Travel report: Cycling tour around Lake Constance
From our guests Ulrike and Brigitte
At the end of May 2019, two cyclists set off from Bregenz to explore Steinach, Constance, Schaffhausen and Überlingen on the Cycle tour around Lake Constance. The trip was supposed to last 8 days - enough time for sightseeing, city exploration and culinary delights. Apart from two rainy days and much more beautiful weather on the varied Lake Constance, you can read about what else they experienced here!
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Day 1: Arrival
My friend Brigitte and I set off from my hometown in Lower Austria by car early in the morning. After 620 km, we arrived at the Hotel Germania in Bregenz in the afternoon and were given a very warm welcome. My girlfriend's bike was already at the hotel. After unloading our luggage and my e-bike, we drove to my daughter's house in Dornbirn and parked my car at her place.
Show more Show lessDay 2: Bregenz - Steinach
After a very good breakfast and dropping off our luggage at reception, we rode our bikes through Bregenz at 9:00 am in search of a power adapter for Switzerland. I was very relieved to have found one in the third store, as I was traveling with my e-bike. In hindsight, I can say: it was unnecessary! You could have borrowed one from the Swiss hotels, but my plug was fine as it was.
Show more Show lessFrom the town, we cycled towards the festival stage and took a look at the stage set for Rigoletto. We cycled quickly via Hard to Fussach, where the cycle path was suddenly closed and after a small detour, we found our way towards Höchst. We crossed the border to Switzerland in Gaißau.
In Altenrhein, after the airfield, is the Hundertwasserhaus and we continued on to Rheineck. Shortly before Rorschach, I had a brief moment of shock: a kerbstone was in my friend's way and she fell off her bike.
My thoughts were racing: emergency number? Hopefully nothing serious, etc. Thank goodness: apart from a few holes in her cycling clothes, nothing had happened.
After that, we wanted to get to our accommodation in Steinach at the Hotel Blume as quickly as possible. Of course, we rode about 2 km further to Arbon and had to turn back. Our luggage was already at the hotel and we parked our bikes in a container for the day.
We freshened up a bit and set off on foot to Arbon, a delightful little town: church, Römerhof Castle (a crooked house), then a short break at the harbor for coffee and back to Steinach. The church right next to our hotel is currently being renovated.
A good dinner at the hotel brought the day to a close. I found it funny that there was a TV in the room, but we didn't have a socket to plug it in (the weather forecast would have been quite good).
Day 3: Steinach - Constance
We continued our journey after 9:15 in fine weather. We drove through small villages and beautiful countryside, only taking short breaks for our thirsty throats at benches along the way. In Münsterlingen we watched a zeppelin and had a look at the harbor. We were really surprised that we crossed the Swiss border at Kreuzlingen to Constance in Germany so quickly.
We really enjoyed the Rosgarten Museum and a cup of coffee in the garden at the end did us good.
As we wanted to explore the city a little more, we first cycled to our next hotel, B&B Constance. The bikes were quickly stowed away in the garage and a quick shower and we were able to take the bus back to the old town.
To our surprise, we were also told at reception that we could travel free of charge on public transport with confirmation of our local tax.
We took line 6 back to the train station, which is located directly on Lake Constance. The harbor and the old town were within easy walking distance and we really enjoyed them. The weather was fine and we had dinner outside at an Italian restaurant.
Suddenly a strong wind and dark clouds came up and thankfully we got to the hotel dry.
We didn't like the weather forecast for the next few days at all: Rain, wind and cold!!!!
Day 4: Constance - Schaffhausen
Unfortunately, the weather forecast was right. It was cold, windy and rainy. By rainy you can imagine: It was pouring. The decision to travel by train was quickly made. We only had to cycle to the station and were already really wet. A little shopping at Karstadt: various rain gear and off we went by train via Singen to Schaffhausen.
We arrived at the Hotel Sorell Rüden at 13:00 and were pleasantly surprised that our luggage was already there. The hotel is really nice and very well located near the train station and the old town, the only thing that is not good: the bikes are parked outside in a public square.
After we had dried off, we took the bus towards the Rhine Falls. We traveled a short distance on a self-driving bus.
The path to the Rhine Falls goes downhill and suddenly we see the natural phenomenon. Like everyone else, we take photos and redeem the voucher for the trip to the rock. It kept pouring, but the 90 steps up the rock were reasonably dry. It was worth it, not only did we have the viewing rock almost to ourselves, the view is magnificent.
