The Liechtenstein Trail

Day four – Ruggell to Schaanwald

By Luke Waterson

Right behind the built-up areas of Ruggell the Liechtenstein Trail strikes out across an ethereal nature reserve, the Ruggeller Riet Reserve, where the steep grassy banks of a canalised channel of the Rhine plummet to a fen-like plain of marshes, peat-rich lowland moors and pools. This 90-hectare wilderness is an important zone for much birdlife, including the stork: at its brightest in May and June when the Siberian iris carpets the ground in spectacular shades of blue. This is an enchanting and silent section of the walk, where locals ride horses or walk dogs: for a time it seems like a part of Holland has been superimposed on the Alpine landscape. This wilderness forms Liechtenstein’s northern border with Austria, separated just by a narrow gully between fields. The next small town on the Austrian side, Feldkirch, has almost as many citizens as all of Liechtenstein together. I have now journeyed across Liechtenstein from south to north, but the trail is not yet over. For the last 15km the path circles the wooded hills of Escherberg, which seem low besides the mighty 2000m peaks all around, but still exceed 600m in height, with the community of Schellenberg rising a good 200m higher than the highest village in the UK.

To begin with the path circles the base of Eschnerberg but soon starts to climb – steeply, and dramatically – up to the ruined castle of Schellenberg’s Untere Burg (lower castle). This 13th-century fortress, tracing its roots back to the days of the Lordship of Schellenberg, formed in the 9th century AD by Charlemagne himself, and is one of two castle ruins on the massif. After a wander around this ancient site it is an abrupt down-and-up to Schellenberg’s white-walled monastery.

Schellenberg is a sprawling settlement, and I now walk through woods in an unseasonal flurry of snow along the top of the Eschnerberg to the part known as Hinter-Schellenberg. Due of the fact this charming village boasts two of the most appealing traditional restaurants in the country as well as a duet of castles, I take a strong liking to Hinter-Schellenberg. And like soon becomes love. I hurry in to Wirthschaft zum Löwen, a four century-old farmhouse, and have the finest meal of my trip so far: a mound of Käsknöpfle, pasta covered in rich, feisty cheese sauce and topped off with a crown of crispy onions. Some wine cultivated just down the road in Eschen washed all this down. The food is good, if simple, but what makes the experience is the cosy rustic environs of the restaurant with its views of the Rhine valley fleetingly visible through the clouds far below, and some of the friendliest Liechtensteiners I have come across engaged in happy, hearty dining.

«I hurry in to Wirthschaft zum Löwen, a four century-old farmhouse, and have the finest meal of my trip so far: a mound of Käsknöpfle, pasta covered in rich, feisty cheese sauce and topped off with a crown of crispy onions.»

Near here, and also on the path after it loops through a swathe of woodland with steep cliffs plummeting away to Austria right below, is a second phenomenal place to eat, Gasthaus Weinlaube, in another 400 year-old farmhouse, although with a more Mediterranean approach to Liechtenstein food. By Gasthaus Weinlaube, I encounter the second and more extensive of Schellenberg area’s castle ruins, Obere Burg (upper castle), this stronghold dating from the mid-14th century.

And now, as I descend from Obere Burg, down into first Mauren and then the final stop on the trail, Schaanwald, I reach the end of the Liechtenstein Trail. It is a surprising path: a valley and village stroll or a woodland wander as much as a mountain hike. But it does something no other long-distance trail I am aware of can do. It takes you on foot to every region of a country, to its highlights and its out-of-the-limelight sights, all in a long weekend. I feel now, having walked all across it, that I have sufficiently paid my birthday respects to Liechtenstein in the year of its tercentenary. It is time to go home.