Thanks for visiting. Although I experienced this trip in November 2025, it is not until September 2026 have I put pen to paper! Considering we’ll be visiting four countries in mainland Europe, it was a very quick trip, staying for just three nights. To briefly summarise, we flew to Stuttgart (Germany), set up base in Bregenz (Austria), took a day trip to Vaduz (Liechtenstein) for the game, another day trip to Säntis mountain (Switzerland), before back to Stuttgart to enjoy a few hours before the flight back to the UK.

Due to the time it has taken to start this, I’m relying on photo’s and my initial itinerary and photographs to hopefully capture everything we did, and my travel buddy Peter’s spreadsheet to help with costs. You’ll be delighted to hear, all things considered, this is likely to be one of the shorter posts, as I’m also playing catch-up with a few other blogs around this time.

Costs

Flights from Heathrow to Stuttgart were £125 each with the journey taking a pleasing 100 minutes.  We stayed in a budget Ibis hotel in Bregenz for the three nights costing a not-really-budget £360 for both of us.

For this trip (and hopefully this trip ONLY as it was a fucking nightmare) we also hired a car, which we picked up and returned to Stuttgart airport. The car was initially £205 but as you’ll read on this was just the start.

The food and drink in Vaduz, Bregenz and Säntis were all towards the expensive end compared to home. One of the first things we did when reaching our hotel in Austria was to pick up some snacks and fruit from Lidl that at least covered breakfast. The mountain aside, the price of meals were OK and the one day I had a drink in Vaduz many bars were doing offers so a pint of lager cost around £6, knowing thousands of thirsty Welsh were on their way.

Substantial other costs were petrol in both UK and Europe (£100), car insurance (£25) and parking at Heathrow (£80). Other costs like the cable car ride up Säntis mountain (dread to look) will be added ad hoc in the itinerary.

In total, the trip cost us around £800 each for starters. Ouch.

Getting Around

This was reason numero-uno for the hire car. Thankfully I didn’t have to look at other modes of transport to get to Vaduz for the game. I remember being aware of the train being an option and Wales fans organising buses for various neighbouring places outside of Liechtenstein, such as Zurich 130km away, but there was no way we could have done what we did without the freedom of the car.

If you’re here for the fun facts… Liechtenstein in one of just 5 European countries without its own airport, the others being Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City. I wonder if Wales will join that list in the future…

Itinerary: Day One – Home to Bregenz

With a 4am start in Newport, arriving in Stuttgart at midday, Peter taking an age to drive the car out of the car park (sorry Pete), then a three-hour drive to Bregenz, it was a very long first day. The car, a Kia Ceed had this really annoying function that beeped every time you went close to a white line on the road, even when changing lanes. It probably would’ve taken us two minutes to google how to turn it off but hey-ho let’s just put up with it for a few hundred miles.

On arrival, I dragged Peter for a short trip to Lidl to ensure I had enough drink to avoid using the hotel bar / vending machine before having a few hours rest. I had never heard of Bregenz before and will probably never visit again, so it made sense to have a wander and make the most of it.

It was November remember, so Christmas market stalls popped up along the narrow streets of the charming old town, with our port of call being the edge of the lake that was over the road from the town centre.

The body of water in question was Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in central Europe and its shores reach Austria, Switzerland and Germany. I thought there might be a few fun facts here, but you’ll have to make do with it being nearly 40 kilometres long, and if you’re wondering what the largest two lakes are, they would be Lake Geneva and Lake Balaton. If you want a side quest, the photo of Balaton whilst train-ing it through Hungary is one of my favourite photos EVER. It’s contained in this blog here (link).

After a relaxing hour lakeside, witnessing the sun set and festive lights start to twinkle, it was dinner time. Peter certainly prefers a higher standard of cuisine than I like to fork out for, so I was a bit apprehensive going into a traditional Austrian restaurant, in an area that was peak tourist trap. Looking on a map I’m pretty sure the restaurant was Gasthaus Goldener Hirschen, which certainly stood out. Once we were slightly lucky to get a table, I’m pretty sure I had beef goulash with a side of fries and 1 or 2 soft drinks. The goulash was outstanding and to be honest the £25 bill was fine. I’m much better trying local cuisine over the past couple of years (but I fucking love chips, mind).

That was that except a nice short stroll back to the hotel. As day 1 draws to a close, I am pretty much done with talking about Bregenz, although it’ll be our base for another two nights. They did have a cable car I expected to ride, with no doubt incredible views over the town and lake, but I think the times were a bit limited this time of year. I genuinely don’t know why you’ll need to visit Bregenz, but if you’re passing it’s a lovely stop for a few hours or a day.

