Christmas in Liechtenstein, from the Vaduz ice rink to the village markets

Christmas in Liechtenstein doesn’t have the scale of the big German or Austrian markets, and that’s exactly why I think it works. It’s a small-capital, village Christmas, with an ice rink in front of the town hall, a decorated pedestrian street and Advent markets that last a day or two. Pair it with the snow in Malbun and you’ve got a very tidy weekend, minus the crowds of the famous markets over the border.

Vaduz on Ice, the rink in the centre

The heart of it all is the Rathausplatz in Vaduz. That’s where Vaduz on Ice builds its skating rink, which this season runs from early November (the 6th) until just after Twelfth Night (10 January). That makes roughly eight weeks in which, according to the organisers, anyone can skate or simply watch from the side. Around the rink there are four stalls with hot drinks and snacks, plus a mountain-style hut, the Vadozner Alphötta, for thawing out.

For families, the organisers advertise skating lessons for children from the age of four, and the rink is right in the middle of town, so it’s easy to fit a session in between a museum and dinner. And if you’re carrying the tourist board’s ALL INCLUSIVE pass, Vaduz on Ice is among the things it covers.

What is the Weihnachts-Städtle?

From Friday 27 November the car-free street in the centre, the Städtle, becomes the Weihnachts-Städtle. The Vaduz promotion association describes it as a trail of stations for young and old, designed for looking, joining in and solving puzzles. It stays up until 10 January 2027, so you’ll catch it almost whenever you go over the holidays.

The capital’s big Christmas market falls on a Saturday and Sunday this year, 12 and 13 December. In 2025 it was set up on the Peter-Kaiser-Platz, beside the Parliament. For children there are two more options, the Vaduz Advent programme, published in the autumn, and the Märlizögle, a free fairy-tale ride on the Vaduz Citytrain during Advent.

The village markets

Beyond the capital, almost every municipality puts on a market, and to me they’re the most genuine part of the season. The 2026 dates aren’t out yet, but 2025 gives you a good guide. Eschen and Schellenberg kicked things off on the weekend of 22 November, the following Saturday brought markets in Schaan, Ruggell, Triesen and Balzers, and on the Sunday it was the turn of the Grossabünt in Gamprin and of Triesenberg. Malbun’s, among the snow, was on 20 December.

There were also Christmas concerts in the churches of Triesenberg on 26 December and Balzers on the 28th. I’d check each municipality’s website in mid-November to confirm this year’s dates. If I had to pick one village market, I’d go for Malbun’s, simply because a Christmas market in a ski village with snow on the ground is hard to beat, and it’s easy to pair with a morning on the slopes.

Snow and skiing in Malbun

If you want a white Christmas, head for the hills. Snow in the valley isn’t a given, but in Malbun the ski lifts start turning on Saturday 19 December, and route 21 gets you up from Vaduz in half an hour. It’s a combination I really like, the slopes in the morning and the rink and the Städtle in the afternoon. Even if you don’t ski, it’s worth going up just to see the village under snow and have lunch at altitude.

What to know about the holidays

Christmas Day and Boxing Day are public holidays, as are New Year’s Day and Epiphany on 6 January. Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve appear in the tourist board’s calendar with an asterisk, noting they aren’t legal holidays. The two big museums, the Kunstmuseum and the LandesMuseum, close on four days over the holidays, 24, 25 and 31 December plus 1 January, so I’d plan them for another day. It catches out plenty of people who come just for a long weekend.

And one curiosity to close the circle. Christmas trees don’t simply go in the bin here. In January the dried-out ones are collected, and in February they go up in flames on the Funken Sunday bonfires that send the winter packing. For carnival, the summer festivals and everything else through the year, have a look at my events calendar.