Konstanz Travel Forum

HI, I`LL VISIT GERMANY,END OF APRIL, EARLY MAY...I`LL BE AT THE LAKE CONSTANCDE FOR A ENTIRE DAY(APRIL 29). COULD YOU TELL SOME THINGS TO DO ON THIS DAY? TOPS POINTS OF INTEREST....FERRYES...ETC

PS I`LL BE COMING FROM SARLZBURG(FRANCE) AT NIGHT, ANY SUGGESTIONS TO SLEEP AT THE LAKE, IN ORDER TO STAY NEAR THE FIRST POINT OF THE TOUR ON THAT DAY?

THANK`S FOR ANY HELP

LCLAUDIO(BRASIL, RIO DE JANEIRO)

Will you arrive at the city of Konstanz or one of the other big towns on the lake, like Friedrichshafen, Lindau or Bregenz? (BTW Salzburg where you come from is in Austria...)

Wherever you arrive, from all those towns you can access the cruise ships and ferries that tour the lake. I suggest you start your cruise early in the morning, and you can make a good number of stop-overs and visit the beautiful towns. The most-visited attraction of the lake is in the lake - the island of Mainau. It features a castle and flowers, flowers, flowers... Starting with a sea of tulips in spring, then roses, then dahlia. It is magnificent and a must-see place.

Apart from Mainau I suggest you get off the ship at Lindau and Meersburg, they are the most spectacular towns around the lake.

You do not have to book the cruises in advance, just show up early enough to get your ticket right at the harbour.

Sissi

thank`s so much....in fact, i made a mistake when i said i`d come from salzburg. i really will be coming from strasburg(france)...suggest any place for sleeping at night at the lake? thank you very much...

lclaudio(rio de janeiro, brasil)

In which town will you arrive? Will you travel by car or train?

The lake is really quite big...

I absolutely love Meersburg, and there is a hotel on the hill, next to the castle, with a view over the lake. The name is Hotel Löwen:

http://www.hotel-loewen-meersburg.de/

From there you would only have to walk down the hill to the ships.

However, the main railway station on this side of the lake is Friedrichshafen.

But most probably you will arrive in Konstanz if you come from Strasbourg in France. I have never stayed there in a hotel (because I lived only 1.5 h from the lake and could make day trips, and when I stayed over night I mostly stayed in the smaller villages) but I have a friend there whom I could ask for a hotel not to far away from the lake.

On a map I have seen this hotel which is only 400 metres from the lake:

http://www.hotel-schoenblick-konstanz.de/

And from this one it is only one minute to the lake:

http://www.ringhotel-schiff.de/

Here is a website with hotels in Konstanz:

http://www.bodensee-info.com/html/gastgeber_in__konstanz.html

Konstanz is somehow a city made up of two parts, the lakeside with the ferry terminal and the historic city centre. From the ferry landing you drive about 2 or 3 km to the city centre.

In Friedrichshafen, Meersburg and Lindau the historic centres are right next to the ferries and cruise ships.

On my Germany visit some months ago we went to Bregenz (Austria) and made a ferry trip to Lindau.

If you need more help just ask.

Sissi

Hi,

I also suppose that you will arrive in Konstanz, if you go by train. Just opposite the station is the Hotel Mercure Halm

www.accorhotels.com

or more low-priced, above the McDonalds, is the

www.gaestehauscentro.de

If you arrive late at night, you should check in advance if it's possible.

As Sissi mentioned, a nice way to stay a day at lake Konstanz is to make a boat trip with hopping on/off at Meersburg (this you really shouldn't miss). If you make the tour around the "Überlinger See" part of the lake, you could stop in Überlingen, a beautiful small town. If you stop in Unter-Uhldingen, you could visit the lake-dwellings and walk to the baroque cloister church Birnau, where you will have a fantastic view above the whole lake, if the weather is fine.

Ivonne

thank`s again...i didn`t mention....i`ll be coming by car....so ....

l claudio

thank you very much....in fact, i`ll be coming by car....so...

thank `s again..

l claudio

Great! So you could stay at Meersburg :-)

thank`s for all....you have been really pacient....once you were so kind, i feel good to say that, in fact, i`ll be 20 days all over germany...so, in a near future i`ll probabily post new questions about others places, if you don`t mind...by the way i have one entire day in black forest and another in schw. alb(always by car)...can you tell something about those places(cities...points...etc)? thank`s all the people for answers...

I will give you some tips especially about Schwäbische Alb because I grew up there and lived there again for more than 20 years before emigrating to New Zealand. Just give me some days... I have to think about what is possible in a day. It would not make sense to tell you everything about the region, you would need two or three weeks LOL

Which are the places where you intend to stay in the Black Forest and on Schwäbische Alb? I guess you travel through the Black Forest on your way from Strasbourg to Lake Constance... And after that, will you continue to Neuschwanstein (Füssen), and from there up to Schwäbische Alb?

