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Looking for recommendations in the Lake Constance/Bodensee area

We are in the early stages of planning a 3+ week vacation to this area for late summer 2016. Our base will be Überlingen and we will have a car. We've long wanted to explore this lake area. We've had a month long home base in Freiburg (Breisgau) and Zug so we've spent some time in the southwest corner of Germany, especially the Black Forest area and the cantons across the Rhine in Switzerland. This time we are looking for recommendations around the lake and day trips into the adjacent countryside.

We know we want to visit Lindau, Konstanz and Mainau. We will be too late to experience an opera on the lake in Bregenz. We think we'd take day trips to Tübingen and Ulm. Do any of you have recommendations of things you've enjoyed in this region? Our customary interests are history, art and architecture, science, food and nature. We usually spend the majority of our time in cities so this will be a trip where we seek out charming towns, leisure walks, lake excursions and ? Really looking forward to this trip!

Posted by
2589 posts

Pfaulbauten Lake Dwelling outdoor Museum
Birnau church
Meersburg old castle
Ravensburg

Posted by
3696 posts

Best experience I had there was to get up before dawn and watch the sunrise over the lake with my daughter. One of those unforgettable times.

Posted by
4103 posts

Stephen and Scott these are exactly the kinds of places we are hoping to explore at a leisurely pace and Terry, we'll be sure to have a drink on our patio of an evening and watch the sunset over the lake (we'll be on the eastern shore).

Posted by
1389 posts

I watched on Bavarian TV last week a show about Gasthaus, their food and cooking. The show was from 2008 and I've never been here, but it looked good. They have their own herb garden. The place still exists and looks like it has been renovated since the TV program in 2008. Might be worth a look if you are in the area: Gasthaus Pension zum Forst in Kressbronn, between Frierichshafen and Bregenz.

http://www.gasthaus-forst.de/

Posted by
4103 posts

Thanks mchpp. This sounds like a unique local, bio restaurant to try. We are also interested in small breweries in the region. I spotted this country restaurant/hotel in our area with braurei in its name but I can't tell from their website if they actually brew bier on site.

http://www.landgasthofbrauereikeller.de

We are also interested in country restaurants and monasteries/abbeys that specialize in lake fish or trout, something that we explored during our month long stay in Quedlinburg.

Posted by
1389 posts

Landgasthof Keller does not appear to be a Brauerei. Just a little internet search here using German in Germany provide results I think would be harder to find in the US searching in English (German IP recognized). Just because it is a Brauerei does not mean they have a place to get a beer and something to eat. You would have to check the links. I would guess most decent restaurants around the Bodensee would have fresh different types of Forelle and Saibling (trout), Hecht (Pike), Zander (similar to walleye) and Renke (a white fish). It’s been a few years since I have been in the Bodensee region, but you can find restaurants that specialize in fresh fish. Look for Kloister (Monasteries) too. Sorry to bombard with links and stuff you probably already know...

http://www.bodensee-club.de/Essen-Trinken-am-Bodensee/bodensee-bier-brauereien-am-bodensee.html
http://www.biermap24.de/brauereiliste.php?bundesland=Baden-Wuerttemberg
http://www.bodensee-vorarlberg.com/en/Home
http://www.bodensee.eu/de
http://www.tourismus-untersee.eu/Entdecken/Kirchen-Kloester-Konzil
http://www.bodensee-magazin.de/xn--boma-spezial-klster-leseproben-78c.html

Hard to read but has a churches and Kloister map on page 24 of the Bodensee area. Maybe you can download and print out: http://issuu.com/cbuchwald/docs/kl__ster_spezial_untersee

Posted by
4103 posts

Thanks for the very useful links! This will give us a lot to look through if our exchange gets finalized. We should know by the end of this week.

