Activities around Lake Constance and Vorarlberg

The slender pink and white tower of Birnau’s exuberant baroque church rises skywards in the middle of scenic vineyards high above the lake. When standing on the viewing platform in front of the church it is easy to understand why this place has become one of the most popular destinations for tourists and marriages.

Welcome to Lake Constance and Bregenz’s unique lakefront amphitheater. With an intoxicating enjoyment of art that truly appeals to all the senses, the Festival never ceases to charm its audiences through and through every summer.

inatura is both a museum where touching is encouraged and a center for the documentation of nature in Vorarlberg. Multi-media presentations, games and exhibits enable the visitor to experience nature with all their senses. Observe living animals and plants in close proximity during your tour of the different habitats to be found in Vorarlberg.

In the summer the Bodenseeschifffahrt Vorarlberg Lines’ boats call at our jetty “Am Kaiserstrand, Lochau” directly opposite the hotel every day.

From April to October the boats will take you on a tour through Bregenz Bay and the “Three Countries Panorama Tour”

The Bregenz Art Gallery, or “KUB” as it is known locally, was designed by the renowned Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. The building, which has been awarded several prizes for its architecture, is one pf the world’s most prominent museum buildings. Designed as a daylight museum, the structure captivates the viewer with its striking external shape and the uncompromising implementation of its spatial concept.

Lindau’s old town has preserved its medieval character to a very large extent and therefore boasts no end of historic places of interest. One of the most important is the Old Town Hall (Altes Rathaus) in the middle of the island. The world-famous harbor entrance with its lighthouse on one side and a statue of the lion of Bavaria on the other has become emblematic of the town. Other places of interest are the city’s medieval towers, its two principal churches (St Stephen’s and the Minster dedicated to Our Lady) and St Peter’s Church which dates back 1000 years.

The achievements of the 60 strong gardening staff of Insel Mainau GmbH never cease to amaze the garden-lovers among the million or more visitors to the island each year. Every autumn the gardeners plant half a million bulbs in the island’s fertile soil which become a scented sea of flowers the following spring.

The miraculous image dates back to approximately 1390. For the first few centuries it was located on a rocky ledge below the village.  The veneration of the image of the blessed virgin Mary (“image on the stone”) later gave rise to the name “Bildstein” (“image stone”).

The walls of the Meersburg, Germany’s oldest inhabited castle, could tell many a tale: stories of peaceful courtly times but also warfare and sieges. Visitors can gain an idea of these times from a well-guided tour of the castle museum.

A small town with a lot to offer. Not just its wonderful setting and romantic nooks and crannies but also the many museums make this town “punch above its weight”. Meersburg, the “museum town” invites the visitor to step back into the Middle Ages or learn about the Droste-Hülshoff family as well as to marvel at the splendors of the baroque era and its art collections. You can learn about the town’s history and viticulture, stories from the bible and the history of aeronautics.

The monks of the Cistercian Abbey of Wettingen-Mehrerau have been propagating and reinforcing Christian faith and culture in the Lake Constance region and beyond since the abbey’s foundation in 1854. But if we look back to the foundation of the original monastery in 1097 by Benedictine monks from nearby Konstanz, we are looking at more than 900 years of monastic tradition in Bregenz.

Whether you are hiking, exploring the park with its wild animals or just enjoying the excellent food in one of the restaurants while you gaze at the view, your day on Mount Pfänder is sure to be an unforgettable experience. 

Europe’s biggest waterfall. Almost uncountable volumes of water cascade over the rocks across a width of 140 meters. The might of this impressive spectacle is best appreciated from the basin below the cataract. You should also not miss the opportunity to climb up to the center rock.

The Allgäu Baumwipfelpfad (treetop walkway) skywalk, a 540 m long panoramic treetop walkway 40 meters above the ground, can be reached via a staircase or, with less effort, via a lift. Marvel at an incomparable view over Lake Constance, the foothills of the Alps and the Alps themselves. Observe and explore the forest from ground level up to the highest treetop.

The town’s landmark. Visit the exhibitions in St Martin’s Tower (Martinsturm) and from the tower’s viewing gallery marvel at the panoramic view over Bregenz and the Upper Town, the Pfänder mountain close to the town, the mountains of Switzerland and, of course, Lake Constance.

The exhibition brings a century of exciting aerospace history to life. Visitors are fascinated by the museum’s extraordinary architecture and unusual exhibits, and their minds set racing by the many different events and special guided tours.

If the audience forgets that it is “only” marionettes they are watching as the marionettes act out the drama on the stage, the puppeteers of the Maronettenoper (Maronette Opera) have achieved the goal they set out to achieve. Only when the audience believes that they hear the marionettes breathe or that they can see their faces express joy or sorrow, happiness or pain is the drama complete. Coming as close as possible to the marionettes’ human role models lies at the heart of the Marionettenoper’s philosophy.

200 Barbary macaques live in the Salem Animal Park on the Mendlishausen estate. A path leads visitors through 20 hectares of forest where the macaques live almost as if they were in the wild. A great experience for young and not so young.

The Unteruhldingen Pfahlbaumuseum is an archaeological open air museum on the shores of Lake Constance with an adjacent indoor museum. Situated in Uhldingen-Mühlhofen in Germany’s state of Baden-Württemberg, the museum includes reconstructions of the Stone Age and Bronze Age dwellings built on piles in the lake and also displays archaeological finds from the site. It is Germany’s oldest open air museum.

The repertoire of the State Theater (Landestheater) in the Theater im Kornmarkt extends from the classics to novel pieces for children. Established in 1945, the theater’s program includes up to 15 premieres per year.

The range of exhibits in the State Museum drawn from the museum’s varied collection extends from archaeological finds dating back to Bregenz’s Roman period, trends in the history of Vorarlberg in the last two centuries and finally to an artistic presentation of talking images of many of Vorarlberg’s inhabitants.

The Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen is unique in the world. It accommodates the world’s largest collection of items relating to airship aviation and airship technology.