Sissi

thank`s for attentioni sissi...as i told, i`ll be in europe for 33 days, 20 in germany...in fact, it`s my first time in germany, so i decided with my wife to make a trip, trying to know the main points of interest of the country...thus, we decided bit half from centre part of the country towards south. we`d started the plan by reading the famous guide BBC, and, as far as schw. alb, is concerned, i`ll be coming from Ludwigsburg, so i plan to sleep in the region of s. alb(i`ve already booked a hotel in Tubingen) from Tubing. i`ll start the day towards to south, crossing s. alb(in the guide i saw many beautiful castles close one of the others and nice views), so, i have in mind drive, take some photos, maybe visit one and go on the end of day to Strazburg.......leaving Strazb. into Black Forest, i saw baden-baden, Freiburg.. and other cities and point. Once your suggestions have been GREAT and HELPFUL, i hope it happens again....any way thank`s for all

best regards l claudio(rio de janeiro, brasil)

Ok, I see. So let's work from the hotel in Tübingen...

Tübingen itself is a wonderful city on the river Neckar, and very compact. So you will see a lot of beautiful architecture and romantic views in a short time. From there I suggest you drive south to Hechingen. Just two or three kilometres from the city is Burg Hohenzollern which is the castle of the successors of the last German emperor, so really THE castle. It sits majestically on a hilltop, so fantastic views.

The logical continuation would be further south to Lake Constance - but as you want to end up in Strasbourg we will have to find you a way to the west, best through the Black Forest. So I suggest you drive to Rottweil, a veeery old town. The fastest way to Strasbourg then would be through the valley of the river Kinzig.

From Strasbourg to Lake Constance you drive south to Freiburg, a very beautiful city. (Best on the French side - less traffic and possible stopover in Colmar, and nice wine villages along the way.) From Freiburg you take the main road through the Black Forest. A short detour leads you to the famous Schluchsee, one of those dark lakes of the Black Forest. You can also drive towards Todtnau/Feldberg, the highest mountain of the Black Forest. Then head towards Singen, and you stay in Meersburg for the night.

Have you booked accommodation after that? If not, I would continue to the east to castle Neuschwanstein, Germany's most famous castle. The white one from all posters ;-) From there you carry on to Munich or to Salzburg (Austria).

What next?

Sissi

Another place you could check out if you're in Konstanz for a day is the island of Mainau. It's an island right off the shore full of beautiful gardens. I'm not sure how it will be in late April/early May, but I would think there would be a number of flowers out by then. The ferry that goes there from Konstanz stops in Meersburg first, so you could do both Meersburg and Mainau in the same day.

Hi VDElvis,

we have already been on Mainau in this question and answer post, at the very start LOL

Flowers is going from tulips to roses :-)

Sissi

Oops! I somehow missed that. Well now that at least two people have recommended it, we can be sure its a nice place to visit!

Exactly!

Hi sissi. I`d like to thank you once more. You`ve been really atencious and
helpful. I`ll try to describe, sumarilly(sory my english...)my hole trip...
1) Frankfurt-arrival (2) aschaffenburg-bamberg-wuzzburg(maybe rothemburg, if the
time permits)...back Frankfurt(tecnical problems) (3)
heidelberg-ludwigsburg-esslingen (4) s. alb...strazburg
(5)strazburg-black-forest (6) konstance lake (7) linderholf-oberstdorf-fussen
(8) newchestain-hoheschwangan-ettal-if possible:obbermengau (9)
garmisch-part.(for skii) (10) munchen (11) part of the romantic route-back to
munchen (12) munchen (13) insbruck (14) sarlzburg (15-16) viena (17-18) praga
(19-20) dresden (21-22-23) berlin (24...28)holland (29...32) belgium (33) trier
to koblenz by car (34) koblen to mainz by boat (35) frankfurt-departure

so that`s it

my firt question is about your suggestion for s. alb...don`t you think i could
know one or two more castles in the same day? i ask because i saw a map
showing them very close one of the others.

i`d appreciate others suggestions about the rest of the trip

thank`s for all ....again

best regards

l claudio(rio de janeiro-brasil)

I would surely not criss-crossing the country as there would be more effective routes to travel, but as you write of "technical problems" and you have already booked accommodation, not many changes can be made.

So let me just note some few things:

I am sure you will find time for Rothenburg before travelling back to Frankfurt - and if you have a possibility you should not miss it.

I hope you drive to Innsbruck from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, as it is just a short trip across the border. Then drive to Munich, and from there to Salzburg and Vienna.

Sure you can see and visit more castles on Schwäbische Alb. You must really imagine that there are castles and ruins everywhere LOL I only pointed out the most important one (Hohenzollern). West of Hohenzollern is a town named Haigerloch, it has been built on two hills, on one is a castle, and in the valley is the Atomic Museum. If you make a little loop from Tübingen to the east you can pass Schloss Lichtenstein, a kind of mini Neuschwanstein. Some kms west of Tübingen is Schloss Roseck. My problem is just that I cannot imagine that you can cram everything into one day, as you want to be in Strasbourg in the evening. On the area south of Tübingen you have no autobahn, so you drive on winding country roads and do not advance very fast.

Tell me of which castles you think and I tell you where they are.

Sissi