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.
Travel in Germany
Public transport around Lake Constance
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
Eisenach. Wartburg Castle
The Wartburg is a medieval castle, typical on the one hand and rather unusual on the other, since its role in history was determined not by military events, but by cultural ones. Like any self-respecting castle, legends become history there, and legends grow from historical facts.
Since 1999, the castle has been included in the UNESCO list.
Schiltach in the Black Forest (Schwarzwald)
Preparing for the travel I rated for myself Schiltach in the Black Forest as “a particularly picturesque city” from the descriptions and photographs. Reality confirmed it: Schiltach is indeed a very picturesque town, very half-timbered and very floral. Unfortunately, we got into a midday break and could not go to the pharmacy museum, but we had a wonderful walk und visited another museum.
The town is located at the confluence of two rivers. To complete the picture, some kind of castle is missing. The castle was, but it is all over. There is only the castle hill, a covered wooden bridge and ruins remained – the rest was sold for building materials at the end of the 18th century.
Bad Urach Waterfall
Bad Urach – is a small spa town near the outlet town Metzingen. Suitable for day trips from Stuttgart (train) or in conjunction with something else. In the city itself there is an old center, a small palace, a thermal pool. There is a ruine of fortress on the hill. But most of people walk to the waterfall.
There are quite high hills around, limestone, eaten away by holes. With the stream, 5 kg of lime and God knows what else is carried out per day. So you shouldn’t drink the water, despite all its transparent stream appeal.
The Bad Urach waterfall is the third highest of those German ones that are outside the Alps (the first two are in the Black Forest), only 87 m.
Schwäbisch Hall. 1. What to see in old town
An old city with its own traditions, Schwäbisch Hall lies a bit off the tourist track. But it is certainly worth to visit. Schwäbisch Hall is a part of Castle Road (Burgenstrasse) – very good tourist road, with various attractions, although not so gut known as Romantic Road.
In addition to the old city centre, you can see the Darmstadt Madonna – the famous painting by Hans Holbein the Younger (and a couple of other famous paintings), the Comburg monastery and the Wackershofen open-air museum.
Franconian Switzerland and Upper Palatinate. Map of attraction
Regions north and east from Nuremberg to Bayreuth and the Czech border – Franconian Switzerland (Fränkische Schweiz) and Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz).
Franconian Switzerland. Pottenstein. Town
Pottenstein is one of the central locations in Franconian Switzerland. The amount of entertainment around him is off scale. We visited the climbing forest, toboggan and coaster, stalactite Devil’s cave (see part 1). But I would love to wander the surrounding mountains. I have already noticed one bench on the mountain overlooking the valley. I hope it will wait for my return. This post is about the town itself and Tüchersfeld nearby.
Franconian Switzerland. Pottenstein cave
Pottenstein cave is located in Franconian Switzerland. This is the region south of Bayreuth, towards Nuremberg There, limestone dominates with all the consequences, including whitened shoes and a floor in a car and chalk stripes on clothes. Rocks of the most bizarre shapes suddenly grow here and there. Limestone also means karst and stalactite caves. There are already three of them opened for public.
Rhine Delta Bodensee, Appenzell attractions
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.
