Germany · The Southwest · Travel guide
What a weekend or a week of cycling on the German shore of Lake Constance really costs, which ferry runs when, what shopping in Konstanz still saves you, and why you are in a different price bracket an hour from Zurich.
Photo: Masood Aslami / Pexels
Adjust the values to your trip: the calculator updates live (EUR, converted from CHF estimates).
Estimates for orientation, not booking prices. Getting there means train or car from Switzerland, return, per person. Hotels vary strongly by season: current prices are behind the links below.
Money & payment: You pay in euros (EUR). Germany is fonder of cash than Switzerland: bakeries, kiosks and small restaurants often say "cash only", though cards work almost everywhere from about EUR 10. Tip 5 to 10 percent by rounding up and naming the total when you pay. Getting there: By train (DB), car or plane, 1 to 8 hours depending on the destination.
Nine options in three price ranges, each among the best-rated on Booking.com.
Budget
Chain hotel at Petershausen station, one stop from the main station and ten minutes on foot over the Rhine bridge into the old town. Small, clean rooms, parking, no frills. For Konstanz the cheapest reliable place to sleep.
Newer chain house in the north of the town with functional rooms, family rooms and parking, bus and train into the old town in ten minutes. For cyclists with a lockable bike room, for shoppers with a short walk to the Lago.
15th-century inn on the Obermarkt in the middle of the old town, where Emperor Frederick Barbarossa signed the peace with the Lombard cities in 1183. Rooms simple and of varying size, restaurant with Baden cuisine. Location and history at guesthouse prices.
Mid-range
Large traditional hotel from 1892 right between station and harbour, with a Moorish hall and rooms facing the lake or the town. You step off the train from Zurich and are in your room in two minutes, and the boat leaves from the door. For rail travellers the most convenient address on the lake.
Former granary right on Lindau harbour with a view of lion, lighthouse and the Pfänder from the front rooms, roof terrace with sauna. The harbour promenade is quiet in the evening, the old town is on the doorstep. For the sunset over the lake without a drive.
Small hotel on the Meersburg lakeside promenade with a lake view from almost every room, its own vineyard and a restaurant that ranks among the best in town. In the evening, once the day visitors have gone, the promenade is yours. For couples who want to experience Meersburg properly.
Luxury
Former Dominican monastery from 1235 on its own island on the edge of the old town, where Count Zeppelin was born. Cloister, lake terrace, rooms with a view of the lake or the monastery garden. The grand hotel of Lake Constance, five minutes from the station.
Modern five-star house on the Seestrasse with rooftop pool, spa and views across the Obersee to the Alps, Ophelia restaurant with two Michelin stars. Design instead of cloister, 15 minutes on foot to the old town. For the luxury weekend trip from Zurich.
The grand hotel on Lindau harbour, since 1854, with a lake view from the front rooms, roof garden with pool and spa. Rooms classic, location unbeatable: harbour entrance, station and boat landing in two minutes. For the Bregenz Festival with a ten-minute train ride home.
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Flower island with baroque palace, butterfly house and Alpine views, admission CHF 24 (about EUR 26) in summer, CHF 10 in winter, children up to 12 free. Three to four hours, midweek from 9 am or after 3 pm, by bus 4 from Konstanz or by boat.
Two hours through Minster, Niederburg and the Council building with the story of Jan Hus, the papal election and the Imperia, guided from CHF 12 (about EUR 13). The night watchman tour in the evening is the more entertaining version for families.
UNESCO World Heritage you can touch: 23 reconstructed Stone and Bronze Age houses on jetties in the lake, admission CHF 11 (about EUR 12), tour included, one to one and a half hours. With the Birnau basilica next door half a day, 20 minutes from Meersburg by bus or boat.
The museum at Friedrichshafen harbour (CHF 12, about EUR 13, two hours) with the walk-in Hindenburg replica, the flight on the Zeppelin NT from CHF 280 for 30 minutes, book months ahead and stay flexible in case of wind. Both from Konstanz by catamaran in 50 minutes.
