Route 66, three days hut to hut across Liechtenstein's mountains

Liechtenstein is small, but its mountains still ask for three days. Route 66 is the way to do them properly, hut to hut, from Malbun to Planken and over the best stretches the country has. Here are the stages, what the package costs and what I’d weigh up before signing on.

What Route 66 is

The name is misleading. According to the tourist board, it’s the Liechtensteiner Panoramaweg, a trail waymarked with the number 66 within a network of more than 400 km, and over three days it strings together two of the country’s star walks. The first stage is the Princess Gina Trail and the last is the Fürstensteig with the Drei Schwestern. In all it’s 30.3 km, 1,833 metres up and 2,652 down, between a high point of 2,360 metres and 780 at the finish. It drops more than it climbs because it starts in Malbun and ends in Planken, close to the Rhine valley.

The stages, one by one

The first leaves Malbun and heads up to Sareis by chairlift or on foot (check first, as Bergbahnen Malbun posts each day whether the chairlift is running), runs along the ridge to the 2,358 m Augstenberg before descending to the hut. Officially it’s 6.1 km, and the programme allows about four hours. Dinner is at 18:00.

The second starts with a treat for early risers. From the hut you climb the 2,570 m Naafkopf, where Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Austria meet, about two and a half hours there and back, to watch the sunrise. Then you descend past the Gritsch alp and through the Valüna valley to the Gänglesee lake at Steg, in about four hours. From there it’s another hour and a half on foot, or bus 21 and then bus 22 up to Gaflei, where you sleep at the MATU, or at a hotel in Triesenberg.

The third is the big one. It leaves Gaflei along the protected rock paths of the Fürstensteig, continues over the 2,053 m Drei Schwestern, stops at the Gafadurahütte at 1,428 m and ends in Planken after about five hours. The tourist board’s stage table says six, and I’d plan on that.

Is it for me?

The tourist board asks for mountain experience, good fitness, sure footing and a head for heights, plus boots with a decent tread. It isn’t exaggerating. The Fürstensteig has protected rock passages and is no place for hesitation or wet rock. The tourist board also warns that snow can linger on that stretch until late spring, so in early June I’d ask about conditions first. If you’ve never done a multi-day trek, I’d start with the Princess Gina Trail on its own and save the full route for another summer.

Package or independent

In 2026 the tourist board sold the trek from mid-June to early October for CHF 339 per person. That covered the night at the Pfälzerhütte with vegetarian half board, the second night at the MATU or at the Kulm or Oberland hotels in Triesenberg, also half board, two packed lunches, the three-day pass with buses and chairlift, and the map. A single room was CHF 50 extra, and a guided small-group version was also announced. You can do it independently too, booking each night yourself. The Pfälzerhütte takes bookings through the Alpine Club’s Hut Reservation system.

What to pack

The official list is short and sensible. A sleeping-bag liner, compulsory at the Pfälzerhütte, earplugs, because it’s a hut where you hear everything, a travel towel, since there are no showers, a head torch, a waterproof, water, some food and cash, because drinks up there are paid in notes only. There’s no wifi. Dogs sleep in the Adlerhorst annexe for CHF 10 a night.

Getting there and back

The tourist board lets you park for nothing in Malbun’s P1 to P4 for all three days, or in the Marktplatz garage in Vaduz, which you pay for. Without a car, bus 21 takes you from Vaduz to Malbun. From Planken, at the end, a bus drops you down to Schaan, and from there you head back to Vaduz or Malbun. Every route is in my guide to buses, and the timetables are worth checking the night before, because in the mountains buses run hourly at best. If you only want one night up high rather than three days, the other options are in mountain huts.