Liechtenstein, Vorarlberg and Lake Constance
Princely Vaduz, the mountain resort of Malbun, the Pfänder viewpoint above Bregenz and a swim in Lake Constance — an Alpine week in four countries. The route stays within the narrow strip between the Rhine and Lake Constance, so each day involves only a short drive and the rest of the time is left for the mountains, the water and the little towns. You can drive around Liechtenstein in a single day, Vorarlberg adds the shingled villages of the Bregenzerwald, Bavarian Lindau its island old town and Swiss Appenzell its painted façades below the Säntis massif. For families with children it is an Alpine holiday without exhausting transfers.
From Prague the route runs via Pilsen, Nuremberg and Ulm, and with an early start the whole transfer can be managed in one day. If you set off only in the afternoon, you will do better to spend the night somewhere before Ulm and reach the lake unhurried in the morning. The first evening belongs to getting your bearings and perhaps a swim.
The morning belongs to the island town of Lindau: the harbour with its Bavarian lion and lighthouse, the merchants' houses and the main street, Maximilianstraße. In the afternoon you cross to the Austrian side to Bregenz and ride the Pfänderbahn cable car up above the lake — at the top you will find the Alpenwildpark, mountain restaurants and views over the water and the Alpine ridges. In July and August the Bregenz Festival is staged on the floating Seebühne.
The valley of the Bregenzerach takes you into a region of houses with shingled façades. In Schwarzenberg walk among the timber buildings around the village green, in Andelsbuch stop at the Werkraum, where the region shows off its craft and design, and in Lingenau there is a cheese cellar of the KäseStrasse Bregenzerwald network with tastings. Bezau is a good place for a late lunch before you head back to the lake.
On the way south, Feldkirch is worth a stop for its medieval centre and Schattenburg castle above it. The afternoon belongs to Vaduz: the Städtle pedestrian zone, the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, the Landesmuseum and the vineyards on the slope. Vaduz Castle is the private residence of the princely family and is not open to the public — you can walk up to it along the path above the town and photograph it from outside.
The hairpins from Triesenberg up to Malbun are narrow and steep and parking spaces at the top are few; with a vehicle longer than seven metres it is wiser to leave it down in the valley and ride up by scheduled bus. Malbun is where the family trails above the tree line begin, and in summer a chairlift runs up to Sareis — do check that it is operating before you set out, as part of the service is being covered by a replacement in the 2026 season.
Across the Rhine you reach Swiss Appenzell, where houses with painted façades line the main street. From there you continue to Wasserauen and take the cable car up to Ebenalp for the Wildkirchli cave hermitage and the Äscher mountain inn beneath the rock face. A ride to the summit of Säntis itself, which starts from Schwägalp on the far side of the massif, is off the table this year anyway — that cable car is closed for renovation from May 2026 and will not run again until late autumn.
The way back again leads along Lake Constance and through Bavaria. It is a full day's drive, so it pays to set off right after breakfast and allow yourself a longer break somewhere near Ulm or Nuremberg. If you can spare an extra day, split the return into two stages and spend the last night in Bavaria.
Up to 3.5 t: an Austrian vignette (in 2026 roughly €12.80 for ten days, €32 for two months and €106.80 for a year) and a Swiss motorway sticker for CHF 40 for the calendar year — that one also covers Liechtenstein, which has no sticker of its own. Over 3.5 t: in Austria the kilometre-based GO toll with a GO-Box on-board unit (go-maut.at) instead of a vignette, in Switzerland a flat-rate heavy vehicle tax whose rate you should verify with the Swiss customs administration. The German shore of the lake is free of charge. The paid items here are mainly the cable cars — the Pfänderbahn in Bregenz, the Sareis chairlift in Malbun and the cable car to Ebenalp from Wasserauen (a one-way ticket costs CHF 24 for an adult and CHF 10 for a child aged 6 to 15).
Park-Camping Lindau am Bodensee, Lindau (Germany) — right by the lake shore, accepts vehicles up to 8.5 m long including attachments · Seecamping Bregenz, Bregenz (Austria) — season from mid-May to mid-September, takes no reservations, pitches go in order of arrival · Camping Mittagsspitze, Triesen (Liechtenstein) — open all year, with a pool and a restaurant, a good base for both Vaduz and Malbun · Alpencamping Nenzing, Nenzing (Austria) — a year-round campsite in the Walgau valley, a fallback stop between Vorarlberg and Liechtenstein
Motorhomes are not allowed onto the island in Lindau, the town bans it explicitly. You park on the mainland — Hartplatz Zech, the car park by Therme Lindau or P1 Blauwiese, on the order of €20 to €30 a day, with a town bus running from there to the centre. In Switzerland and Liechtenstein you do not spend the night outside campsites and designated places, so count on that when planning both mountain days. In the high season, that is July and August, the campsites around Lake Constance are full and it pays to book ahead.
In Lindau, waste water disposal costs about €1 on top of the daily parking fee at Hartplatz Zech and P1 Blauwiese; at Therme Lindau the day ticket includes an electricity hook-up instead. Inland you sort out fresh water and the cassette at campsites — the best placed ones on the route are Camping Mittagsspitze in Triesen and Alpencamping Nenzing.
Adria Compact Max
The Compact Max is a semi-integrated that carries a whole family while staying reasonable in size — just watch the floor plan: the longer versions of the range go over seven metres, so for the hairpins above Triesenberg pick one of the shorter ones. Every layout stays within the length limit of the campsite in Lindau. On a route where every day means driving up into the hills and parking in a narrow Alpine village in the evening, a shorter semi-integrated is noticeably more pleasant than a long vehicle.
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