The Liechenstein Files - 2nd May 2026
- Brett Sedgwick
- May 11
- 4 min read
Hoi, from Liechtenstein.
Anyone been to Lichtenstein or know of anyone who has?
Anyone know any facts about Liechenstein??
Nuh, me neither.
But, Jen-Jen drove us here, so I’ll do my best to learn about this joint!
(Wait, I’m getting deja vu, have I read those words before…)
Picture this:
You have breakfast at a beautiful caravan park in Colmar, France.
You then drive your motorhome into Switzerland and stop for toasties in an Aire (Rest area)
You then park up for the night in a carpark next to the home stadium of Vaduz FC in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, and have your third meal of the day in a third country.
Sounds unbelievable for Aussies,but it happened.
“Did it happen without incident Dude?,” I hear you say.
No. No it did not. Let me paint the picture my friends…
The year was 2026, the date was May 1st - a public holiday throughout Europe - and Jen-Jen had just driven for over three hours and through three countries to arrive at our destination. At the very last turn, we took an exit to the right instead of crossing the roundabout to our destination. No worries, we say, we’ll just do a U-turn (how do you even type U-ie? Youi? U-ey? Dunno?) Just as we’re about to turn around, we see a sign for Macca’s, 2 k’s away, and the driver needs coffee badly. So we take Delphi along the main drag of Vaduz, manage to score a park, and I go in and get a Caramel Frappe and two espresso shots. (I didn’t know if a frappe had caffeine in it, hence the extra shot.) Anyway, I shoot my shot, Jen-Jen dumps her shot into the frappe and inhales the whole, sugary, caffeiney, icecreamy concoction, and instantly, she’s OFF HER HEAD!!
Our Tom-Tom app takes us on a shortcut, we miss a turn and end up on a bike track on top of a 20 metre levee to stop the Rhine River from flooding the town. We drive to the end and can SEE our parking spot, but the gate next to the stadium is bolted, and we cannot turn around!! Cyclists are staring and glaring, I’m trying to open gates or measure a turning circle, and the driver is still OFF HER HEAD.
“I know what to do,” she emphatically states in her sugared-up haze, “I’ll reverse along the whole thing!”
And that’s exactly what she did. She reversed Delphi about 500 metres along the top of a weir, down a small dip, before turning around and taking the right road. As I breathed a sigh of relief, she said, “Should I take this shortcut?” which eased the tension. Five minutes later, we were parked up looking at the beautiful mountains and river and letting the stress dissolve…who says Europe isn’t glamorous, or my wife isn’t the best!!
True story, folks…and this is what it looked like when we parked up.
Anyway, we walked into Vaduz and jumped on the mock train for a journey around Vaduz.
Liechtenstein Fast Facts
Population of about 40,000
Tiny landlocked between Switzerland and Austria, the country is only 25 kms long.
The official language is German.
Vaduz is the capital, and the Prince and his family live in a castle that overlooks the town.
Currency is the Swiss Franc (CHF)
The Rhine River is the border between Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
The biggest museum in town is called the Kunstmuseum… (it means art…)
There are lots of vineyards, and the Prince has his own winery.
A caramel frappe and two espresso shots cost 12 CHF at Maccas, which equates to $21 AUD - BLOODY EXPENSIVE, and also can cause temporary insanity in wives!
We didn’t eat out here as we were a few days from payday and food was very expensive. We just cooked in Delphi and ate great food from the French supermarkets - think baguettes, prosciutto, cheeses, fruit, etc…
I did notice that most of the locals drive very new European sports cars, and most of them are electric, like most of Europe.
Vaduz FC also played a home game - the stadium holds 7000 people - about a sixth of the entire country's population, and they got up 3 - 0. Yeah, the boyzz!!
We spent the remainder of our time marvelling at the scenery and riding our bikes in that still, nourishing, spring sunshine. All of the towns in this region are linked by bike tracks, and cycling is ever popular. We rode across a cool, covered, wooden bridge, over to Switzerland and back.
We also rode along Vaduz City, and guess where Jen-Jen wanted to ride to and guess what she wanted to drink. Yep - Caramel Frappe and espresso shot at Macca’s. I shit you not, dear readers. Complete addiction after one hit.
I will let you know that we got back unscathed and slept well that night.
On the morning of departure, we took our coffees over to the riverbank - yes, the same one - and looked at the view one last time before returning to a beeping sound from Delphi. The motorhome has a carbon monoxide alarm, and because we had been parked up without electricity for two nights, the fridge had been on gas, and maybe the bumping from the drive had knocked something. We aired the van out before turning the gas off and departing.
Liechtenstein - beautiful scenery, very expensive, some great (terrifying) memories.
Ciao for now
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