I Visited The RICHEST Country In The World

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]What do you think is the richest country in the world? Maybe you'd say Switzerland or Norway or even Singapore.

[00:00:05]Well, what if I told you there was a country that was far richer than all of those? One with the GDP per capita of over $200,000 and filled with some of the most interesting and unique history as one of the smallest countries on Earth. In this video, I'll be spending a night in one of the most fascinating yet beautiful countries I've ever been to.

[00:00:21]That's not only double landlocked, but also walkable in a couple hours to show you what the richest country in the world really looks like. Welcome to Liechtenstein.

[00:00:34]All right, we are currently in Switzerland right now. I am in Locs. I was shooting the Snow Games for the last few days and just enjoying the country.

[00:00:40]And now we are about 45 minutes away from Liechtenstein by cab. I can't say I've cabbed to a new country before.

[00:00:45]That's a new experience, but that's also Europe in a nutshell, so I booked one of the most iconic hotels in Liechtenstein.

[00:00:50]It's called Hotel Vaduzerhof. I think that's how you say it. I definitely messed that up. It's in the center of the capital of the country, Vaduz. I've never been to Vaduz, obviously, and I don't know anything about it, so very curious about that. And it's also Sunday, which means like everything's going to be closed because it's Europe and everyone was partying last night and I don't know I didn't plan for that, but we'll see if it changes anything. But today we have a few objectives. We have the one objective of seeing Liechtenstein, seeing the culture, seeing the city, seeing what it's like, talking to locals, everything I can do. Get a grasp of what the country's actually like inside by its history and its monuments and everything I can see. I want to try some Liechtenstein inspired food or dishes. I don't know if there's a food culture there or what the food is like, but I want to ask a local what the best thing to get is there. And since I'm traveling solo, I want to see if there's any nightlife at all in this city or in this country, if I can lock somewhere, get a beer, whatever. I don't know if there's anything like that, but I want to try. But with that, I have a cab to catch and I will see you guys in the country itself.

[00:01:45]Have you been to this city, Liechtenstein, Vaduz? No, no. You have from Germany to France. Mhm. And I cross Liechtenstein. Ah, okay.

[00:01:53]>> It's very beautiful. Oh, yeah. I'm curious. I've not been to Liechtenstein or even Switzerland for a long time. So Uh Vancouver, Canada. I'm from Bulgaria.

[00:02:01]Oh.

[00:02:02]>> Originally from Bulgaria. I was in Germany Mhm. and now in Switzerland. Oh, nice. Nice.

[00:02:08]>> I live now here in Switzerland. What's your name?

[00:02:10]>> Michael. Michael. We're here with Michael. Hi.

[00:02:14]>> [laughter] >> Beautiful drive. What a drive.

[00:02:18]>> [music] [music] >> Okay, but first, you might be wondering what the history behind this place even is, why it's so rich, and how it came to be the way it is today. And for that, I have my friend Kamal from Two Minute Twenty to actually explain the history of this [music] interesting country. He hosts a channel full of geography content, politics, and history, and knows his stuff way better than I do.

[00:02:44]So, if you like this type of content, be sure to check him out. But with that [music] said, take it away, Kamal. All right. Thank you, Matt. So, Liechtenstein exists because a rich family essentially needed a seat at the table. In the 1600s, the House of Liechtenstein was essentially one of the wealthiest, most noble families in the Habsburg empires. They had enormous estates across Bohemia, [music] Moravia, Austria. They advised emperors, they funded wars, they were deeply embedded in the political machinery of Central Europe. But they had one problem. They couldn't vote. None of their land qualified them for a seat at the Imperial Diet, which is essentially the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire. And to get a vote, you needed territory held directly under the emperor. So, no feudal middleman, no lord in between, just you and the emperor. So, naturally, they did what most people do. They went shopping. So, in 1699, Prince Johann Adam Andreas bought the tiny lordship of Schellenberg, which is just a patch of mountain villages tucked in the Alpine Rhine Valley. And in 1712, his family bought the neighboring county of Vaduz.

