Nendeln, a hamlet on the old Roman road

Nendeln is one of those places almost everyone passes straight through, by train, by bus or on foot along the Liechtenstein Trail. I think it deserves ten minutes more, because in a few streets it packs a Roman villa, a chapel born of a vow against the plague and the station that connected the north with the wider world in 1872.

A hamlet below the Drei Schwestern

Nendeln belongs to the municipality of Eschen and sits on a fan of scree at the foot of the Drei Schwestern massif, separated from the village by slightly lower ground, at 438 metres, crossed by the Esche stream. It first appears in writing in 1395 as «Nendlen», and the Historisches Lexikon thinks the name is Celtic, from nantu-ialo, roughly a clearing in the valley.

Its long, strung-out shape comes from the road. The Roman road from Bregenz to Milan ran through here, later becoming the imperial route from Lindau to Milan. Two inns grew up beside it, the «Engel», mentioned around 1660, and the «Löwen», around 1720, both living off the carrying trade. Between 1821 and 1834 Nendeln was also a customs and toll post.

What’s left of the Roman villa?

The oldest finds in Nendeln are Iron Age, but the real draw is the Roman villa. It was built around the middle of the 2nd century at the spot now called «Im Feld» and abandoned at the end of the 3rd, judging by the coins found there. The main house measured roughly 17 by 23 metres, had its portico facing the Rhine valley and, in its third phase, a bath with a hypocaust, the Roman underfloor heating.

It was first excavated between 1893 and 1896, and a fresh dig in 1973-75 revealed a small outbuilding and a farm building. Eschen municipality says the foundations can be seen above the primary school. Don’t expect a museum, it’s a patch of low walls, but if Roman Liechtenstein appeals I’d pair it with the Roman fort at Schaan, which is later and larger. The Unterland’s other major Roman remains are at Schaanwald.

The plague chapel

In 1639, a year of plague and war, a local man, Wolf Senti, and his wife, Maria Öhri, paid for a chapel dedicated to the Virgin, St Sebastian and St Roch, the saints people prayed to against epidemics. In 1694 the villagers set up a St Sebastian confraternity, and the Lexikon says its feast, the «Brudertag», is still kept as a village holiday on the Monday after 20 January.

The chapel you see today isn’t that one. The new building was consecrated on 10 November 1935, a little to the north, and the old one came down in 1941 to widen the road. Inside hangs the original chapel’s crucifix from 1639, and that’s what would get me through the door.

Pottery, trains and a Hilti warehouse

Nendeln always had an industrious streak, thanks to the streams tumbling down the slope. There was a sawmill, an oil mill and a brickworks. In 1836, opposite the lord’s brickworks, Albert Philipp Schädler opened a pottery that the Lexikon considers Liechtenstein’s first sizeable business, and the building is still part of the Schaedler ceramics firm. I haven’t found any official information about visits, so I’m not suggesting it as a stop.

The Feldkirch-Buchs line has run through since 1872 with its own station, and Nendeln is now one of the country’s three stops, alongside Forst Hilti and Schaan-Vaduz. Hilti, the big Schaan company, built a logistics centre here in 2005-07 on buildings once used by an American publisher. The rail details, with the warning about autumn 2026, are on getting to Liechtenstein by train.

Nendeln on foot

If you’re walking the country, Nendeln is a hinge. Stage three of the Liechtenstein Trail comes up from Vaduz via Schaan, the Dux tower and Planken, and ends here after dropping down to the Roman villa. Stage four leaves the station for Eschen, Bendern, the Grossabünt bathing lake and Ruggell. That second one, the flattest of the lot, is on stage 4 of the Liechtenstein Trail.

To get around without the train, bus 14 links Vaduz, Schaan, Nendeln and Feldkirch, and the N2 night bus also calls here. Since 2024 there’s been a LIEbike station too, LIEmobil’s shared e-bikes.