, easily forgotten country, Liechtenstein’s capital, Vaduz, is home to only 6,000 people. When I learned of this short journey from Zurich, I knew I needed to go. After all, I had an ambitious goal: visit 20 countries before I turn 20. This weekend getaway would put not one, but two new countries under my belt.
The morning of the trip, my breakfast was three slices of toast salvaged from the “FREE FOOD” bin at the hostel. After drinking more than my share of hostel-provided tea, I piled on my scarf, winter coat, and gloves and hurried to the bus station.
Leaning against the glass window, my head bumped steadily with the bus’s movement. As I listened to the tour guide, Walter, talk about Switzerland and its history, we arrived at our first stop: Rapperswil, Switzerland. A charming fishing village, Rapperswil’s main draw was the imposing castle that sat at the city’s highest point, acropolis-style. After touring the castle and its cathedral, lunch was hastily eaten, and we were off to our next stop.
Walter announced that the next little town, Heidiland, was famous for its classic Swiss story, “Heidi”, about a young girl who moves to the Alps to live with her grandfather. The town embraced its literary fame with “Heidihouse” museums, but rather than touring them, I opted to stay outside and enjoy the stunning view of the Alps.
Finally, we boarded the bus for our last stop. After only 20 minutes of driving, we crossed the bridge that transported us to the other side of the Rhine River, to Vaduz, Liechtenstein. I eagerly took in the small, industrial town framed by the snowy Alps. High above, the Vaduz Castle looked down onto us, proudly flying the country’s blue-and-red flag—signifying that the royal family was in town.
Walking through Vaduz, I felt as though it was the perfect mix of old and new. The cathedral, Government House and art museum fit oddly together, despite their vastly different architectural styles. It was a surreal place to be—Liechtenstein didn’t feel like any of the countries that I had visited before, despite the fact that it often gets lumped together with its bigger, more powerful neighbors. Yet, at the same time, it was hard to believe I was in a different country at all.
While Liechtenstein was not the most eventful country I had ever visited, the experience itself was incredibly unique. This trip helped me realize that my “20 before 20” goal had been centered around Europe’s large, Western superpowers without considering the small, more eccentric countries. That night, as we drove back to Zurich, I was grateful I had not shied away from the tour’s $100 price tag. After all, Liechtenstein doesn’t even have an airport—when would I have another opportunity to visit?