Not far from Speyer or Mannheim, on the way to Heidelberg, is the city of Schwetzingen.
There is a summer residence built for the electors of the Palatinate in the 18th century. The palace with the rococo-style theater has been partially preserved, but the main attraction, which claimed to be included in the UNESCO list, is the palace park, modeled after Versailles. In my opinion, UNESCO is maybe a little too much for them, but the park is really picturesque.
Around Lake Constance there are three countries, three cantons (five if you count the sub-cantons), three federal states and God knows how many smaller administrative units. In general, they try to cooperate in the field of tourism and this cooperation has resulted in the form of guest cards of Lake Constance. But they are not always as profitable as we would like. So plan carefully if you’re on a budget.
Lake Constance is large, and the road that goes around it is narrow and there is only one. The speed there is severely limited almost everywhere, and for those who are too fast, not noticing the signs, there are radars. There is almost always a traffic jam from may to september, because of too many people.
Public transport can help, but it is not cheap. This page is about what public transport around Lake Constance is available. Read more about guest and tourist cards – Tourist and guest cards of Lake Constance
The Alpine Rhine in Switzerland is a wide and deep valley, inhabited and built up with factories for almost its entire length. The Rhine itself is surrounded by high dam so as not to flood the valley. There is a cycling route along the dam for many tens of kilometers. You can climb the dam and take pictures of the views of the Vaduz castle at the Rheintal highway car park.
In this post we look at Alpine Rhine delta (canton St Gallen) and canton Appenzell attractions.
If we speak about the castles on the Middle Rhine (Mittelrhein), we mean the section from Rüdesheim (slightly downstream from Mainz) to Bonn. From Rüdesheim to Koblenz, the banks converge, forming the Rhine Gorge. This section is also called the “Loreley Valley” (Tal der Loreley). There are many castles of varying degrees of destruction / restoration. We will go through all the castles, briefly tell what happened to them and whether there is something interesting inside.
In comparison with the German coast, where everything is subordinated to tourism, the Swiss side of Lake Constance seems to know nothing about tourists and does not want to know. Therefore, you need to prepare especially carefully for a vacation there.
Does it make sense to go there at all? Consider the pros and cons below.
The Moselle is a very beautiful river. In truth, we liked her more than the Rhine, clogged with transport, muddy, with brown water.
To make the river navigable, it was dammed in the middle of the 20th century, but still there are very few barges here. On one (left) side of the river there is a railway and a road, and there is a road partly on the right. There are also castles on the banks of the Moselle, but the main attraction is the local wines. We were in Cochem and Trier, visited the Eltz castle.
Technik Museum Speyer (link), one of two in this region (second – in Sinsheim).
There are more cars and military equipment in Sinsheim. There are also planes and a couple of steam locomotives, but the rest of the set is more interesting for those who are fond of cars.
Speyer has a more varied exhibition.
The Swiss coast of Lake Constance has fewer attractions and is more boring than the German one. The most worthy object to visit is just Sankt-Gallen, apart from the Stein-am-Rhein and the Rhine Falls, which are actually on the Rhine, and not on the lake. Although from the other end of the lake I would not go for him alone.
The city is located in the hills behind the lake, 15-20 minutes by train from the nearest coastal town of Rorschach. There is absolutely nothing to watch in Rorschach. Its main attractions are the ferry to Lindau and the funicular to the nearest mountain.
Not far from the place where the Rhine flows out of the lake is the town of Stein am Rhein. The town is very small, but very visited, thanks to the large number of painted old houses with bay windows. You can get there by train and boat.
