The Naafkopf, the summit where three countries meet

If I had to pick one summit in Liechtenstein, I wouldn’t pick the highest. I’d pick the Naafkopf, because from the top you’ve got Liechtenstein on one side, Switzerland on another and Austria on the third, and because the tourist board is right when it says the best way to arrive is with the sun coming up.

The Naafkopf, a 2,570 m summit shared by three countries

The Naafkopf sits in the Rätikon, the range that forms the border between Austria’s Vorarlberg, Switzerland’s Prättigau and the south of Liechtenstein. The Historisches Lexikon describes it as the tripoint of that range, a few kilometres from the Grauspitz, which at about 2,600 metres is the country’s highest point. The Alpine Club gives the Naafkopf 2,570 metres. You’ll see 2,571 on other lists, and the difference won’t change a thing underfoot.

What does change is the view. To the north lie the Malbun valley and the rest of the mountains in Liechtenstein, to the south the Swiss massif and to the east the valleys of the Vorarlberg. There aren’t many Alpine summits where it’s this easy to explain to someone what they’re looking at.

The Naafkopf in one day, or a night at the hut?

You can do it two ways, and I know which I’d choose. The tourist board’s choice is a night at the Pfälzerhütte, the hut on the Bettlerjoch saddle just north of the summit, then an early start in the dark. From the door it’s about an hour up, so you reach the top just as the sun rises. That’s my pick.

The other is to do it in one go. Liechtenstein Marketing publishes it as a 19-kilometre route with eight and a half hours of walking, 1,258 metres of ascent and nearly as much descent, with its lowest point at 1,303 metres, which is roughly the height of Steg. Those are the numbers of a long mountain day. If you’re very fit it’s doable, but you’ll reach the top around midday, in flat light with the cloud building, which is exactly the opposite of what makes this place special.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Malbun for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.

Getting to the Pfälzerhütte

The Alpine Club lists four ways up, all mountain paths waymarked white-red-white. My favourite starts in Malbun, climbs to the Sareiserhöhi and follows the ridge of the Princess Gina Trail to the 2,359-metre Augstenberg before dropping to the hut. It takes about three hours, and the Sareis chairlift saves you the first climb for CHF 11. In 2026 it ran in summer until 18 October.

The shortest also starts in Malbun, through the Vaduzer Täli and the Gritsch alp, in about two hours. From Steg you walk up the Valüna valley in two to three hours, and there’s a path that branches off into the Naaftal at around 1,650 metres and heads straight for the pass. The fourth comes up from the Austrian side, from the Nenzinger Himmel, in about two hours.

My combination would be to go up over the Augstenberg the afternoon before, sleep at the hut, climb at sunrise and come down through the Täli. It makes a full loop and you don’t repeat a single metre.

What you need to know about the hut

The Pfälzerhütte belongs to the Liechtenstein Alpine Club and is booked through its online system. With a three-course vegetarian dinner and breakfast, a night comes to CHF 75, or CHF 68 for members of a partner Alpine club, and you pay in notes, francs or euros.

The date matters. In 2026 the hut ended its summer season on 11 October, with the last night 10 to 11 October, and until the 2027 season, still without dates, the only bed is the Adlerhorst winter room next door, 21 bunks at CHF 20 with firewood and a stove, but nobody to cook for you and no phone for emergencies. If you’re torn between this hut and the one at Gafadura, I set them side by side in mountain huts in Liechtenstein.

Before you fix your dates, compare train and coach tickets to Vaduz: the same journey can cost very different amounts from one day to the next.

The last hour to the summit

Just above the hut, on the way to the Naafkopf, the Alpine Club points out a small climbing garden with routes from grade 4 to grade 7. There’s no gear to hire, so it’s only for people who bring their own. The rest is the climb itself, an hour according to the tourist board, which in the dark is best done with a head torch and without rushing.

With a bit of luck, says Liechtenstein Marketing, you’ll see ibex along the way. Dawn is when your chances are best, so I’d keep quiet for the final half hour.

Turning it into something longer

The Naafkopf is the second morning of the hut-to-hut Route 66, the three-day traverse the tourist board puts together. That day you climb for sunrise and then drop via the Gritsch alp and the Valüna valley to the lake at Steg. If your legs have more in them, the Liechtensteiner Höhenweg also leaves from the hut towards the Mannheimer Hütte and the Schesaplana, over in Austria.

To weigh this up against the country’s other routes, I compare them all in hiking in Liechtenstein.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Naafkopf on GetYourGuide.

If you would rather go at your own pace, see the car hire deals in Zurich: the earlier you book, the more cars are left to choose from.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Malbun for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.