The oldest inhabited castle in Germany (CHF 15, about EUR 16, one hour, with armoury and Droste rooms), then a wine tasting at the State Winery or the winegrowers' association with five wines from CHF 15. By car ferry from Konstanz in 15 minutes, half a day with lunch.
Scheduled boats of the Weisse Flotte from April to October, Konstanz to Lindau in 3 hours 30 for CHF 30 (about EUR 32), the three-country round trip from Lindau in 3 hours for CHF 25. Included with the Bodensee Card PLUS. The boat replaces the hire car, not the other way round.
An hour and a half across the island with harbour, Maximilianstrasse, Old Town Hall and the Diebsturm, guided from CHF 10 (about EUR 11); the lighthouse afterwards costs CHF 3 and gives the view of the Pfänder and the Alps. Do not miss the harbour promenade in the evening.
Day hire CHF 35 to 45 (about EUR 37 to 48), guided day tours to the Reichenau or the Swiss shore from CHF 60, the whole loop as a package with hotels and luggage transfer from CHF 700 for seven days. Flat, family-friendly, packed in August.
Around 200 Barbary macaques roaming free in the forest, taking popcorn from your hand (CHF 12, about EUR 13, an hour and a half, March to November), plus the Cistercian monastery of Salem with Minster and park (CHF 10). From Überlingen or Meersburg 15 minutes by car, with children the best day on the lake.
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On Lake Constance you eat fish from the lake, vegetables from the Reichenau, apples and cider from the fruit farms and wine from the slopes above Meersburg and Hagnau, plus Swabian and Bavarian influences with Maultaschen and Käsespätzle. The whitefish are getting scarcer, so look at the origin. Only the lake terraces with a view are expensive; two streets back they cook just as well.
Lake Constance whitefish, the fish of the lake, mild and white, fried meunière or poached "blau", with boiled potatoes and salad. CHF 24 to 32 (about EUR 26 to 34) in a restaurant. Catches have been low for years, and many places serve farmed whitefish or fish from other lakes, so ask honestly.
Tip:If the menu says "Bodenseefelchen" without an origin, it often is not one. Fishermen at the harbour sell direct in the morning.
Crispy fish nuggets: deep-fried pieces of whitefish or pike-perch in beer batter, with remoulade and potato salad, the snack food of the harbours. A portion CHF 10 to 14 (about EUR 11 to 15), in a roll CHF 6 to 8.
Tip:Eat it standing at the harbour, looking at the Imperia, that is the most honest lunch in Konstanz.
The Flammkuchen of Lake Constance, thin bread dough with crème fraîche, bacon, onions or apple, from the wood-fired oven. CHF 9 to 12 (about EUR 10 to 13), one tray for one person.
Tip:The sweet version with apple and cinnamon is typical of Lake Constance and exists only here.
Hand-scraped Spätzle with Allgäu mountain cheese and crispy fried onions, and the closer to Lindau, the more Allgäu it gets. A pan CHF 12 to 15 (about EUR 13 to 16), served with potato salad or green salad, not both.
Tip:With a Helles from one of the small Allgäu breweries, not with wine.
The island supplies cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and herbs to the whole lake, protected origin. In the farm shop a head of lettuce CHF 1.50 (about EUR 2), on the menu as a Reichenau salad plate with fish CHF 16 to 20.
Tip:Cycle over the causeway, buy vegetables, picnic at the lido: the cheapest day on the lake.
Around the lake there are 1,500 fruit farms, apple juice from the farm CHF 2 (about EUR 2) a litre, Most (fermented apple cider, 5 to 7 per cent) CHF 3 a litre, with apple secco and apple brandy alongside. Apple weeks with farm sales at the end of September.
Tip:Most is drier than cidre and nothing for those with a sweet tooth, so buy one litre first.
The vines above Meersburg and Hagnau are the highest in Germany; here the Müller-Thurgau turns out light and fresh, and the Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) is poured as Weissherbst (rosé). A glass CHF 4 to 6 (about EUR 4 to 6), a bottle from the estate CHF 9 to 14.
Tip:The State Winery has a terrace right above the lake; at 4 pm with a glass of Weissherbst it is the best spot in Meersburg.
