Hi RS gang
Am planning three days in Konstanz in early September. I have some pretty basic info from tourist website and have sketched out trip basics , but would welcome input from those who have been there. Restaurant tips, wine sites and hikes, preferred museums, etc are all appreciated .
Thanks as always
Mike
Mike, Do not miss Insel Mainau ( http://www.mainau.de/de/mainau-entdecken.html ). Easy to get to, city bus from the station, then walk across the bridge to the island.
Stein-am-Rhein ( http://www.tourismus.steinamrhein.ch/de/ ). Very pretty little town, reachable from Konstanz by train or boat.
I sort of like the other side of the lake. Lindau is lovely and has a "Downtown Train" (or at least a train that crosses part of the lake into Lindau's downtown.) From there it's "Small Change" (about €7) to Friedrichshafen and the Zeppelin Museum, and beyond F'hafen is Meersburg and Meersburg Castle where "Closing Time" is 18:30. There's no train "Depot, Depot" in Meersburg but you can get a bus there from Friedrichshafen.
I second what Chris said the Island of Minau is very beautiful! I also really enjoyed the Rheinfall at the Stein am Rhein.
We stayed in Bregenz, Austria, as it was less expensive than Lindau. We did walk around Lindau and it was beautiful as well. We loved the lake with the alps in the background.
Enjoy!
The bus Russ mentions also can be used to go to the Pfahlbauten open air museum and the Birnau baroque church.
Bodensee.eu is an excellent website
We spent 3 weeks in a town, Überlingen, on the NE shore of Bodensee last summer. You've gotten some good suggestions from people so far. We only spent part of a day in Konstanz, which felt like a big city compared to the other lake towns. We went there after seeing Insel Mainau, which was wonderful and I too recommend. Use Konstanz as a good ferry hub (you can buy multi day passes) and explore the other small towns like Lindau and nearby Friedrichshafen for the Zeppelin Museum.
If you like wine and wine tasting, I recommend taking the ferry to Meersburg to see the two tiered town in the vineyards. The TI has a map of walking trails through the vineyards. There are nice places to wine tasting in town too. Meersburg can only be reached by ferry, bicycle or car, no train station here.
With 3 days to explore, you'll have some great choices, enjoy!
Thanks to all of you who responded with the great tips. I am really looking forward to being there. Definitely will include Mainau isle and wine hiking and tasting in Meersburg and will also investigate other leads.
Take care
Mike
DC
We also spent a few weeks in Ueberlingen, but several years ago. Our favorite day outing was Salem Monastery and Palace. There was a festival the day we went, with traditional craft demonstrations, wine tasting, oompah band in lederhosen, tours of the buildings with great information about the monastery's history. It was becoming a running joke in our family by this point in our 7-week trip that we tripped over Napoleon everywhere we went. Sure enough, Napoleon closed this monastery too in his anti-church frenzy, and it was snapped up by a private Bavarian noble family who owned it for several hundred years. They now have a sweet deal where the Bavarian government owns it and pays the maintenance, but they can live there forever. Anyway, we had a really fun day wandering around the grounds.
Do check the schedule on the website; you may not luck into a wine festival, but they often have concerts and other special events.
