Fürstensteig Ridge Trail

PeaksRätikon Alps, above Vaduz,Liechtenstein

A shoulder-wide ledge blasted into a Liechtenstein cliff in 1898, a steel cable for a handhold and the Rhine Valley 1,600 metres below.

September·Peaking now

Jul–Sep

High summer into early autumn: the whole one-way traverse runs, alpine rose peaks on the ledges in July, and September usually brings the most settled, stable weather of the season. Be off the exposed ridge by mid-afternoon — thunderstorms build fast over the Rätikon.

Year-round The cliff ledge, the cable and the 1,600-metre drop to Vaduz are there whenever the path is snow-free; it closes each winter.

The Fürstensteig is a ridge trail in the Rätikon Alps above Vaduz, in Liechtenstein, a shoulder-wide ledge blasted into the cliff in 1898 with a steel cable for a handhold and the Rhine valley 1,600 metres below, and it is the national walk of the country, done in a day from the hamlet of Gaflei over the Kuhgrat and the Three Sisters. The path was built for the fiftieth anniversary of Prince Johann II's reign, which gave it its name, the prince's path, paid for in thirds by the state, the prince and Karl Schädler, the owner of the spa hotel at Gaflei, who wanted a mountain his guests could walk to; the way begins gently through spruce from Gaflei, then comes out onto grass where the whole flank of the Rätikon opens ahead, and the ledge itself follows the west face of the ridge for a kilometre, cut into the rock with the cable bolted beside it, and in places running right at the lip with nothing between the boot and the valley floor, the whole of Liechtenstein below. The Kuhgrat at 2,123 metres is the high point. Beyond the Kuhgrat the traverse drops to the Three Sisters, three rock towers on the ridge, where a summit cross marks the Great Sister at 2,053 metres and the path threads through a tunnel and over ladders to a descent to Planken or back to Gaflei; the sisters, in the story, were three young women who went picking berries on Lady's Day, 15 August, while the church bells rang, and were turned to stone for it. On cold mornings the cold air settles in the Rhine valley under a warmer layer and the whole plain fills with fog, leaving the ridge in sun above a white sheet with only the far peaks out, and in early summer the alpine rose flowers in cushions on the limestone ledges beside the path. The Fürstensteig is a ledge with a country underneath it, and the cable is the reason to look down.

Worth knowing

Good to know

The route is a one-way traverse, not a loop — most walkers start from the Gaflei car park and come down to Planken, so check the bus times home before you set off.
Confirm the path is open before you drive up — it is cleared and repaired every spring after the winter, and rockfall has shut it for entire seasons.
Sure-footedness counts for more than fitness here — the ledge is narrow and exposed, and local alpine guidance is to keep children on a rope along the Fürstensteig and the Three Sisters.
Go early for the long view — the sightline down the Rhine to Lake Constance is sharpest in the first hours, before haze thickens over the valley floor.
Be off the ridge by mid-afternoon — summer heat builds thunderstorms over the Rätikon, and a cable-hung ledge is the worst place to be caught in one.

Things to do

1
Climb out of the spruce onto the open ridge
The walk begins gently: a path up through spruce from Gaflei, then out onto grass where the whole flank of the Rätikon opens ahead of you. The cut line of the trail is visible across the slope long before you reach the rock. At the Gaflei signpost the day is decided — the ledge, the Three Sisters beyond it, or an easier way back down — and the traverse ends in a different village from the one you parked in.
2
Look 1,600 metres down onto Vaduz
In places the ledge runs right at the lip, with nothing between your boot and the valley floor. Vaduz, the Rhine and the vineyards lie flat below like a map, and the drop is what people remember long after the walk. Rock spires rise straight off the path on the other side, their ledges cushioned with alpine rose and dwarf pine holding on to whatever grit the wind has left.
3
Stand under the cross on the Great Sister
Beyond the Kuhgrat the traverse drops to the Three Sisters, where a summit cross marks the Great Sister at 2,053 metres. A scramble over loose rock earns the widest view of the day, out across two countries at once.

Watch

Nearby

114 km