The Princess Gina Trail, the ridge I'd walk if I only had one day

If someone asked me for just one walk in Liechtenstein, this would be it. The Princess Gina Trail leaves Malbun, gains the ridge at Sareis, reaches the Augstenberg, stops at the country’s highest hut and returns to the village down another valley. Five hours of walking and you’ve got the country’s mountains in a nutshell. Here’s what it’s like, what it costs and what to bear in mind.

The route step by step

According to the tourist board it’s an 11.9 km loop with 892 metres of ascent and the same again down, between Malbun at 1,598 metres and the Augstenberg at 2,359, taking about five hours of walking. It starts in the village. You go up to Sareis, at 2,000 metres, on the chairlift or on foot in an hour, and from the Sareiserjoch the path follows the ridge southwards. The official page talks of a ridge full of flowers with views to the Falknis chain, the Schesaplana massif and the Malbun valley.

From the summit you drop to the Pfälzerhütte, at 2,108 metres on the Bettlerjoch, at the foot of the Naafkopf and right on the Austrian border. The way back doesn’t retrace your steps. It heads down past the Gritsch alp and through the Vaduzer Täli and ends up back in Malbun, with the valley ahead of you the whole time. The Alpine Club reckons about three hours from Malbun to the hut on this side, less if you ride the chairlift.

The Augstenberg and the Naafkopf detour

The Augstenberg isn’t the country’s high point; that’s the Grauspitz at about 2,600 metres. A 2024 tourist board page described it as the highest summit in Liechtenstein that isn’t on the border, and I like that idea, because everything you see on one side of it belongs to the country.

From the Pfälzerhütte the tourist board suggests a detour to the Naafkopf, 2,570 metres, where Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Austria meet, and says that with luck you’ll spot ibex on the way. It’s a serious extra. I’d only take it on having caught the first chairlift and with a clear sky. There are more of the country’s peaks in Liechtenstein’s mountains.

How hard is it?

It’s a mountain walk, not a stroll. It doesn’t have the fixed rock passages of the Fürstensteig, but it does have nearly 900 metres of climbing and stretches above 2,300. I’d wear walking boots and bring water, a warm layer and food, and I’d check the forecast, because on a ridge a storm gives no warning. The tourist board also reminds walkers that there are cows with calves on the pastures, that you should keep your distance and that dogs belong on a short lead.

Getting there and turning it into two days

Without a car it’s easy. Bus 21 leaves Vaduz, Post once an hour and reaches Malbun, Zentrum in about 30 minutes, right by the chairlift station. The first bus won’t get you there for the first chair, which is why I’d sleep up here the night before. If you drive, the tourist board says you can leave the car free of charge in the P1 to P4 car parks in Malbun.

If you’d rather not rush, spend a night at the Pfälzerhütte and split the walk in two. The tourist board warns that a sleeping-bag liner is compulsory there, you sleep in bunks, there are no showers or wifi, and the three-course vegetarian dinner is served at 18:00, so you need to arrive before 17:00. Next morning you can climb the Naafkopf at first light and wander down to Malbun at your leisure.

The name and the princess

The path is named after Princess Gina, Countess Gina von Wilczek, who married Prince Franz Joseph II in 1943 and is the mother of the current Prince Hans-Adam II. I couldn’t find an official source explaining when or why the path was named after her, so I won’t tell you a story I can’t back up.

Money, food and season

The Pfälzerhütte doesn’t take cards, so bring francs or euros in notes, and half board costs CHF 75 for non-members of an alpine club. The Alpine Club doesn’t publish opening dates, so I won’t guess them. The Sareis chairlift season lasts until 18 October 2026, and the lift company’s homepage says daily if it’s turning. If you want to turn this walk into a three-day traverse, it’s the first stage of the hut-to-hut Route 66.