It belongs to three countries at once and thus connects people and cultures. The transitions are fluid, just like the beautiful water and the many tributary streams and rivers.
Lake Constance or Bodensee is one of the largest lakes in Central Europe and attracts many tourists every year, mostly Germans, Austrians and Swiss from the surrounding area. In the turn of the year 2021 to 2022 we stayed at the Bodensee and had a great winter vacation there. I will share with you our highlights and top spots in this blog post.
Break in Heidelberg
On the way to Lake Constance we made a 2-hour stop in Heidelberg and walked about 10km through and around the city. That's how you keep your feet awake after hours of driving. Heidelberg is a really beautiful city. However, we were only in the old town and around Heidelberg Castle on the road.
You can clearly see that Heidelberg is a student's city: There are many signs with student discounts at cafes or bars, there are a lot of different and young people running around. The city has a tramway and rental bikes all around so the transportation is easier. But that was just my personal feeling.
We parked near the police station and strolled from there through the old town via Burgweg up to the castle. Once at the top of the castle grounds, there is a part that can be entered freely. From there you have a super view of the old town and the river Neckar.
After a short break with tea from our thermo jugs, we continued down wooden steps and went beneath some castle constructions. That was pretty cool! Passing through a forest, we came out at the east end of the town. In the forest we spotted a lot of green parrot birds making really strange calls. I think they were collared parakeets, which seem to have been abandoned somewhere along the Rhine a long time ago and are now quite invasive in some major cities.
Further over the Neckar Bridge we walked the Philosophenweg, which is also quite high and from which you can also see well down to Heidelberg and the castle. Along the way, there were sections with beautiful flower beds (which of course were not in bloom at the time).
I can only imagine how beautigul it is to walk this way in summer. The path continued for about 4km and then we came through a housing estate in the western part of the old city (Westaltstadt) back over another bridge to the parking lot. I can tell you, Heidelberg is worth a visit!
Our stay in Bohlingen (Singen)
After a total driving time of 8.5h we arrived at Lake Constance. We chose the Sternen Bohlingen Aparthotel and were able to cater for ourselves at all times thanks to our own small kitchenette. There are only a few rooms in the hotel and that made our stay nice, relaxed and quiet. There were not many guests walking around and the grounds were very neat and nicely designed, right next to the Aach River.
There was a separate sauna area on the Aach that you could reserve for yourself. For some, it may not be a real vacation if you have to cook, but for us it's so essential to cook fresh, knowing all the ingredients and choosing what you want to eat. One evening, of course, we still went to eat in the hotel's own restaurant and it was so GOOD!
Because of the low temperatures in winter we did not use the outdoor area of the hotel, but the terrace is build right above the River Aach and looked really nice and cozy. From our own private balcony we could watch the fireworks on New Year's Eve which were lighted all around Bohlingen.
Bohlingen is a small village and part of the bigger city Singen (Hohentwiel). It's really small and inhabits around 1940 people. You can enjoy a quiet and peaceful vacation here. The village has a church, on the top of which a huge stork's nest was built when we visited. There is a bakery and a small supermarket. There you can also find, for example, local honey from the area.
Within walking distance, you can hike up to the so-called "leaf", which is a viewing platform in the shape of a leaf. The platform is about 7.9m high and you have a great view over Bohlingen, the Hegauberge (mountains) and of course Lake Constance. At least if the weather plays along.
We had a lot of fog in this season and a lot of cloudy days. Nevertheless, the hiking trails are so beautiful and kind of mysterius in the fog. One of the hiking trails is called panorama-trail and leads through the fields around the village.
Surroundings of west Lake Constance
It takes about 6 minutes by car to get from Bohlingen to Lake Constance near the village Moos and about 30 minutes to the city center of Constance. Along Lake Constance you can actually walk everywhere because there are a lot of promenades and pathways.
Radolfzell
Radolfzell is only 10 minutes away and a very nice village. There is a long trail along the shore of Lake Constance, which consists partly of easy walking paths or even a promenade. The shore of Lake Constance is mostly gravel and only a few places are beaches. In Radolfzeller Aachried you can wonderfully explore the nature and follow the winding river through the field.
If you like to eat fish you can buy fresh fish from Lake Constance in Radolfzell, but also in the other surrounding towns. However, we learned in a local fishery that in winter fishing is stopped and only stored fish from Lake Constance can be bought. Since we were at the time (2021) already very mindful of our meat consumption and therefore wanted to have something local for New Year's Eve, we decided on a small piece of eel from Lake Constance, which was frozen.
Directly along the shore in Radolfzell lies the Mettnaupark, a beautiful green park on the peninsula Mettnau, where in some places art figures have been placed. In the park you can easily ride a bike or just relax on one of the many benches and look out over the blue lake.
There is also a lido with a gravelled beach, where you can easily get into Lake Constance and swim. Across from Mettnauer Park, on the other side of the road, you can go into the bushes and walk through a forest with narrow and adventurous trails.
Constance (Konstanz)
Now Constance is a GREAT city! It struck me as totally artistic and modern, even though there are still so many old and historic buildings there. It is the largest city on Lake Constance and is even split between two countries. There is one side in Switzerland and one in Germany.
