Schaan, the town that outnumbers the capital

Plenty of people pass through Schaan without noticing. Come in by bus from Buchs and this is where you change; look at a train timetable and the stop is called Schaan-Vaduz. What hardly anyone realises is that this town, joined to the capital on its northern side, has more residents than Vaduz and a layer of history the capital can’t match, the Roman one.

Bigger than the capital, and it shows

On 31 December 2025 Schaan had 6,294 residents to Vaduz’s 6,108, according to the Office of Statistics, and the Historisches Lexikon says it has been the most populous municipality since 1989. At 26.9 km² it’s also the second largest by area after Triesenberg, and its parish church stands at 462 m, almost level with central Vaduz.

That’s what gives Schaan its character. The Lexikon describes it as Liechtenstein’s main industrial and shopping centre, and the town has spread mostly across the Rhine plain. The old core, around its two churches, stayed on a small fan of debris at the foot of the mountains. I find it a good spot to see how the country lives on a weekday, well away from the shop window of the Städtle. One of those firms is Ivoclar, which moved here in 1933 to make porcelain teeth, the origin of the tale of Liechtenstein and false teeth.

One map detail I love. Schaan’s northern boundary is also the line between the Oberland and the Unterland and, the Lexikon says, a dialect border inside the country. Its land also reaches a long way up, because the Pfälzerhütte on the Bettlerjoch, at 2,108 m on the Austrian border, belongs to Schaan too.

Rome in the Obergass, five minutes from the bus stop

The thing I wouldn’t miss is the fort. In the middle of town, by St Petersplatz, are the remains of a Roman camp of about 57 by 60 metres that stood in the second half of the 4th century, guarding the road between Milan and Augsburg. Built against its walls is St Peter’s chapel, with a 5th-century baptistery. I go into the detail on the page about Schaan’s Roman fort.

The ground here keeps giving things up. In autumn 2024, digging a plot on the Obergass a stone’s throw from St Peter’s, archaeologists found seven early medieval graves and Roman rubbish pits holding a Constantinian coin. You can’t visit it, but it tells me Schaan hasn’t finished telling its story.

How would I spend a morning in Schaan?

On the Kulturweg. The council opened it on 29 September 2007, and it’s a loop of about six kilometres with 21 panels that takes an hour, from the sLandweibels-Huus on the Landstrasse to the town hall. Along the way you pass the fort, St Peter’s, a panel on Schaan’s vineyards, the sculpture park at Stein Egerta, the Dux chapel, the old St Laurentius church, the Roman road, the station and the theatre.

If you arrive by bus I’d walk it in a different order from the numbering. Start with the fort in the centre, climb to the Dux chapel and its lookout tower before the sun gets high, then drop through the upper village to St Laurentius. No tickets and no booking, which makes it one of the few genuinely free things to do in Liechtenstein.

Theatre, a museum and the loudest carnival in the country

For its size, Schaan punches above its weight culturally. The TAK theatre opened in 1970 and, the Lexikon says, drew attention beyond the border in the 1970s and 80s. DoMuS, Schaan’s museum and gallery, has been going since 1998. Neither is a reason to travel on its own, but if there’s a show or an exhibition you fancy, both are right in the centre.

Carnival is another matter. The Lexikon calls Schaan the centre of Liechtenstein’s Fasnacht, with a parade since 1952 and a Monsterkonzert since 1976. In 2026 the international parade was on Sunday 15 February at 14:00, and the tourist board says the biggest concert is played here on carnival Saturday. If your dates line up, I’d go. The rest of the calendar is in my guide to carnival in Liechtenstein. For summer 2027 the FL1.LIFE festival already has dates, 2 and 3 July.

Arriving, getting about and sleeping

Schaan has the Schaan-Vaduz stop on the ÖBB line between Feldkirch and Buchs, open since 1872 according to the Lexikon. For autumn 2026 I wouldn’t count on a train without checking oebb.at first, and I’d use the bus, which is the dependable option. From Buchs, line 12 takes you to Schaan Bahnhof and line 11 carries on to Vaduz.

LIEmobil’s customer office is here, at Postplatz 5. Worth knowing, because the buses take contactless cards or app tickets only, no cash. And if you want a cheap bed, the Jugendherberge Schaan-Vaduz, the country’s only youth hostel, is in Schaan as well.