10-Apr-2020 -- Since we cannot travel abroad, i.e. we are locked in within Switzerland, we began to undertake a special hike this year: we try to hike on foot to all 26 cantons of Switzerland. After visiting the capital towns of the cantons Schaffhausen, Thurgau, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, St. Gallen and Appenzell Innerrhoden, we hiked along the upper Rhine valley towards Chur, the capital town of the Canton Graubünden. The tiny country of Liechtenstein lay on our way so we spontaneously decided to visit its capital town Vaduz as well.

All borders are currently closed in Europe! All borders? No, the border between Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein remains open and is even not controlled. We were able to cross into Liechtenstein on a bridge across the River Rhine and reach the government building in the capital town Vaduz.

Not far from the government building, we came unexpectedly across the 0-kilometer marker of the country’s road network. The coordinates of the marker are 47°08'18.6"N and 9°31'21.3"E. From 1867 up to 1970, there was the House of Parliament at the site and the 0-marker was engraved in the door sill. After the building had been demolished, a new information board was erected, which now represents the 0-Kilometer for all road kilometrage. The whole country of Liechtenstein has about 250 kilometres (155 miles) of paved roadway, with an additional 90 km (56 miles) of marked bicycle paths. More about the zero marker can be found here.

Unlucky Liechtenstein! The country has not even a single confluence point. Actually, this is no wonder with its total area of 160 square kilometres. The smallest country with a confluence point on land is Saint Lucia with 606 km². As a country, you need on average an area of 7914 km² to have one confluence point with a probability of 50%. For a country with the size of Liechtenstein, the chance of having a confluence point is only 7.7%.

CP Visit Details:

• Distance to a road: 0 m
• Time to reach the marker: 0 minutes (we just stumbled upon it)
• Time at the confluence point: 4:48 PM
• Vegetation: some trees nearby
• Weather: sunny, 20° C (felt temperature)
• Given Name: The Liechtenstein Confluence