Lindau Travel Forum

I will be visiting Germany from the US and want to drive from Tubingen in Baden Wurtemburg to Neuschwanstein for the day then get to Konstanz to a hotel the same night. I thought I could drive from Neuschwanstein to Lindau and take the ferry to Konstanz hotel. Is that too much? I will be traveling with my Dad who is 82 but in good health. How do I make ferry reservations now for April? Is that required. I speak just a little German.

You will not succeed with your plan. There is no car ferry from Lindau to Konstanz. Most ships on the Bodensee (Lake Constance) are passenger ferries and cruise ships. If they have not started a new line since my last visit some months ago the only ferries which transport vehicles are from Friedrichshafen to Romanshorn in Switzerland, and from Meersburg to Konstanz.

However, from Lindau it is not too far to Friedrichshafen (about 25 km), so you could take the ferry there to Romanshorn, and from there it is only 20 to 25 km to Konstanz. The ferry trip would save you about 50 km of driving around the lake. The other option would be to carry on to Meersburg (another 20 km) and take the ferry directly to Konstanz. In this case you would not have two border controls into and out of Switzerland. In April the roads along the lake should not be too crowded as they are in summer.

The drive from Tübingen to Neuschwanstein would take you about 3.5 to 4 hours on the Autobahn via Ulm (A 8 and then A 7). Calculate with 2 hours to Lindau. So, if you start early you can make it. However, depending on where you want to go next I would change the plan and drive from Tübingen to Bodensee first, as you could take Autobahn A 81 to Singen/Radolfzell and go straight ahead to Konstanz (2 hours). You could spend a nice day on the lake and then the next day carry on to Neuschwanstein. This would save you a lot of driving. However, if you want to carry on to Zürich or France, and wherever in the west you have to go with the first big driving option.

Sissi

Hi!
Do you mean to you'll drive to Neuschwanstein Castle from Tubingen?
The website of Neuschwanstein Castle: http://www.neuschwanstein.de/index.htm

The website of ViaMichelin: http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/gbr/tpl/hme/MaHomePage.htm

The path to the castle starts in the village of Hohenschwangau, and this is also your last opportunity to park (the text is from the website of Neuschwanstein Castle).
Regards Jesper

If you mean this hotel, it specifically says that the ferry is from Meersburg, not Lindau:
http://www.hotels-world.com/tp.hotel/hotel.68480/Baden-W%C3%BCrttemberg/Mercure/Mercure_Hotel_Halm_Konstanz.htm
Anyway, you do not need to book the ferry - they leave every 15 minutes!
http://sw.konstanz.de/verkehr/faehre/allgemeines_eng.htm

As already said, the only ferry that goes to Konstanz is the one from Meersburg. And correct, no booking required. Just some queueing and waiting sometimes.

That's totally 5-6 hours driving. And this mainly on country roads. That's quite some stress with the traffic density in Germany.

Not far from Tübingen is Hohenzollern Castle, a good alternative to Neuschwanstein.
http://www.preussen.de/en/today/burg_hohenzollern.html

Hi, your plans are hard and time wasting! Better to plan Tuebingen to konstanz And stay overnight,then take the car ferry to Meersburg and drive to Freirichshafen/Lindau, from Lindau to Lindenberg (B18) then take B308 to Fussen, Hoenscwangau-Neuschwanstein is well sign-posted from Fussen. It would be well worth an over-night stop before Fussen thus allowing time for the castle (min 4hours),entrance tickets for the castle MUST be booked in the village and horse trams or bus used to get to the castle. Maybe your dad would enjoy a visit Mainau, a wonderful island of flowers on Lake Constance and just a short ferry trip from Konstanz or Meersburg. I lived 10yrs in Bavaria and this was a regular trip for our viitors from the Uk. Do Visit tourist office web sites for:
Konstanz, Meersburg,Lindau and Fussen also use Goole Earth to look at routes.
Have a great trip and leave time to look!

Do you really want to visit Neuschstwein [OK I always get the spelling wrong!] We visited last April - got there at 10 am and the car park was full. Whatever you do - pre book the tickets over the web otherwise you will not get in. --and forget taking the landau between the 2 castles - the queues are so long that you will never make Neuschtswein on time - take the coach/bus. There is a lot of waiting around and you are herded round when you get to Neutswein and very few seats. I'd recommend that you visit Linderhof instead, which is built by the same king and is a lot more easy to park - right outside, and the guided tours are a lot less rushed plus the scenery is a lot more spectacular