Onto day two and Liechtenstein and beer and football!

Day Two – Matchday in Vaduz

I fucking hate driving. I don’t like traffic. I don’t like driving on the other side of the road. I don’t like driving not-my-car. I don’t like driving with passengers.  I don’t like using kilometres. I don’t like not being able to have a ciggy on the way. I don’t mind driving for work (a lot) as I get paid and the petrol money is decent. I love driving when I’m on the way to a new country and there’s beer at the finish line!

This was my first time on the trip behind the wheel, and the escaping out of the hotel garage would have been a laugh for the CCTV guys. After immediately taking a wrong turn on the motorway and dipping my toe in Germany (i.e. the wrong direction) we crossed into Switzerland and hugged the river Rhine, before a short bridge into Liechtenstein. Country 54 at the time. The trip took about 50 minutes, then another 20 to find somewhere to park. We ended up parking under a bank but recall it being free, maybe because it was a Saturday.

I had scouted out a couple of sights to see, but you can count them on one hand. Many people who visit the country do so for its hiking trails that I’m sure are wonderful.

First up was the largest church in the capital of the principality. Kathedrale St. Florin was built in the 19^th century using neo-gothic architecture. Safe to say not the most memorable, understandably.

Within 2 minutes of each other was the cathedral, the town hall and the museum. We did plan on visiting the museum, but noticing how far we’d have to walk up a big bloody hill to visit Vaduz castle, settled for spending a few Swiss francs in the souvenir shop next door.

We prepared for the uphill walk with a coffee (Pete) and a pint of the local lager (me). It was funny to see the staff inconspicuously change the cost of a pint from 6 Swiss francs to 7 on the board outside during. Coincidental time for prices to go up by 17%, eh?

In danger of staying for another pint and sacking off the castle, we dragged ourselves from the coffee shop and up the mountain side. This was very steep on a surprisingly hot day, taking about 30 minutes up and 20 minutes down to visit the castle. Amazing views over Vaduz on the way up, mind.

The castle is still used as the royal family’s main residence, so it was not accessible to the public. I did find it quite difficult to get a good angle for a satisfactory photo, and was also surprised about the lack of richness, gold leaf shit etcetera. Having said that, maybe they are a bit more reserved and modest than our lot in the UK. I doubt the top royal, Prince Hans-Adam II, has a brother listed in the Epstein files, either.

There are a number of signs to break up the journey up or down the hill. I liked these as they provided a brief history of the country with some fun facts such as it’s tiny population of just over 40,000. The monarchy became fully independent upon the dissolution of the German Confederation in 1866.

It also doesn’t have its own military. Perhaps well-known? I came across a funny story that the last time they went to war, the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, eighty soldiers left and 81 returned!… spending most of their ‘battle’ relaxing in mountains and taking back with them a stray Italian.

I hope you didn’t view this page just for the football…

Back down the hill, it was now lunchtime and the pedestrianised centre was very quickly filling with red shirts and bucket hats as the influx of Welsh fans arrived in their coach loads. For a change, it was well anticipated by the local bars with many providing additional seating and ‘6 for 5’ offers on beers, costing around £5 each.

Once we had a few pints, having eventually found a table, outside a bloody sushi restaurant no less, Peter went in search of a lunch that would be cooked and I stayed until my friends from Newport arrived. From then until our walk to the ground we spent time in a little square, well arranged with temporary bars, portable loos and music.

From the centre to the ground, the Rheinpark Stadion, took only 20-30 minutes to walk, but long enough for day to turn into night for a 6pm kick off.

The stadium has a capacity of 8,000 and three sides of the stadium were full with away fans… a great sight to see, and a nice little ground. The walk to the ground itself was something, with livestock coming to say hello (no sheep were harmed).

Oh god, here’s where I have to talk about the game. At the time I felt that we absolutely needed a convincing win, we’re talking about 6-0 or 8-0, to have a chance of topping Belgium or a preferable playoff by coming second ahead of Macedonia.

Instead, was a one-sided, laboured performance that was one of the most frustrating games I’ve witnessed in recent years. We had 78% possession and 18 shots but could not muster a goal against the part-timers until after an hour, and only a single one at that, to win 1-0. I was not at all happy and again Wales were somewhat of a laughing stock against supposedly inferior opposition.

Whilst Belgium would easily scoop first place, Wales managed to secure second place by beating Macedonia SEVEN-one a few days later in the final group game (which was also my wife’s first win). Lets not mention the resulting playoff performance to Bosnia, who would take their rightful place at the 2026 World Cup.