This is important to know as the mobile tariffs are not the same here. If you have free internet in Germany it does not apply to Switzerland. We accidentally had to pay 30€ to our mobile contractor because we forgot to put off the internet (Oops!) while we used komoot on the Switzerland side (komoot is a great app for hikers, bikers, explorers and nature lovers - https://www.komoot.com/).
There are two universities here with a total of about 15,000 students enrolled there. This is also noticeable in the people you meet in the city center and in the university area. The city center has many cultural and historical buildings and churches.
Along the lakeside path from the old town you come to Seeburpark, a large public park. There is a sweet herb garden (of course "empty" in winter) with a small castle park aka restaurant and a long and beautiful hiking trail along Lake Constance. For animal lovers, you can visit the animal park where pigs, goats and donkeys can be petted. Again and again beautiful flowers and roses can be found in the park. On the huge meadows you can have a wonderful picnic, throw a football, run and play.
You can visit Meersburg or the island Mainau, also called the flower island, per boat from the Constance port.
Island Mainau
We drove to the parking lot of Mainau Island by car. It is located south on the mainland. From there you can enter the island via a long bridge. It is recommended to book the tickets online in advance. Especially in summer the island will be very crowded and the tickets are limited. Since we visited in winter, we almost had the whole island to ourselves.
On the island you can find countless flower doves, rose gardens and tree parks (arboretum), as well as sculpture gardens, restaurants and cafes, and a palmtree house and a butterfly house. There are also plenty of playgrounds and gardens for the kids to run around in. Of course, nothing blooms in winter (except the flowers in the palmtree house), but still, the visit to Mainau was simply breathtaking.
There were huge and old trees, some of them with a a circumference of over 5 or 6 meters. The sculptures and flowers look so artistic, just like the stone statues or the wine avenue. The whole island radiates a loving and detailed care. Whoever donates to this park, supports the preservation of the island.
There is a great location with a lot of space for tables and guests in the palmtree house and I can only imagine how cool it is to celebrate there! Next door in the café we treated ourselves to a delicious piece of homemade cake and enjoyed the peace and quiet. There was so much choice, it was really hard to decide 😀
On our way to the butterfly house we walked a lot of different trails. One of them was the "wine street" with information about various wines, how to make wine and how to take care of wineplants (grapevines). The "hortensia way" and the "spring alley" were also very beautiful pathways with trees alongside the road.
Arriving at the butterfly house we could not get out of the amazement. After getting used to the warm and humid climate of the greenhouse, we happily admired the many butterflies. And I was so surprised that some butterfly species become so huge!
I would say bigger than my hand. When they fly around your face, it's a little scary at first. But when you can get closer to them while they are feeding on an orange, you can look at them in peace and marvel at them. Besides the butterflies, the landscape in the butterfly house is also very beautifully designed and reminds you of a vacation in the jungle.
We have walked an estimated 75% of the paths on the island and came at the end including bridge to the parking lot to about 10km. I would definitely recommend a visit in spring or summer. If it was already so cool in the winter, the summer will probably blow you away. By the way, the blooming times of the different flowers can bea looked up at the official homepage of the island Mainaus, see here: https://www.mainau.de/de/bluetezeiten. You can visit the official english website here: https://www.mainau.de/en/home
Meersburg
Meersburg ("castle of the sea") is a fairly small, very historic town and is also located directly on Lake Constance. The Meersburg itself is a castle museum and can be entered with ticket purchase. Even outside the castle, a walk through Meersburg is very nice and takes you back to the Middle Ages. The view of Lake Constance is relaxing and in a café on the promenade you can whisk away the cold wind with warm tea.
Fortress ruins Hohentwiel
Another highly recommended hike is the one up to Hohentwiel Fortress. The mountain Hohentwiel stands out very conspicuously in the area and you can recognize some old remains of walls on it. The way up from the parking lot at the Landesgartenschau Singen goes over a vineyard where a lot of wine is grown.
The rest of the mountain consists of a forest and narrow hiking trails, which makes the trip very pleasant. From several points of the path you have a good view over Singen. Once you get to the top, you can walk through the castle ruins, through old tunnels and up old stairs. When we were there, there was a thick fog that made our stay there very mystical and magical. The way down was via a roadway, but it is hardly ever used (only by visitors to the ruins). In total it was about 8km from the parking lot with about 280 meters of elevation gain.
Conclusion
There is so much to discover at Lake Constance and we have seen just a small part of it on the west side. Despite the rather depressing weather, it was an extremely nice, relaxing vacation for us and we would love to go to Lake Constance again over Christmas and New Year. Then we'll try out another corner. It must be said that the offers are also cheaper than in summer, because at least this region is not a typical winter sports region and the bookings are considered "out of season".
Maybe it was also such a relaxed vacation because we were not with the families for once. Since we both come from different cities (~200km apart), we always have to plan at least one day with an overnight stay to visit the other family. Other relatives like aunts and uncles are out of the question. And it's always unfair for someone who "gets" the kids at Christmas or who stays where and for how long. At Lake Constance...well, we were among ourselves, with our own little family and could really use the winter break to recharge new energy without the trouble of driving a lot of hours in the christmas traffic. And the surroundings of Lake Constance and Bohlingen really have been good for our nature seeking souls.
Are you planning on a vacation in Germany but do not know where to go? Well, Lake Constance is a very recommendable location with lots of adventurous spots and peaceful villages. I hope this post gave you some inspirations and insights to the western side of the lake.
Stay safe and healthy,
Bavai
English 
German