Map
Elevation Profile
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Short Description
“Schönberg” (“Beautiful Mountain”) trail leads from Malbun, Liechtenstein, to Schönberg peak and back to Malbun as a round tour.
The trail starts as an easy path shared with bicycles up to Sassförkle, then transitions into a more demanding mountain trail including some exposed areas around “Drei Kapuziner” where you should be sure-footed. (See Hike Report and Gallery below for reference).
Schönberg peak offers a panoramic view of the Liechtenstein Alps, Rheintal (valley) plus glimpses of Swiss and Austrian mountains.
The way back leads down the mountain along relatively easy (T2) mountain paths, through forests and meadows.
Impressions
Serving as a reminder to not only check the local weather, parking options (or if driving to the start of the route is both possible and allowed), cable car opening hours where applicable, and trail conditions before starting a hike, but also for special events, I was stopped by security trying to reach Malbun by car. Why? Unbeknownst to me, Tour de Suisse was on, and today’s stage ran through the small, definitely not Swiss mountain village.
So unfortunately I had to turn back and park in Triesenberg, but luckily this didn’t mean I had to first hike up to Malbun to start the actual tour, as there were free buses ferrying people up and down.
If you know me, you know I get irrationally annoyed at situations like these (and also that I don’t care about bike races), but also quickly calm down and laugh about it minutes later.
So anyway, once past the installations for the big race, and having decided it was not worth it to stick around for a few hours, delaying the hike to obtain some pictures of sweaty cyclists, I made my way uphill and after about half an hour, I couldn’t hear the music and commotion below anymore and was enjoying the scenery.
The first part of the tour is shared with “Forscherweg Malbun”, a family friendly short tour with educational elements for children. These seem to still be mothballed from the winter season, so I couldn’t try the musical stone for instance.
Soon thereafter, the path transforms into the kind of mountain trail I enjoy and have come to expect from Liechtenstein. Thing is, I still have to buy new summer hiking shoes, and the stiff hiking boots I love for winter/spring and soft surfaces don’t feel that great on this kind of sandy, rocky terrain as the stiff soles don’t offer the best grip on hard, uneven surfaces.
No, I wouldn’t call it dangerous or anything, and I exaggerate for effect, but you should be sure footed for paths like these and wear appropriate footwear.
As I did not slip and slide that day, I had soon reached the peak, belly rumbling and looking forward to the chickpea “shakshuka” lunch I brought.
Schönberg itself seems to be a bit of a grassy hill that would easily allow for some benches, yet doesn’t feature any. This didn’t seem all that relevant to my lunch plans, as the sound of a million flies did away with the notion of having lunch here rather effectively.
As such, I enjoyed the view on an empty stomach, which took away nothing from the beautiful scenery in every direction.
What was especially cool, to me, was seeing all the peaks in the area I had already visited before. In one direction, there were Rappenstein (998-D), Augstenberg and Naafkopf (995):
In the other lay Alpspitz (994) and Plattaspitz (998) I had not been on, but done a route around.
- Hike Report – ‘Fuerstensteig’ (SM 994) – 2020
- Hike Report – ‘Triesenberger Philosophenweg’ (SM 998) – 2022
An awesome experience that almost makes me recommend doing all these other routes first so you can share in it. Of course, Schönberg is nice on its own and doable much earlier in the year than Naafkopf (which was still covered in snow at this time).
The way down was pleasant and featured more views of the Rheintal and surrounding mountains.
I did eventually get to eat my lunch, on a rock next to the rickety bench that tried to kill me (see gallery).
Would you like to share your own experiences with this hike? Do you have any questions? Something to add? Feel free to leave a comment below 🙂
Route Report / Gallery
Full size images without watermarks are available for licensing to interested parties. Check romans.pictures for a selection of my favorites, or contact me for details.
NEWSLETTER
Don’t miss a hike 🙂
Basic Data
| Date of Hike: | 2022-06-18 |
| Participants: | Roman (Solo) |
| Technical Difficulty: | T3: Exposed Mountain Trail (Partially) |
Stats
| Km | 12 |
| Net Hours (Est.) | 4.5 |
| Net Hours (Act.) | 4 |
| Ascent (m) | 840 |
| Descent (m) | 840 |
| Max. Alt. (m) | 2103 |
| Loop? | Yes |
| Cable Car? | No |