Mudpie Fridays >> Bodensee >> 12 Tips For Visiting The Bodensee – Travel Guide Lake Constance

12 Tips For Visiting The Bodensee – Travel Guide Lake Constance

Over Easter, we took the boys down to Lake Constance in Germany for a week. We stayed on the German side in a little town called UnterUhldingen. Before we went I tried to research the area to find some things to do. But also to get an idea of what to expect. For some reason, there seems very little out there in the way of blog articles. With Lake Constance being just a couple of pages or a double spread in a German or Austria travel guide. With this in mind, I thought I would share our top tips for holidaying on the Bodensee. We had a lovely holiday and hope to return to the Swiss side in the future.

Table of Contents

Tips for Visiting The Bodensee – Travel Guide Lake Constance in Germany

The Lake Constance is one of the largest lakes in Europe, bordered by Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. There is so much to do in and around the area, with lots of outdoor activities such as hiking, swimming and water sports. The area is known for its fine wines, we saw many vines during our visit and I can imagine they are very pretty in Autumn when the leaves change.

There are numerous villages to explore as well as a UNESCO World Heritage site and many attractions such as the Zeppelin Museum. You can even book to go on an airship flight. However, if this is something that you would like to do then book well in advance since they sell out quickly.

With so much to do, I was surprised to find very few families exploring while we were there. So I thought I would share these tips if you are planning a visit to help ou make the most of your holiday.

Top Tip English Travel Guides

We found that much of the information in the tourist websites is in German. This also applies to the printed promotional leaflets. If you go onto the Lake Constance Bodensee tourist board website you will be able to request some to be posted to you in English. Others are available to download. This is useful for planning and also means you do not have to head straight to a tourist information office when you arrive. It took around 8-10 days for our printed material to arrive.

Languages

Where we stayed in Germany we found many places which were not English-speaking. Although you can normally muddle through. Do not expect to always find a menu in English or information. When we visited Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein we did not experience the same. But this could be because we were on day trips visiting specific tourist attractions. Where people spoke several languages including English.

Vignettes – Bodensee Tips For Those Driving

If you plan to drive your own car then you do need to purchase Vignettes. These are like a road tax. Germany does not have one but both Switzerland and Austria do. Driving between countries is straightforward. There is no border control or border crossing as such. But you will see when you cross over a toll booth or a place to buy the vignette. Without them, you will be fined.

You can purchase the Austria one in advance. You can do this for 10 days which costs €11.50 or for 2 months which costs €28.90 depending on how long you are staying. However, if you do purchase online then you need to do this at least 18 days in advance of when you need to use it. If not head to the nearest petrol station after passing the border to pick one up.

For Switzerland, you only need them if you intend on driving on the motorways. They cost 40€ for the year running from January to December. Again you can pick one of these up as you cross over just be mindful not to miss the filter lane on the right to the booths.

Driving Around Lake Constance

We visited out of season and so did not have too much trouble with traffic it was a great way to see the beautiful landscape. Travelling off-season has its drawbacks with the weather forecast such as the odd rainy day. But for us, it is the best time to take the boys on a culture trip when it is more of a relaxed atmosphere and not too busy.

I am aware that this is not the case during the busy summer months and it can be difficult to drive around the lake. This is partly because of the low speed limits in the villages and towns which adds to the problems. Most are 30km per hour which leads to just one long queue.

It is difficult to drive at such a low speed which is equivalent to 18.64 miles per hour. But there are numerous speed cameras located throughout the villages and on the shore of Lake Constance. So do not be tempted to ignore the limits. They do not look like the ones at home. The ones we saw in Germany were tall black cylinders.

If you are planning on relying on Google Maps. Then you may want to download some before you go. Since we noticed that 4G and 5G had a habit of dropping out all of s sudden. Certain areas we found particularly bad for phone signal.

Currencies

As you move around Lake Constance you will find that you switch from Euros to Swiss Francs. With both Switzerland and Liechtenstein using both. We did notice that Euro prices tended to be slightly higher than Swiss Franc prices. Despite the currencies almost being a one-for-one match when we visited.

Top Bodensee Tip – Cash Is King

We found, especially where we stayed that many places did not accept cards. Preferring cash in bars, bakeries, gift and souvenir shops and some restaurants. This was quite a shock for us and not something we were expecting. Thankfully there seemed to be ATMs everywhere and plenty that did not charge to take your cash out.

Travelling Out Of Season

If you do travel out of season then there are certain things you need to be aware of. We found that many of the restaurants and bars shut down mid-week where we stayed. This was not the case in the larger towns. But if you are staying in self-catering accommodation then have a backup plan. We also noticed that many restaurants had finished service by 9 pm. Again this could just be indicative of where we stayed and in the large towns, this was not the case. We travelled during the UK Easter school holidays in April.

Free Public Transport On The Buses

You should be given a Bodensee visitors card by your hotel. This is to encourage you to use the local bus network rather than driving around Lake Constance. Unfortunately, our guest house did not do this so we only found out about it from the bus driver. A family day ticket cost us 11€. Which we could have got for free. It is a great way to see the top sights. Using public transport is probably the best way to see some of the small towns.

Train Travel Around Lake Constance

There are many towns and villages that have their own train station. Meaning that you can travel around the area easily and normally with lake views. We did look to get the train one day during our trip but it would have taken up a lot of the day in travelling. But we were trying to get from one end of the lake to the other. For shorter journeys, it is definitely worth considering. Since the same visitor card will normally allow you free transport on the trains as well. The Bodensee Card Plus includes public transport and the Swiss travel pass will do the same in Switzerland.

Boat Timetable

If you have visited other Lakes as we have such as Lake Garda and Lake Brienz then the boat timetable may take you by surprise. Unlike other lakes we have visited they do not have hydrofoil fast boats so trips take a long time. The timetable is also quite limited, even during the high season which is from May to September.

This does mean that if you intend to use the boat as your main source of transport it could be that you will not get very long at your destination. For example, we had intended to visit the city of Konstanz. But by the time we caught a boat from our town there and made sure we could get back, we would have only ended up will a couple of hours to explore which made it seem a bit pointless.

It is likely that if we return we will stay on the Swiss side next time so that we are closer to the attractions on that side for this reason. If you are planning on using the boats to get around the Bodensee region than you need to consider where you are planning on staying carefully.

Up And Out Early

Despite travelling out of season we were visiting during the German Easter holidays which meant that it was still busy in places. However we really only noticed this late morning (think 11.30 onwards). So by getting up and out early, we had no trouble finding parking spaces and exploring certain attractions in the peace and quiet.

Bodensee Tip – Visit The Tourist Information Centres

Every town or village we visited had a tourist information centre. Make this your first port of call. As you can normally pick up a self-directed walking trail or map of the village. With the key points of interest marked on them.

Have you visited the Lake Constance or Bodensee in Germany on holiday? Please let me know about any times you have in the comments below.