Malbun, the high valley where Liechtenstein goes to the mountains

From the Städtle in Vaduz you wouldn’t guess it, but half of Liechtenstein is mountain, and the way into that half is Malbun. It’s a valley of chalets at around 1,600 metres where the road runs out, and it’s where the country skis in winter and walks in summer. Below is its story, the way up and my plan for each season.

A hay meadow that became a holiday village

Malbun isn’t a municipality in its own right; it’s part of Triesenberg. The Historisches Lexikon describes a trough-shaped high valley scooped out by a glacier, between 1,390 and 2,359 metres, and traces the name to the Romansh «val buna», good valley. For centuries it was a hay meadow belonging to the Walser farmers of Triesenberg, who bought it in 1652. They’d bring the cattle up in late autumn to eat the hay and head back down just before Christmas. The last of those pre-Christmas drives took place in 1940.

Visitors started arriving in the early twentieth century. The first guesthouse went up in 1908 and 1909, with room for 20 people from June to October. By the 1930s skiers were coming too, but in winter you could only get here on foot, with local lads hauling the suitcases, as the lift company’s own history puts it. The Gnalp tunnel, opened on 4 December 1947, changed everything. The Peace Chapel was consecrated in 1951, the first T-bar arrived in 1962 and the Sareis chairlift in 1963. In 1968 five Swiss army shells came down on the village by mistake, one of the episodes I gather under Swiss invasions of Liechtenstein.

Getting there without a car

From Vaduz, Post there’s a LIEmobil bus every hour, the 21, which runs via Triesenberg and Steg and takes half an hour to the end of the line. For the chairlift, stay on to the last stop. Bear in mind you can’t pay cash on the country’s buses, only by card or app. Driving takes about as long, and in winter, when the car parks fill up, a shuttle runs up from Steg. The full detail on routes and fares is in my guide to buses in Liechtenstein.

What’s Malbun like in winter?

Snow and not much else, and I mean that kindly. It’s the country’s only ski resort, with 23 km of runs, three chairlifts and a T-bar up to about 2,000 metres, and the tourist board sells it as skiing away from the crowds. The 2026-2027 season runs from 19 December to 4 April. There’s a free children’s area for learning, sledging, an ice rink at the entrance to the village and, just down the road, cross-country trails at Steg. I go into it properly in skiing in Malbun, with prices on the Malbun ski pass page. I also like knowing that World Cup winners such as Hanni Wenzel, Tina Weirather and Marco Büchel learnt on these slopes, as the resort proudly points out.

Is it worth coming in summer?

For me it’s the best time of year. From 13 June to 18 October 2026 only the Sareis chairlift runs, and in a few minutes it lifts you to 2,000 metres, to a restaurant terrace looking across to the mountains of Austria and Switzerland. The loop I’d walk if I only had one day starts at the top, the Princess Gina Trail, and the village has plenty for children, which I cover in Malbun in summer.

A straight warning, though. The chairlift stops in strong wind or very bad weather, and the operator posts its status on its homepage, so I’d check it on the day before counting on it. If it isn’t running, Sareis is an hour’s walk up.

Sleeping and eating

There isn’t much. In late September 2026 Bergbahnen Malbun listed the JUFA Hotel (open all year), Hotel Turna, the Galina and Alpenhotel Vögeli as open, while the Gorfion was closed for building work. Up at Sareis, the guesthouse does bed and breakfast. I sort them out in hotels in Malbun. As for food, Käsknöpfle, the national cheese noodles, are on the menu at Sareis and at the Turna, according to the tourist board.

What I’d do with the time you’ve got

If you’re passing through from Vaduz, catch the morning bus, take the chairlift, have lunch at the top and walk back down past the Turna alp. That’s the Malbun loop of the Liechtenstein Trail, 7 km in about two hours. With two days, sleep in the village and give the second one to the Augstenberg ridge. And if you come in winter with children, Malbun is exactly the size where nobody gets lost.