Liechtenstein is situated at the intersection of the Eastern and the Western Alpine chains around 9°32′ E and 47°09′ N. The highly industrialized country is lying along the N-S-aligned valley of the River Rhine (one of the wider river valleys in the Alps) with area of 160 km² and around 30 000 residents. The flood plain is intensively settled and cultivated, having restrained the Rhine (Rhine correction). Natural landscapes are severely restricted by settlements and agriculture to small reserves, mainly protected swampy regions.

The flood plain of the Rhine is bordered to the E by the steeply falling spur of the Ratikon Mountains. In the N part of the country a SW-NE-oriented hill, the Schellenberg, segments the Rhine Valley. To the S, the bottleneck of the Luziensteig separates the Flascherberg (1100 m above sea level) from the high Ratikon Mountains (over 2500 m). The mountainous part, with the highest elevation of Liechtensteir, the Grauspitz (2599 m) covers two-thirds of...