Werdenberg

Werdenberg is tiny - about forty houses round a pond below a castle - and its claim is that it is the oldest surviving timber settlement in Switzerland, with buildings dated by dendrochronology to the thirteenth century still standing and lived in. It was granted town rights in the Middle Ages and then never grew, which is exactly why the fabric survived: no prosperity meant no rebuilding. The houses are stacked close along two lanes, many with the ground floor in stone and the upper storeys in timber. The castle above holds a museum, and the Schlangenhaus in the village shows the settlement's history. It sits in the Rhine valley opposite Liechtenstein, and the vines on the slope are worked.

What you actually see

• Timber houses of the 1200s - dated by tree rings and still inhabited.
• About forty buildings - a settlement that never outgrew its medieval plan.
• A castle museum above - the lordship that gave the place its name.
• Liechtenstein opposite - the Rhine valley and the principality across it.

When to go

April to October for the museums; the lanes are open all year. Half a day.

Honest expectations

It is very small - under an hour to walk. The houses are private homes. Museums are seasonal with short hours. Buchs around it is an ordinary valley town.

Nearby

Vaduz and Liechtenstein are across the Rhine; Walensee is west.