An Evening in Friendly Little Feldkirch

In this destination guide we explore the city of Feldkirch in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg and admire the sunset views from its castle.

Feldkirch stopover

After a fun ride on the Railjet train from Zurich, I found myself in the Austrian town of Feldkirch just across the border with Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Between my arrival at 8.09pm and onward train connection at 10.45pm, I thus had more or less two-and-a-half hours to explore Feldkirch and visit some of the sights in this city.

Fortunately, Feldkirch’s railway station is a short walk from the old town centre.

You simply exit the train station and its adjacent bus station, turn left, and it’s about a 10-minute walk until you arrive at the largely pedestrianised old town centre.

Castle

As the sun was already setting, I thought it would be a great idea if I headed up first to Feldkirch’s impressive castle.

Called the Schattenburg, this early 13th Century castle was built by the Counts of Montfort and is located on an outcrop overlooking the old town of Feldkirch.

Inside Schattenburg Castle you can find a museum as well as a popular restaurant, although both were closed by the time I arrived.

View

Fortunately, I managed to climb up to the castle right in time to admire the gorgeous sunset views over Feldkirch from one of the battlements.

In the distance, you can see the majestic peaks of the Austrian Alps.

Old town

From Schattenburg Castle it’s a short downhill walk to the old town (called ‘altstadt’ in German), which starts right at the foot of the hill on which the castle is situated.

Feldkirch’s old town is highly picturesque and it’s certainly a lot of fun to take a stroll through the cobblestoned streets and admire the beautiful facades of the medieval houses.

The gorgeous pastel colours of the skies perfectly matched those of the building facades, which made it an absolutely delightful evening for a walk through town.

Churches

There are two churches in the old town of Feldkirch which are well-worth to visit.

Although the Saint Nicholas Church (Sankt Nikolaus Kirche) is by far the biggest church in the city, the small Johanniterkirche is in my opinion more beautiful.

This small church can be found at the far end of the Marktplatz (Market Square), a wide street flanked by colonnaded buildings which surely has to be the prettiest street in all of Feldkirch.

Back to the station

After a fun walk around town, I tried to find a nice spot to sit down for a beer, although this proved to be more difficult than I anticipated.

Although COVID restrictions in the state of Vorarlberg were pretty mild compared to the rest of Austria, almost every single pub or restaurant seemed to close or was already closed for the evening.

One friendly waitress who was about to close the restaurant told me that even in normal times everything closes down pretty early inside Feldkirch.

I therefore had no other option than to head back to the railway station and to await the departure of my night train to Graz there.

Conclusion

Feldkirch certainly is a friendly little town which is well-worth to explore for a few hours.

The town is dominated by the hilltop Schattenburg Castle which overlooks the old town of Feldkirch and the nearby Alpine peaks.

Although Feldkirch’s ‘altstadt’ (old town centre) is pretty small in size, it certainly is picturesque with its cobblestoned streets and pastel-coloured medieval buildings.

Unfortunately there wasn’t much else to do as due to my late arrival and COVID restrictions everything was already closed, but I still really enjoyed the short time I spent in Feldkirch.

Trip report index

This article is part of the ‘Across Europe by Train: Interrail in the Age of Corona‘ trip report, which consists of the following chapters:

1. Review: LOT Polish Airlines Economy Class Bucharest to Warsaw (Embraer ERJ-175)
2. Walking Through an Empty Warsaw in Corona Lockdown
3. Review: Four Points by Sheraton Warsaw Mokotow
4. Review: LOT Polish Airlines Economy Class Warsaw to Zurich (Boeing 737 MAX)
5. A Stopover Walk Through the Old Town of Zurich
6. Review: Railjet Train Zurich to Feldkirch
7. An Evening in Friendly Little Feldkirch (current chapter)
8. Review: Nightjet Train Feldkirch to Graz
9. A Short Walk Along the Sights of Graz
10. Review: Emona EuroCity Train Vienna – Ljubljana – Trieste
11. Zidani Most: Europe’s Most Picturesque Train Station
12. Review: Ljubljana to Zagreb by EuroCity Train EC 1211 ‘Sava’
13. Flying With Trade Air on a Let L-410 Turbolet Across Croatia
14. Review: Palace Derossi, Trogir, Croatia
15. A Visit to the Tranquil Island City of Trogir, Croatia
16. Cycling on Ciovo: A Trogir Day Trip by Bike
17. Split: Croatia’s Bustling Seaside City Full of History
18. Review: Croatian Railways ICN Train Split to Zagreb
19. Review: Esplanade Hotel, Zagreb, Croatia
20. Zagreb: A Guide to Croatia’s Underrated Capital City
21. Review: EuroCity Train “Croatia” Zagreb to Vienna
22. Review: Dacia Night Train Vienna to Bucharest