Posted by
6 posts

One thing to add - if you're going to be in the Tubingen area (which is so pretty on its own) you might want to check out two castle towns as well.
Hechingen has the last castle of the Prussian Kaiser-family, the Hohenzollern's, and despite the fact that the family is alive and kicking and doing very well for themselves both in society and in business, open for tourist's visits. The only time they close it is when the Prince is onsite, and then they raise the flag so the locals know ... check it out here http://www.burg-hohenzollern.com/Welcome.html
The other really beautiful castle-town is Sigmaringen. It looks like what we always imagined european grand castles would look like (a little like Neuschwanstein, the model for Disney's castle ...) check it out here. There are little local trains, but driving the area s also delightful.
http://www.schloss-sigmaringen.de/palace-tour.html

Posted by
4103 posts

Wow, both castles are part of the Hohenzollern family empire. We will add both of these sites to our possibilities and hope the Prince isn't at home in August so we can tour his home!

Posted by
60 posts

Don't know how far "inland" you want to go or how much you've seen on the Swiss side.

  • Schaffhausen (Rhine falls, Munot Castle, Castle Laufen), Stein am Rhein (old town)
  • Mount Säntis
  • St. Gallen (Abbey, curch, textile industry museum, old town)
  • Bregenz (Pfänder mountain)
  • Kreuzlingen/Konstanz (Sealife)
  • Unteruhldingen (Pfahlbauer / stilt lake dwelling museum)
  • Friedrichshafen (Zeppelin museum)
  • Former cloister Ittingen

Some events I know that happen in the region during summer:

  • Roses and Culture week in Bischofszell (nice old town completely filled with roses) 25. June – 3. Juli 2016
  • Fürstenfest Liechtenstein ("birthday" of the sovereign of Liechtenstein with a big fireworks display) 15. August
  • Seenachtsfest Konstanz (fireworks display) 13. August 2016
  • Seenachtsfest Kreuzlingen (fireworks display) beginning of August probably
  • Seenachtsfest Arbon (you get the picture) beginning of July probably
  • Sommernachtsfest Romanshorn (fireworks display) 4-6 August
  • Swiss national holiday 1. August
Posted by
4103 posts

David, thank your for your recommendations. We now know our dates and we may be too late for some of the early August date celebrations but we'll put the other dates on our calendar!

Posted by
19274 posts

I would second David's recommendation of the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen. I've been there three times; first by myself, twice with others because I found it so fascinating the first time.

The Illertal of the Oberallgäu is also a nice place to visit. Oberstdorf, at the top of the valley, is Germany's second largest ski area, and the Austrian alpine valley, Kleinwalsertal, up from there, is incredibly beautiful.

No car is needed for this area as the public transportation is great.

Posted by
4103 posts

Thanks for the additional recommendation for the Zeppelin museum. I'm sure we'll visit it, maybe on a rainy day. The Tal areas described sound like great day trips for the sunny days.

Posted by
1088 posts

Hi,Mona, sorry I missed this post in the fall. We had a home exchange in Oberuhldingen a few years back, so I'll share some of our finds with you:

Überlingen was one of our favourite towns in the area. We loved the walk around the wall. We also ate one our best meals in the 7-week trip there. We chose a Swiss restaurant and had hot fresh made-to-order rösti topped with fresh lake fish. It was the "Wirtshaus zum Gundele" located at Hafenstraße 15 in the Überlinger Altstadt. Here's their website: http://www.gundele.de

Our favourite day trip was to a wine festival at Schloss Salem. The site was a Cistercian monastery for 700 years, until Napoleon disbanded all the monasteries in 1802. That day, they had demos by glass blowers, smiths, jewellers, etc. They had food booths, building tours, wine tasting, and of course the oompah band in lederhosen. It was a wonderful day. This was in mid-August, so if you're there at that time, look for it. Schloss Salem home page

We tried to go to the Seenachtsfest Konstanz. We were on the train headed to it and looking forward to the fun. However, at every stop, more and more drunken rowdies got on the train headed for the same place. We eventually bailed out, stopped for ice cream and took the train right back home.

One of the most enduring stories my husband tells of this trip is a restaurant right near our exchange home: "Uhldinger Hof. We order the schnitzel platter for four. We must have looked hungry. They served us two pieces each of six different kinds of schnitzel, each the size of my hand. It was the best schnitzel I've eaten all trip. We now have enough schnitzel in our fridge to last the week as long as we're willing to eat it at least two meals a day. Sated, we rolled home, showered and fell asleep dreaming of schnitzel."

Have a wonderful trip!