Tour Audio a Vaduz

Vaduz has no airport, no metro, and barely 5,700 residents -- yet it is the capital of a sovereign principality and the hometown of one of Europe's wealthiest royal families. The Liechtenstein princes lived elsewhere for over 120 years after acquiring the territory in 1719, and there is still something pleasantly unhurried about the place, as though it never quite recovered from being taken seriously.

The castle perched on the hill above town is not a ruin or a museum -- it is where Prince Hans-Adam II actually lives, which makes it singular among European capitals.

Below it, the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein sits in a striking black cube of tinted concrete and basalt stone, holding a collection of modern art that would be notable in a city ten times larger. The Cathedral of St. Florin and the Government House anchor the low-rise town center, which you can walk across in about fifteen minutes.