[00:03:47]And look, neither of these purchases made any military or economic sense. For one, the land was poor, it was plague-scarred, [music] and this is going to shock you, but it had just come out of a series of witch trials that killed over 200 people. But, if it had one thing the Liechtensteins needed, it had imperial immediacy, which is a direct line to the emperor. So, on January 23rd, 1719, Emperor Charles V merged Schellenberg and Vaduz into a single territory, elevated it to a principality, and named it after the family, the Principality of Liechtenstein, a brand new country built to secure that single vote. And here's what's wild, they didn't even visit. No prince actually set foot in Liechtenstein until 1842. That's over 120 years after they created it. So, what changed? Well, Napoleon shows up.

[00:04:38]When he dissolved the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, most of these tiny territories got absorbed by their neighbors. [music] Liechtenstein should have been swallowed by Bavaria, but Napoleon liked the family's lead negotiator so much, he personally blocked [music] that annexation. So, Liechtenstein stumbled into full sovereignty almost by accident, and it has been an independent ever since.

[00:05:03]All right. We made it.

[00:05:05]Welcome to Liechtenstein. I definitely think I up something with the check-in process because I walked in my room and then there was just like a massive crib for babies.

[00:05:13]I think I'm just going to keep it. It's like the core at this point. But, I want to show you the view from my hotel. This is pretty freaking sick. Take a look at this, man. We got the main city center over there, the castle right up there we're going to be going to, all the nature around.

[00:05:25]That's pretty dope. All right, now I am starving. I'm going to go get lunch and talk to a local and see what the best thing is to do today because it actually looks pretty busy for what I expected, and hopefully there's some good racks.

[00:05:34]And I also have no idea how the transit works in this country like at all in the slightest, so I'll probably just be walking the entire day, so hopefully my legs don't die. I've been skiing for 3 days, so that's maybe a decision.

[00:05:53]>> Do you have any recommendations for the day? I'm just here for first time.

[00:05:57]I can show you on the map. This is the national museum. There is all about the history and culture from Liechtenstein.

[00:06:02]About it what is very interesting here, number six.

[00:06:05]And this is the post museum. And of course you can walk up to the castle.

[00:06:09]It's around 20-25 minutes walk and you have a beautiful view up there.

[00:06:13]Beautiful. Okay. Sounds good. Thank you so much.

[00:06:16]>> give you the map. Oh yes, you can.

[00:06:17]Perfect.

[00:06:18]Perfect. Thank you so much. Have a good day. You too.

[00:06:21]Okay. Pretty neat so far. I'm only a couple hours into being here, but I already like it so much. It's a lot more touristy than I thought. I thought it'd be much more like a small town, but it's very much like tour buses and classic European city. Um, which is still awesome though. Just been walking around, got some lunch, got recognized somehow, which in Liechtenstein is like ridiculous, but but so far I love it.

[00:06:38]The architecture, the mountain views, clearly they're insane. I talked to the desk at the visitor center and she gave a couple wrecks. The one [music] I'm most interested in is the castle behind me, the Vaduz Castle. If you don't already know that castle is actually still occupied by a prince and princess, so you're not actually allowed in. It's currently being used as a castle, which is so sick. And they even have a day in August where they actually bring [music] in the entire country in for like a party with like fireworks and celebration, which is so awesome. What country does that? [music] For the time being I think I'm just going to walk around, see the city, and then go up to the castle and try to catch a good sunset. So, let's see.

[00:07:15]I found this weird little side area. Um, and there's a lot of sculptures of feet.

[00:07:20]It's beautiful.

[00:07:23]And after a couple hours of walking around, I think it was about time I saw the castle.

[00:07:42]Dude, I'm at a loss for words for this place. This is unbelievably gorgeous. If I wasn't doing this video and I didn't have a reason to be out here, I wouldn't see this [music] country, which is crazy to me because it's so beautiful. Like, oh my god, dude. Look at that.

