Vaduz

Vaduz is a capital you can walk end to end in an hour, watched the entire time by the castle on its ledge — still inhabited by the prince, whose family has run this Rhine-and-Alps sliver for three centuries and who opens his garden to the whole country every August 15th, beer included. Below, the Städtle's single pedestrian street packs two serious art museums and a philately shrine.

The sensible traveller strolls the Städtle, takes the Kunstmuseum's black-box galleries seriously, and climbs the forest path to the castle's viewpoint — the interior stays princely and private —, then boards the Citytrain or a bus up to Triesenberg for the valley panorama. With an afternoon more: Malbun, the country's one ski village, or the vineyard tasting at the prince's own winery.

The Guide's honesty: the souvenir passport stamp costs three francs at the tourist office and is entirely worth the smile; the country is a bus network, not a hike — day passes cover every village —; and Vaduz is half a day done honestly: the other half belongs to the ridgeline, where the principality finally gets big.