My friend Shreedevi had come to Germany and we both wanted to do a weekend trip utilizing this visit. We also wanted a break from our hectic work life. After browsing a lot of possibilities, we finalised on uniflucht tours who were going to Liechtenstein and Innsbruck for the weekend.
Innsbruck is quite famous city in Austria but we had not heard much about Liechtenstein. In the modern world, Google is the best friend and we consulted this friend and got below info.
Leichtenstein is a doubly landlocked German-speaking country in Alpine Central Europe. The principality is a constitutional monarchy headed by the Prince of Liechtenstein.
As of September 2008 the Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's eighth wealthiest monarch, with an estimated wealth of US$3.5 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps and is bordered to the east by Austria, and to the south and west by Switzerland. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the Rhine.
Liechtenstein is one of the world's two doubly landlocked countries — countries wholly surrounded by other landlocked countries (the other is Uzbekistan). Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallestindependent nation in the world by area.
Vaduz is the capital of Liechtenstein and also the seat of the national parliament. The town, which is located along the Rhine River, has 5,450 residents.
The most prominent landmark of Vaduz is Vaduz Castle, the home of the reigning prince of Liechtenstein and the Liechtenstein princely family. The castle is visible from almost any location in Vaduz, being perched atop a steep hill in the middle of the city.
We enjoyed short hike to the castle and all were mesmerized by its beauty and enjoyed taking a lot of photos.
We waited to see if royal family come out and offer us a coffee after this hike , but without luck ;)
We continued to Innsbruck after Vaduz. Due to limited time we decided to visit only Nordketten cable car and wattens Swarovski museum.
Innsbruck is really the jewel of Alps. You get 360 degree view of Alps. Innsbruck is a colorful, picturesque city nestled in the Austrian Alps. Its biggest draw is its location. Innsbruck sits in a valley and it is surrounded by enormous, snow-capped mountains. This is a city with endless views…
There are a series of cable cars that can whisk you to the top of the Nordkette Mountains for 360° views over the area.
You have three options for ascending the Nordkette Mountains:
The Hungerburg Funicular takes riders a short ways up to Hermann Buhl Square.
From Hermann Buhl Square, take the Nordkette cable car (also called the Innsbrucker Nordkettenbahnen) to Seegrube. Now, you are really climbing high. Once at the top, enjoy the amazing view.
The third cable car, from Seegrube to Hafelekar Peak, takes you as high as you can go (2,300 meters). From here, you get panoramic views of the Alps. You can also do a short hike to get more mesmerising 360 deg view of Alps.
It was a "yeh jawani hai dewani" moment at the top. We had no expectations out of this trip but it came out to be a perfect weekend fun amidst nature.
Museum was closed the time we reached here. But we enjoyed window shopping looking at beautiful Swarovski crystals and outside park. We had a nice dinner before returning to our bus back to Germany.