The Fürstensteig, the prince's path above the Rhine valley

If there’s one mountain route in Liechtenstein with a name people recognise, this is it. The Fürstensteig leaves Gaflei, clings to the rock high above the Rhine valley and carries on along the ridge to the Drei Schwestern. For me it’s the finest walk in the country for anyone who knows their way around mountains, and that’s exactly why I want to set it out with every warning attached.

A path built for tourists in 1898

The Fürstensteig isn’t an old herders’ track that someone waymarked later. The Historisches Lexikon explains that the Drei Schwestern path was built in 1897-1898 between those peaks and the spa house at Gaflei, at the suggestion of the Vorarlberg section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club, with engineer Karl Schädler doing the work. It runs for 6.4 km at between 1,700 and about 2,000 m and is partly hewn out of the rock.

The most spectacular stretch, 2.2 km long, was paid for by Prince Johann II, hence the name Fürstensteig, the prince’s path. It opened in 1898, the 40th year of his reign, and the Lexikon counts it as a landmark in the history of Alpine tourism in the country. So much so that it sparked the idea of founding Liechtenstein’s own Alpine club, which finally came about in 1909.

How hard is the Fürstensteig?

No point kidding yourself here. The tourist board sells it as an unforgettable experience for sure-footed walkers on secured rock paths. The municipality of Planken, describing the route over the Drei Schwestern, adds that you need a head for heights, and the Alpine Club grades the classic traverse as an alpine route, the white-blue-white category that calls for kit and experience.

There’s a second warning. The tourist board says there can be snowfields until late spring and asks you to check the path’s condition before you go. I’d look at the forecast the night before and wouldn’t go in a storm, on wet rock or with small children.

The traverse, step by step

The version the tourist board describes runs from Gaflei to Planken over the Fürstensteig and the Drei Schwestern. It’s 11.9 km, about five and a half hours, 819 m up and 1,540 m down, with a high point of 2,052 m. The views, the same source says, take in the Rätikon and the Rhine valley and stretch as far as Lake Constance.

Near the end you reach the Gafadura hut, at 1,428 m, the Alpine Club’s refuge above Planken, which the tourist board suggests as the place to refuel before dropping to the village. If you want to split the route, you can sleep there, booking by email and paying in cash only.

Three ways to do it

Between its list of popular routes and its Gafadura hut page, the Alpine Club gives three combinations. The classic one, which is what I’d do, carries on over the Kuhgrat and the Drei Schwestern to Gafadura and Planken. A variant skips the pinnacles and goes down via the Kuegrat, the Garsellikopf and the Sarojasattel to Gafadura, in about four hours on white-red-white waymarks. And there’s a loop back to Gaflei via the Kamin, the Alpspitz and the Bargälla alp, also graded as an alpine route.

The legend of the Drei Schwestern, three sisters turned to stone for refusing to share their berries, is on my page about Planken, which is where you get the best look at them.

Getting there and back

To start, take route 21 from Vaduz to Triesenberg and then route 22 to Gaflei, 12 or 13 minutes. The 22 runs once an hour; I’d catch the first one that suits so I’m not rushed. At the end, in Planken, route 26 takes you down to Schaan. On every bus you pay by card or app, never cash.

If you’d rather have it organised, the tourist board sold a three-day package in 2026 from mid-June to early October, at CHF 339 per person, with a night at the Pfälzerhütte, another at Gaflei or Triesenberg, half board and a bus and chairlift pass. Its third day is exactly this traverse, Gaflei to Planken in about five hours, and it asks for mountain experience, good fitness, a sure foot and a head for heights. I cover it on my page about the hut-to-hut Route 66.

One more thing for August. On the night of the 2026 national day there was, according to the official programme, a procession of lights along the Fürstensteig. For the rest of the country’s walks, see my guide to hiking in Liechtenstein.