Lake Constance

Lake Constance is the one place in The Heart of Europe where three countries share a single shore, and Konstanz is a little over an hour by train from Zurich. It is a lake for summer: ferries between the towns, swimming from the lake baths, opera on the water at Bregenz and a handful of independent hotels that make the German shore an easy weekend from northern Switzerland.

The lake measures about 63 kilometres from end to end, bordered by Germany to the north, Switzerland to the south and Austria at its eastern tip; on the open water, the frontiers have never been formally agreed. The Rhine enters from the Alpine valley in the east and leaves at Konstanz, the largest town on the shore, an old episcopal city where the Council of Constance met from 1414 to 1418 and elected Pope Martin V. Beyond it the river opens into the Untersee and flows on past Stein am Rhein towards the Rhine Falls.

The islands give the lake its character: Mainau, with its gardens and palm house, held by the Bernadotte family; Reichenau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000 for its early medieval monastery churches; and Lindau, a Bavarian island town with a lion and a lighthouse at its harbour mouth. On the northern shore, Meersburg rises above the water with its old castle and vineyards, and Friedrichshafen keeps the Zeppelin Museum; on the Swiss side, the Thurgau shore is a country of orchards, with the abbey district of St. Gallen a short drive inland.

The season runs from May to September, when the ferries keep their full timetable, the lake baths open and the terraces of Konstanz, Meersburg and Lindau stay busy into the evening. Spring brings blossom to the orchards of the shore and the flower displays of Mainau; from mid-July to mid-August, the Bregenz Festival stages opera on its lake stage.

September and October are clear and mild, with the grape harvest around Meersburg and the apple harvest on the Swiss side. In winter the lake is quiet and often misty, several shore hotels close and the ferries reduce their service, although Konstanz holds a Christmas market by its harbour. On clear days in any season, the Säntis and the mountains of Vorarlberg stand across the water.

The lake’s finest hotels are small and independent. In Konstanz, Hotel Riva stands on the shore with a pool, a spa and Ophelia, a restaurant with two Michelin stars. In Lindau, Villino, on the mainland side of the town, pairs a small hotel with a Michelin-starred restaurant, and Hotel Bad Schachen, a long-established hotel in its own lakeside park, has its own lake access, a landing stage and a spa; the hotel closes in the winter months, while the spa stays open all year.

None of the three belongs to a Preferred Partner programme: LVXE advises on the stay and arranges it directly with the hotel. Konstanz suits a stay without a car, with trains from Zurich and ferries across the lake, while the weeks of the Bregenz Festival are best reserved early on the eastern shore.