Liechtenstein
Triesenberg
Seven centuries on, this mountainside still speaks the Walser German its settlers carried from Valais.
Triesenberg spreads across a sun terrace high above the Rhine Valley, the mountain half of Liechtenstein gathered into one municipality. Walser farmers from the Valais settled this slope in the 13th century, and the village still keeps their language, their legends and their autumn cooking.
The Walser Museum in the village centre lays out how a community of mountain farmers made this slope liveable, and the old Walser House beside it preserves the bare wooden domestic world they inhabited. Their descendants still speak a well-preserved Walser German, a Highest Alemannic dialect distinct from the valley towns below. The WalserSagenWeg carries the other inheritance: a roughly 12-kilometre legends trail in three stages, its carved wooden figures and story stations leading from the village up to Masescha and back through the myths the Walser told about this mountain. Each autumn the Triesenberger Wochen put the old kitchen back on restaurant tables, from Chääs-Chnöpfli to venison with Spätzli and red cabbage.
Solo
Take the museum and the old Walser House slowly, then walk one stage of the legends trail; the demanding first leg to Masescha climbs 5.5 kilometres with the Rhine Valley falling away behind you.
Couple
The sun terrace above the valley makes a quiet base: a morning stage of the SagenWeg, an afternoon on a restaurant terrace, and in autumn a booked table for the Walser menus.
Family
The legends trail was built for children in mind: carved figures and story stations along the way, playgrounds and barbecue spots to stop at, and a pushchair-friendly 2.3-kilometre middle stage from Masescha to Rizlina.
- Walser settlers from the Valais reached this slope in the 13th century, and the village still speaks its own Walser German dialect.
- The Walser Museum and the old Walser House beside it preserve the community's farming and domestic life.
- The WalserSagenWeg tells the village's legends over roughly 12 kilometres and three stages, with carved figures and Rhine Valley views.
- Each autumn the Triesenberger Wochen bring traditional Walser dishes back onto the menus of the village's restaurants.
During the autumn Triesenberger Wochen the village restaurants cook Walser food as it was: Chääs-Chnöpfli, venison with Spätzli and red cabbage, and the old jellied Sulzbrata.
Where the legends trail's first stage tops out, the Berggasthaus Masescha serves Käsknöpfle with roasted onions and apple sauce at 1,200 metres.
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