Swabian pasta parcels filled with meat, spinach and sausage meat, served in broth or tossed in browned butter with onions. On almost every menu in Konstanz and on the Württemberg shore, CHF 11 to 15 (about EUR 12 to 16).
Tip:On Fridays in browned butter with potato salad, the way Swabia has eaten them since the fasting rules.
Through markets and eateries with a guide, tastings included.
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Lake Constance is a remnant of the Rhine glacier, which melted around 15,000 years ago and left behind a basin of 536 square kilometres, the third largest in Central Europe after Lake Geneva and Lake Balaton. The first people built their villages on stilts along the shore, between 4000 and 850 BC; their remains at Unteruhldingen, on the Reichenau and on the Swiss shore have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011. The Romans founded Brigantium, today's Bregenz, and Constantia, named after Emperor Constantius Chlorus. In the Middle Ages the lake was a centre of Christendom: in 724 Pirmin founded the monastery of Reichenau, whose scriptorium produced the most beautiful manuscripts of the West, Konstanz became the seat of the largest diocese north of the Alps, and from 1414 to 1418 the Council met here, the only council on German soil, which deposed three popes, elected a new one and burned Jan Hus. Lindau was a Free Imperial City, and Meersburg from 1526 the residence of the prince-bishops of Konstanz, who had fled their city before the Reformation. Napoleon redrew the map in 1803, and since then Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria, today two German states, have shared the shore with Switzerland and Austria. To this day there is no fixed border on the lake: Switzerland draws it down the middle, Austria regards the Obersee as common territory. In 1900 the first Zeppelin rose from Friedrichshafen; the town became an industrial centre with Zeppelin, Dornier and Maybach and was therefore bombed in 1944, while Konstanz remained untouched because it left its lights on at night and so could not be distinguished from Swiss Kreuzlingen. Since 1983 the Lake Constance cycle path has circled the lake, and since 1993 the Imperia by the sculptor Peter Lenk has turned at the entrance to Konstanz harbour, 9 metres tall, with emperor and pope in her hands.
From Zurich HB the Intercity or Interregio runs direct to Konstanz in a good hour, single fare around CHF 27 (about EUR 29), with the Half Fare Card CHF 13.50, and the Half Fare Card is valid as far as Konstanz. From Basel you are there in 2 hours, from Bern in 2 hours 15, from St. Gallen in 45 minutes via Romanshorn and Rorschach. To Lindau you travel from Zurich via St. Gallen and Bregenz in just under 2 hours, or to Konstanz and on by catamaran. By car it is 70 kilometres from Zurich, an hour to the Kreuzlingen border crossing, considerably longer on Saturdays in front of the Lago shopping centre. Germany charges no tolls; if you drive to Bregenz on the Austrian A14 you need the vignette (CHF 9 for one day), while the lakeside road is vignette-free. Once there, the ferries are the means of transport: the Konstanz to Meersburg car ferry runs around the clock every 15 minutes, CHF 3.50 per person, CHF 12 to 15 per car, 15-minute crossing. The Konstanz to Friedrichshafen catamaran takes 50 minutes (CHF 14), the Romanshorn to Friedrichshafen ferry 40 minutes, and the scheduled boats of the Weisse Flotte connect all the towns from April to October, Konstanz to Lindau in 3 hours 30. The Bodensee Card PLUS for CHF 80 (three days) includes boats, Mainau, the pile dwellings, the Zeppelin Museum and 160 other sights, and pays off as soon as you plan Mainau and two boat trips.
