62 square miles of Liechtenstein

I promised Patrick early on that we would not take trips just to "cross another country off our list." Perhaps that is the reason we had yet to check out the 6th smallest country in the world, Liechtenstein, which lies just four hours away from us. Much to my delight, it happened to be on the way to Switzerland, so we took a detour through the principality and tried to hang on to our paychecks in the country with the highest GDP per person in the world.

Jumping through Liechtenstein (or trying...)

Liechtenstein is a very interesting country. With only 36,500 inhabitants, they rely on neighboring Switzerland for military support. They have rock-bottom tax rates which have helped them attract several large companies. The Prince of Liechtenstein, Prince Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein, who himself is worth over $4B, proposed a referendum expanding his powers in 2003, then said he and his family would move to Austria should it not pass. Thankfully, it passed, and again in July of 2012, over 76% of the Liechtenstein people backed the Prince's powers by rejecting a referendum to reduce his authority. His castle is seen below - I personally think it would be amazing to wake up and see your entire, beautiful country every morning, particularly if I had $4B to play with as well...

We stayed the beautiful, recently renovated Hotel Oberland on the mountain. Not only did they have free breakfast buffet (standard European cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and meat), but this was our hotel room view:

Unfortunately, most everything in the capital city of Vaduz was closed on the Sunday before Christmas; however, I can tell you that there weren't many places on my list anyway. We did check out the beautiful tourist information building and shamefully paid the €2.50 to have our passports stamped.

Note to drivers: if you are driving to Liechtenstein via Austria, the €2 Korridor Pass does not take you all the way to the exit the GPS wants you to take. You either have to spring for the 10-day, €8.30 full vignette or exit the freeway and find a non-highway route into the country. Silver lining: Liechtenstein does not have their own vignette.