Liechtenstein
Naafkopf
One summit, three countries: Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein meet under your boots at 2,570 metres.
The Naafkopf is the mountain where three borders run out of land: Liechtenstein, Austria and Switzerland all end at its 2,570-metre summit above the Naaftal. Reach it at sunrise from the Pfälzerhütte and the light arrives over three countries at once.
The official Liechtenstein tour is a serious 19-kilometre mountain day: eight and a half walking hours, 1,258 metres of ascent and nearly as much back down, with ibex sometimes watching from the rubble slopes. Most walkers break it at the Pfälzerhütte on the Bettlerjoch, from which the summit push is roughly two hours out and back, close enough to make a dawn start realistic. Difficulty depends on the chosen line: the north-eastern approaches are graded T2 over rubble, while the full Sareis-to-Älplibahn traverse runs at T3+ against the mountain's steep south-western rock faces. It is a genuine alpine objective, and the forecast and current route conditions dictate the day's terms.
Solo
For an experienced solo hiker the tripoint is a rare, self-contained prize; the long approach plus the choice between T2 and T3+ lines are real mountain decisions to make honestly.
Couple
Book the hut, climb to the border stone country by country in the morning, and share a summit that neither of you can stand on without being in three places at once.
Friends
The group version writes itself: dormitory bunks at the Pfälzerhütte, an alpine start, and one photograph at 2,570 metres that needs three captions.
- The summit at 2,570 metres is the point where the borders of Liechtenstein, Austria and Switzerland converge.
- Liechtenstein's official tour runs 19 kilometres and 1,258 metres of climbing, roughly eight and a half hours on foot.
- From the Pfälzerhütte the summit excursion takes roughly two hours, which makes a sunrise ascent practical.
- The north-eastern approaches are graded T2, while the Sareis-to-Älplibahn traverse is T3+ against steep south-western rock.
The Pfälzerhütte below the summit feeds its overnight guests a three-course vegetarian dinner before the morning's climb; payment is cash only.
Above the hut nothing is sold or served, so water and pocket food for the two-hour summit round trip go up in your pack.
Toubkal National Park
Morocco
Sheep graze beneath telescopes on a plateau under one of Earth's clearest skies.
Jabal Aja
Saudi Arabia
Red granite peaks rising from the desert like frozen flames, hiding palm-filled clefts and springs.
Tomanivi
Fiji
Cloud forest so thick the trail vanishes, Fiji's highest peak at 1,324 metres above the canopy.
Sendero Los Quetzales
Panama
A cloud forest trail between two highland towns where resplendent quetzals flash through the mist.
Schellenberg
Liechtenstein
Schellenberg keeps two ruined castles on one ridge; the bigger one lets you barbecue inside.
Liechtenstein Trail
Liechtenstein
Walk an entire country in five days, 75 kilometres from Balzers to Schaanwald.
Alte Rheinbrücke
Liechtenstein
A 135-metre timber tunnel over the Rhine; somewhere inside it, you change countries.
Sücka
Liechtenstein
Some of Liechtenstein's first tourists climbed here for the whey; the dairyman still pours it.