Konstanz, with 85,000 residents, is the largest town on the lake. The old town with Minster, Niederburg quarter, Council building and the Imperia at the harbour can be done on foot in half a day, and the Hörnle on the edge of town is the largest lido on the lake and free. Then there is the second reality: Konstanz is the shopping destination of eastern Switzerland. The Lago centre, chemists, supermarkets and pharmacies along the Bodanstrasse live off Swiss customers, and on Saturdays the cars queue for an hour before the border. The rules since 2025: the duty-free allowance at Swiss customs is CHF 150 (about EUR 161) per person per day, previously CHF 300, plus quantity limits such as 1 kilo of meat and 1 kilo of butter per person. You reclaim the German VAT (19 per cent, 7 on food) with the green export form, stamped by German customs at the border, from CHF 47 spent per shop; several large chains have stopped stamping, so ask at the till. What it really gets you: toiletries, cosmetics, clothing and cheese 30 to 50 per cent cheaper, meat half the price. What it does not get you: because of Swiss demand, hotel prices in Konstanz are the highest on the German shore, CHF 140 to 180 for mid-range, while in Radolfzell or Allensbach you pay CHF 100. Our recommendation: see Konstanz, eat, swim, and do the big shop midweek after 5 pm or skip it.
Mainau Island is the most expensive sight on the lake (CHF 24, about EUR 26, from late March to October, CHF 10 in winter) and still the right call: 45 hectares of park belonging to the Bernadotte family, with butterfly house, baroque palace, giant sequoias and a view of the Alps. Tulips in April, roses in June, dahlias in September; on sunny Sundays between 11 am and 3 pm it is overcrowded. Come midweek from 9 am with bus 4 from Konstanz (20 minutes) or after 3 pm by boat, and allow three to four hours. Meersburg opposite you reach by car ferry: the Old Castle is the oldest inhabited castle in Germany (CHF 15, one-hour circuit, armoury, dungeons, the rooms of the poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff), the New Palace of the prince-bishops costs CHF 7, and the State Winery with its vines right above the lake pours Müller-Thurgau and Pinot Noir from CHF 4 a glass. The Pile Dwelling Museum in Unteruhldingen (CHF 11, 20 minutes by bus from Meersburg) shows 23 reconstructed houses on jetties in the water, and the tour takes an hour. The pilgrimage church of Birnau two kilometres further on is free and the most beautiful rococo church on the lake. The Reichenau, 10 kilometres from Konstanz by bike, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for three Romanesque churches and otherwise a vegetable island with greenhouses, fishermen and farm shops, treasury in the Minster of Mittelzell CHF 3.
Friedrichshafen is not a pretty town, but you go for the Zeppelin. The Zeppelin Museum at the harbour (CHF 12, about EUR 13) has a walk-in replica of a 33-metre section of the Hindenburg, with passenger cabins and dining room, two hours. The Zeppelin NT flies from April to November: 30 minutes over the lake cost CHF 280, 45 minutes CHF 400, 60 minutes CHF 540, book three to six months ahead, and in wind the flight is cancelled. Lindau, 25 minutes further by train, is Bavaria and the most beautiful harbour town on the lake: the old town lies on an island, the harbour entrance with lion and lighthouse (CHF 3 for the climb) is the most photographed motif on Lake Constance, and the Maximilianstrasse with its painted facades and the Old Town Hall are the rest. Hotels on the island cost CHF 160 to 220, on the mainland in Aeschach or Reutin CHF 100 to 130 with a 15-minute walk. Bregenz is 10 minutes from Lindau and Austrian: the Pfänderbahn cable car (CHF 18 return) gives the best panorama over the whole lake, the floating stage of the Bregenz Festival plays in July and August, tickets from CHF 40. If you are staying at the eastern end of the lake, take in both, even if it is another country.
The season runs from Easter to mid-October, with high season at Whitsun, July and August with the school holidays of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. Then Mainau, the ferries and the cycle path between Meersburg and Friedrichshafen are packed, and rooms with a lake view cost CHF 180 to 250 (about EUR 193 to 268). The best weeks are May, June and September: warm enough for swimming (the lake is 19 degrees in June, 23 in August), grape harvest from mid-September, fruit trees in blossom at the end of April. From November to January the lake lies under high fog on many days, which does not lift before noon, while the Pfänder and the Säntis stand in the sun; whoever comes then comes for the Christmas markets, at Konstanz harbour with a boat and in Lindau as the harbour Christmas. On accommodation: Konstanz is the most expensive and the best connected. Meersburg and Überlingen are more romantic and quiet from 6 pm, rooms with a lake view CHF 150 to 200. You stay more cheaply in Radolfzell, Allensbach, Markdorf or Friedrichshafen, all with rail connections. Many municipalities give guests the Echt Bodensee Card, which makes bus and train free in the German part; in return you pay the visitor's tax of CHF 2 to 3 a night. Holiday flats and campsites on the shore are the economical choice for families; for July and August book by March.