As soon as we reached the shore, it started to pour. Back in Schaffhausen, we explored the options for the next day and ate some good tarte flambée in a nice restaurant.
Day 5: Schaffhausen - Constance
Rain! Unfortunately, our hopes for good weather were not fulfilled.
After a really good breakfast, we decided to take the train again and visit Schaffhausen on foot. We dropped off our luggage and explored the sights in the pouring rain, including All Saints' Cathedral, the cloister, the herb garden and Munot Fortress with its wonderful views.
We took the train back to Constance. Unfortunately, we missed out on one of the most beautiful stretches of the Rhine and also had to skip the boat trip from Gaienhofen to the island of Reichenau.
But that didn't dampen our spirits. Back in Constance to the B&B hotel and the bus back to the city, we went window shopping in rain gear (we looked like aliens). We quickly found a cozy little restaurant and our dinner was secured. Back at the hotel, we studied all the weather reports we could find. We were promised "better weather" for tomorrow.
Day 6: Constance - Überlingen
The rain had stopped, it was a little overcast and we put on our rain gear to be on the safe side.
In Allensbach, we packed our rain gear into our bike bags at a bench in the middle of the village, as the sun had already peeked out from behind the clouds. We were too early for the "best ice cream parlor on Lake Constance" but as we were rain-damaged, we wanted to take advantage of the dry weather to get further. In Radolfzell, there was a large roadworks site and the cycle path was suddenly closed.
But as always, we met some nice locals who put us on the right track. We cycled on towards Ludwigshafen through beautiful countryside. Ludwigshafen was not so exciting, as the cycle path led through the city on the road. We took a break at the train station and treated ourselves to coffee and cake. In bright sunshine, we continued to Überlingen, a spa town (Kneipp).
After some searching, we found our Hotel Wiestor. To our delight, the luggage was already there and we were able to take the elevator to the 2nd floor and a spiral staircase to our small room (a huge apartment with 3 bedrooms and a balcony).
On to discovering Überlingen: Landing place fountain. St. Nicholas Minster and the town garden with its 6-meter-high cacti. A wonderful end to the day was dinner opposite the hotel. I noticed it as soon as we arrived and the opening hours were very precise: "When we are there, we are usually open." The food was excellent and the strawberry punch gave us our vitamins for the day. Tired and satisfied, we sank into our beds.
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Day 7: Überlingen - Bregenz (Dornbirn)
The weather gods were kind to us, sending us bright sunshine after two days of rain.
We started earlier than usual at 8:30 as we had our longest route to cover. We cycled via Birnau along the vineyards to Meersburg, where we had a coffee at the harbor and watched the ships sailing to Mainau.
A zeppelin followed us the whole day, we cycled briskly on via Hagnau, Immenstaad, Friedrichshafen and quickly approached Lindau. I was already familiar with this beautiful town, having bought my daughter's wedding dress there. We made our way quickly to the harbor where my girlfriend and I treated ourselves to a wonderful snack.
Show more Show lessDue to the rainfall of the last few days, there was a lot of driftwood in the harbor.
I was only a stone's throw from Lindau to Bregenz and I thought about cycling to my car in Dornbirn. Of course, I gave my girlfriend the option of driving to the hotel, but she decided to cycle the extra 17 km with me.
Since we didn't have a map (Bregenz was our last destination), we had to find out how to get to Dornbirn by bike. After a few small detours, we arrived in Dornbirn, but of course, I had no idea how to get to my daughter in Hatlerdorf. After a few unsuccessful attempts to find someone who knew the area, we were lucky. An elderly lady on a bike told us she had to go there and we should follow her. That was a very nice gesture and we reached my daughter in no time (she was traveling very fast). With the car to the hotel and a cozy dinner at the hotel, our bike trip was almost over.
Day 8: Bregenz without a bike, departure
On our day of departure, we explored Bregenz. We took the gondola up the Pfänder and visited the wildlife park, the short walk to the summit cross was worth it, the view over the lake was fantastic.
Back in the city, we took a break by the lake near the festival stage. The narrowest house in Europe is only 57 cm wide and is located at 29 Kirchenstraße. We continued uphill to a church that has been converted into a library. The Vorarlberg State Library is really worth a visit. Unfortunately, our cycling trip came to an end in beautiful weather and we have decided to take several more trips by bike.
We thank you for the good organization and that you can still travel so individually.
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