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Once the suburbs of Feldkirch are left behind, you climb back out of the valley and into the mountains. Ahead is another lovely ridge hike... but that is for tomorrow. Today, unfortunately, you will spend much of the time walking along roads, albeit ever smaller ones.

This stage and the next bring you to Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein. However, on a map you will see that there is a much easier way to get to Vaduz – along the valley of the Rhine – and you may wonder: why does the H2H not take that route?

Good question. By way of answering it I'll note that if one wanted to hike from Munich to St.-Rémy as fast as possible, then one would walk along valleys most of the way. However, the H2H is only in part about hiking from one house to the other. It is also about experiencing the Alps… and what makes the Alps special is not what is down low, but what is up high: the ridges, the passes, and the peaks. The H2H is designed to include as many of these as it is reasonably possible to fit into one summer... while going from house to house.

Route
Today's hike is after the initial half and hour or so identical with the Via Alpina. Cross the river and walk southwest along the main road for several hundred meters then turn left to make your way through Maria Grün to Fellengatter. Shortly after take the Gaißweg / Via Alpina to your right and climb to the Feldkircher Hütte (1204m). Walk along the road from there past the Sarojaalpe (1474m) to the Sarojasattel (1628m). Cross the saddle into Liechtenstein (temporarily -- you'll be climbing back up here at the start of the next stage) and descend to the Gafadurahütte.

Alternatives: none. As long as the weather is not awful, you should be fine because the route is neither difficult nor exposed.
Map: K21 Feldkirch - Vaduz.

Journal
The House to House blog... stage 19.

Photos
<A couple of representative photos from this stage will be added here after the hike>
In the meantime, click here to go to all of the H2H photos on Flickr.

GPS Track
<To be added during or after hike>

Room and Board Options
Lunch: picnic, or have lunch after about 2.75h in the Feldkircher Hütte. Before you leave Feldkirch, make sure that you have enough food with you for a picnic lunch during the next stage.
Dinner and overnight: the only reasonable place to stay which doesn't require you to descend all the way into the Rhine valley is the Gafadurahütte (+423-(0)787/1428, 42 beds in bunkrooms). It is an Alpine Club hut. A possible alternative is the Feldkircher Hütte (+43-(0)5522/35498, 48 beds), but that makes this stage very short (2.75h) and the next one very long (9.75h).

Getting There and Back
Feldkirch: there is a railway station here (for schedule information, see the ÖBB).
Gafadurahütte: head down via Planken to Nendeln in Liechtenstein (2.75h, -970m, 6km) where there is a railway station and a bus stop (for both bus and train schedule information, see the SBB).
ViaMichelin Road Map and Driving Directions: centered on Feldkirch, centered on Nendeln.

Background Information and Links
Many and various...

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