I briskly left the stadium afterwards to have a pint to get over the football, but Vaduz was now a ghost town, which was so bizarre with it being no later than 9pm on a Saturday night. If we tried hard I’m sure we could’ve gone to a restaurant, but Peter and I swiftly made the decision to head back to Bregenz (he drove back obviously) and get a takeaway for tea.

Day Three – Day trip to Säntis Mountain

The way last night played out had a significant benefit this morning, as I enjoyed a good night’s sleep and the beer had well worn off. Our initial plan was to go to a Swiss town called St Gallen, which looked rather nice, but Peter persuaded me not to bother as there wouldn’t be much to see alongside being a bit tight for time to fit in our main event, Säntis Mountain.

The Säntis Mountain cable-car car park was across the border in Switzerland, 75 minutes from our hotel.

At 2,500 metres above sea level, Säntis is the highest mountain in the Alpstein region of Switzerland. On a clear day you can see SIX countries: Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, France, and Italy.

The cable car ride itself was just shy of £60 each for a return journey, an extortionate amount of money, even though I have tried to take into account the miraculous engineering and construction work that places a multi-storey building at the top of the mountain. Seriously, where to you start?

The large building at the top held exhibitions, viewing points, a weather station, a couple of restaurants and plenty of information about the mountain. My mother obviously didn’t dress me this day, as my thin coat and shorts (FML) were no match for the cold and wind when outside to take a few nice photos.

After a walk around for perhaps 45 minutes, we agreed to have lunch, with panoramic views into the distance. I took one look at the menu and regretted this decision, ultimately choosing broccoli soup (which in fairness was the best soup I’ve had) and some fries. With a soft drink this starter and side combo came to £25-30. Peter on the other hand, had a proper meal, and dessert, that came to such a high total, I reminded him that we can NOT go halves like we usually agree to for simplicity. Call me a tightarse all you like, but I could be as high up in the middle of nowhere as orbiting the moon, but never will I pay £50 for soup and chips!

Having descended to the foot of the mountain, it was my turn to drive back to Bregenz. We hit very few carriageways and every time you could put your foot down, a few hundred meters ahead would be another small village with a 30km/h sign.

This was obviously quite hard to keep track of, as I vividly remember the speed camera flash the car just after one short-notice speed reduction. Roll on a few months, the speeding fine was £240 and another £60 admin fee to the car hire company. Scroll back to what I said about driving at the start of day 3 please. I did consider not paying, as what are they going to do… get Interpol onto me?… but as the car was in Pete’s name I took the hit. We may as well add this to the total cost of the trip to me to £1,110+.

I’m racking my brains for what we did once back at the hotel. I watched some football in the room and made a short walk to a kebab shop for tea, spending about £12, because if it was any more, I probably would have broken down in tears after the earlier episode.

Day Four – Stuttgart and home.

In lieu of our planned trip to St Gallen, Peter suggested that we drop the car at the airport nice and early, to afford a few hours visiting the centre of Stuttgart. This was a good idea.

By the time I drove a few hours to the airport, putting up with the bloody beeping one last time, we dropped the car off, for one final fuck-up. Upon inspection of every minute detail, the car hire staff noticed a very minor chip on the windscreen. I forget the exact amount of the bill but it was anywhere between £150-300. You have to laugh at this point.

Peter did make the genius decision to sort our own car insurance prior to the trip, at a cost of £24, that eventually paid out and avoided the charge. That’s me hiring a car again, over my dead body.

We stored our bags and caught the train into Stuttgart, the sixth largest city in Germany. With very little opportunity to devise an itinerary for the day, and little time available, we sought the indoor market and had, somewhat bizarrely, some Italian food for lunch. I had pasta which is very rare, perhaps trying to be a bit healthier for a change after days of snacks, beer and calorific meals.

Ummm, what else? We walked around the castle and a square just before it started raining heavily. To be honest, we really didn’t explore much of Stuttgart and would feel guilty to tick it off a list.

The only thing I looked into was a visit to the very cool looking public library. The Stadtbibliothek Stuttgart features a minimalist cube exterior and the inside was a sight to behold for any book-lover! Must be a bit annoying for anyone actually using the library or studying, but it was pleasant to have a quick, aimless walk around before a coffee on the top floor with views over the city before getting the train back to the airport.

That’s where my photo’s end, so you can assume the trip home was all very uneventful. After arriving home I would have a nice two month wait for that fucking speeding fine, remember. Haven’t had a Toblerone since, in protest.

Thanks for reading!