[00:07:54]What? Google said there's a viewpoint like I don't know, an extra kilometer and a half up, so I just started going. And I have no idea where I am. I'm like completely by myself in the woods of Liechtenstein.

[00:08:04]Literally, what's Get it?

[00:08:07]It says it's a viewpoint, so I'm hoping it's beautiful.

[00:08:09]Got my sunset loaded right now, so I'm hyped to get to the top, but it's been a lot of walking. I'm pretty tired.

[00:08:14]Oh my god, dude, look at this.

[00:08:16]Wait a minute. Look at this, dude.

[00:08:26]>> [music] >> Okay, we made it to the end of the hike.

[00:08:36]We are back in Vaduz, and there is no one in the street. It is completely empty. I'm starving. Nothing seems to be open but this one place, but they have this, which I have no idea how to pronounce, but 1351 is one of the known local dishes I really wanted to try, so we're going to go in, give it a shot, have some dinner, and then see what it's like after dinner time, cuz it's already pretty dead.

[00:08:58]Käsespätzle or cheese buttons is a dish with small egg noodle dumplings mixed with melted cheese topped with caramelized onions and a side of applesauce. Being real, I was starving, so any dish would have gone down easy, but honestly, it was quite good, especially with a German beer. But unfortunately, no one there was a local to the country, so my night wasn't over.

[00:09:16]All right, I had a great meal, but none of them were local to Liechtenstein, unfortunately, which I guess makes sense for how hard it is to live in this country, but still a bummer. But what I think I'm going to do now is just go to shops or restaurants or anything that's open and talk and ask. Um going to have to get over my social anxiety about just talking around to people, but I mean, I want to talk to a local, see what it's like to live here and the the experience of growing up here, so fingers crossed. That's when I ran into a bit of a problem.

[00:09:42]This place after 8:00 p.m. is an absolute ghost town. Dude, even their grocery store's closed. What the There was only one store open in the entire country, the gas station, and it closed at 9:00 p.m.

[00:09:52]And I was hungry.

[00:10:07]Okay, so no one actually lives here. The sun has just gone down and it's so eerie how just >> [music] >> everyone cleared. It is completely a ghost town here. There's no one out, no one talking, no one doing anything. The streets are empty, entirely empty. I couldn't find any locals. It seemed like everyone here comes in from either Germany or Switzerland or Austria. It just seemed like no one actually lives here at all.

[00:10:27]And why is that? Well, there's actually a reason.

[00:10:31]Today, Liechtenstein is tiny, 62 square miles, roughly [music] 40,000 people. It has more registered companies than citizens. The workforce is also around 40,000, which sounds impossible until you learn that over half the people who work in Liechtenstein commute in from Austria, Switzerland, and Germany every single morning. Real GDP per capita sits around 167,000 US dollars, which is one of the highest figures on Earth. The country carries zero national debt, and the ruling prince's personal fortune is estimated at 12 billion dollars. And if you want to get in, it's nearly impossible. There is no citizenship by investment program, and naturalization requires 30 years of continuous residence. 30 years, or 10 years if the local municipality votes to approve you. The community literally votes on whether you deserve to become one of them. Even the marriage route takes 5 years. And even annual immigration permits are capped, and they heavily favor EAA and Swiss nationals.

[00:11:30]So, basically, a family that never intended to live [music] in Liechtenstein built it as a political tool three centuries ago and today it's one of the richest and most exclusive places on Earth and it won't be letting anyone in anytime soon.

[00:11:54]Honestly, my time here was pretty ordinary.

[00:11:57]>> [music] >> Good views, quiet vibes, but I still wouldn't have traded it for anything.

[00:12:10]It's so important to visit places [music] like these, places we wouldn't normally know about and should learn from. There's so much beauty to be seen everywhere on Earth, even in the most unexpected places.

[00:12:20]And for that, thank you Liechtenstein and I hope to see you again soon.

[00:12:29]Uh, why is there a crib?

[00:12:36]>> [music]