The Lake Constance cycle path is 260 kilometres long, almost flat, well signposted and the most ridden long-distance cycle route in Germany. The classic loop takes five to seven days clockwise from Konstanz: Meersburg, Friedrichshafen, Lindau, Bregenz, Rhine delta, Rorschach, Arbon, Romanshorn, Kreuzlingen. If you only have three days, ride the German shore from Konstanz to Lindau (90 kilometres) and take the boat back. E-bikes cost CHF 35 to 45 (about EUR 37 to 48) a day, luggage transfer between hotels is available from CHF 15 a stage, and in July and August the Meersburg to Friedrichshafen stretch is a traffic jam of families. The three shores differ: the German shore has the sights and the prices at which you enjoy eating, lunch plate CHF 15 to 20. The Swiss shore in Thurgau is quieter, with orchards, cider presses and bathing spots every two kilometres, but the plate costs CHF 25 to 30. The 28 Austrian kilometres bring Bregenz, the Pfänder and the Rhine delta, a nature reserve with 300 bird species. The Untersee in the west, between Konstanz, Reichenau, Radolfzell and Stein am Rhein, is the quietest part: Hermann Hesse's house in Gaienhofen, the Höri peninsula with its artists' villages, the view from the Schiener Berg. Border checks are rare in the Schengen area, but carry a passport or ID card anyway, and on the cycle path you change currency three times without noticing.
A weekend is enough for Konstanz, Mainau and Meersburg by ferry. Four days if the pile dwellings, Friedrichshafen and Lindau are added, ideally with two overnight bases. The cycle loop around the lake needs five to seven days. From Zurich a day trip also makes sense: Mainau in the morning, Konstanz in the afternoon, back on the 7 pm train.
From Zurich by IC in a good hour to Konstanz, with the Half Fare Card for CHF 13.50 (about EUR 14) each way, from Basel in 2 hours. By car an hour to Kreuzlingen, longer on Saturdays. On the lake itself ferry, boat, the Bodenseegürtelbahn railway and bus are so good that the car is more of a nuisance, and parking in Meersburg and Lindau costs CHF 10 to 15 a day. The car pays off if you want to tour farm shops, Birnau and the villages on the Überlinger See.
Konstanz if you arrive by train, want to go out in the evening and want to reach Mainau, Reichenau and Meersburg by bus, bike and ferry. Meersburg or Überlingen for romance and vineyards, with more peace and fewer connections. Lindau for the eastern end with Bregenz and the Pfänder. Two nights in Konstanz and two in Lindau, with the boat in between, is the best solution for four days.
May, June and September. In high summer it is crowded and expensive, but the lake is 23 degrees and the evenings on the lake terraces are long. April brings fruit blossom and tulips on Mainau with cool water. From November to January high fog often sits over the lake for days, and then only the Christmas markets and the Pfänder above the fog are worth it. In winter Mainau costs less than half and is empty.
With a mid-range hotel, two restaurant meals, one ferry and one admission, reckon as a couple on CHF 130 to 160 (about EUR 139 to 171) per person per day, travel excluded. On a budget with a guesthouse in the hinterland, a picnic from the market and the lido you come to CHF 70 to 90. The Swiss shore costs around a third more at the same standard, above all for food. Mainau at CHF 24 is the most expensive single item.
Since 2025 the duty-free allowance at Swiss customs has been CHF 150 (about EUR 161) per person per day, plus quantity limits such as 1 kilo of meat, 1 kilo of butter and 5 litres of wine per person. You get the German VAT back via the export form stamped by German customs at the border, from CHF 47 spent per shop, but not every chain still takes part. Allow for traffic jams and queues on Saturdays; midweek after 5 pm it is relaxed.
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