What local dishes should I try in Liechtenstein, and where should I look for them?

Käsknöpfle starts as a plain dough of flour, eggs, water, salt and pepper, pressed into boiling salted water and then mixed with local cheese, topped with fried onions and served with apple puree alongside. One published version, from the Wirthschaft zum Löwen at Hinterschellenberg, scales to 8 servings on 600 g of flour and 8 eggs, rests the dough about 15 minutes, presses it through a Knöpflehobel into boiling salted water, and grates in both Appenzeller and a matured sour cheese before the butter-fried onion rings go on top. Leaf salad, potato salad or applesauce are the suggested accompaniments, and the recipe advises a little broth or water if the mixture comes out dry.

Ribel is the older, poorer dish and the more interesting one. It is a porridge of corn and wheat cooked in milk and water, then roasted slowly in a frying pan and stirred until it breaks into tiny golden pieces. It is eaten with apple puree, or dipped into coffee or milk — a dish that crosses the line between breakfast and supper. Similar versions exist in the neighboring parts of Switzerland and Austria, which is a fair description of Liechtenstein's whole food culture: Alpine Rhine valley cooking that happens to sit inside a sovereign border.

Drinks are where the country's smallness becomes visible. The national tourism board records about 26 hectares of vineyard, 99 wineries plus the Prince of Liechtenstein Winery, and more than 20 grape varieties. There are 2 breweries producing pale, dark, wheat and other specialty beers. Telsington whisky comes from the Telser distillery at Triesen, a family business founded 130 years ago that also distills fruit liqueurs from plums, cherries, apples and pears.

The restaurant that publishes the Käsknöpfle recipe stands on the Liechtenstein Trail above the Ruggeller Riet, with the Swiss Rhine valley on one side and Vorarlberg on the other — a reminder that the cheese in the dish is Appenzeller, from across the border.

Liechtenstein shares a customs area with Switzerland, which is why a Swiss cheese sits inside the national dish without anybody treating it as an import. The Customs Treaty with Switzerland was signed on 29 March 1923, the Swiss franc had already been in use as official currency from 1921, and a Currency Treaty followed in 1980. The treaty was amended in 1991 and again in 1995. For a traveler, that century-old arrangement explains both the prices and the pantry.

• Cheese first — Käsknöpfle is the dish the national tourism board singles out, and the grated sour cheese is as important to it as the Appenzeller.
• Breakfast or late — Ribel can be eaten with apple puree or dipped in coffee or milk, so it fits either end of the day.
• Cellar door — With 26 hectares split among 99 wineries and the princely winery, tastings here are small-scale and worth arranging rather than dropping in on.

Prices are Swiss, because the currency is the Swiss franc; the State Department notes that some vendors accept only chip-and-PIN cards and that ATMs do accept US debit cards. Anyone driving between villages for a tasting should note the 0.05 percent blood alcohol limit, the 18-year minimum driving age, the requirement to keep headlights on at all times, and speeding fines running from 40 to 260 CHF, with serious offenses referred to prosecutors and capable of exceeding 1,000 CHF. There is no US embassy in the country — consular matters go through the US Embassy in Bern — and travelers carrying prescription medication should keep it in original packaging, with pharmacy information available by dialing 144.

The Liechtenstein sights answer in this chapter places Triesen and Hinterschellenberg on a route; the trip-planning answer explains how the Schengen and customs arrangements work in practice.