Lindau and the Bodensee

Back in August we were fortunate to be able to spend a few days in southern Germany, basing ourselves in the town of Lindau on the northern shore of the Bodensee. Whilst our arrival into Stuttgart on a British Airways flight from Heathrow (read about that here) had been smooth and uneventful, we unfortunately had some issues with our car hire, delaying our departure from the airport. However, we eventually set off on the two-hour drive south via the German autobahns to our accommodation on the outskirts of Lindau, which would be our base for five nights.

Whilst we would be doing plenty of exploring of our own, we would also be spending some of our time in Germany meeting up with my family who were also holidaying in the area, with this including the first evening where we’d be meeting up for a meal to celebrate my mum’s birthday. With young children and a vegetarian as part of our group, finding a restaurant with a menu that met everyone’s needs is usually a bit of a challenge, but we were pleased to find that Heimat Lindau, one of the closest restaurants to the road bridge onto the island of Lindau, met all the criteria. I went for the delicious Beef roulade with spaetzle, the latter being an egg-based pasta that the Swabia region is known for, and everyone in our group seemed happy with their choices from the menu. The only comment I would make is that the service was very relaxed, in keeping with the culture on the continent, however when there are three small children as part of the group this could lead to them getting bored.

We were lucky to be visiting the area during some amazing weather and even after dinner it was still quite warm, allowing us to take a wander to the ‘bottom’ on Lindau Island and the town’s harbours. With the town being one of the largest on the shores of the Bodensee and historically being a strategically important port, the town’s main harbour is quite impressive with large sea walls, a former watch tower (the Mangturm), and the only lighthouse in the German state of Bavaria (the Lindauer Leuchtturm). The Lindauer Leuchtturm was first lit in October 1856, replacing the Mangturm as the town’s lighthouse and was initially lit by an open oil fire. This was later replaced by kerosene and then gas, with the lighthouse having been electrically powered since 1936 and automated since the 1990s. From the sea walls and former city defences, you can see across the eastern end of the Bodensee to the Austria town of Bregenz and the neighbouring peak of Pfänder.

Day two of our time around Lindau saw us meeting up again with my family and heading west to the Ravensburger Spieleland kids theme park, run by Ravensburger, the people who make jigsaw puzzles amongst other things. For us adults it was an assault on the senses, but the children had a great time, even the almost-three-year-old who was too young for most of the rides but wanted to follow her sister on them all. If you do decide to head there, make sure to get there early as there was a massive queue by the time the gates opened, and if you can buy your tickets online to avoid another queue at the ticket office.

Leaving my family whilst the children enjoyed a final couple of rides, we headed back to our accommodation to freshen up before heading back into Lindau itself again for the evening. With no special meal requirements between Beth and I, this time we went for dinner at Onkle Tom’s Wirsthaus and I enjoyed the traditional German dish of a pork knuckle with dumplings which was cooked to perfection. With the weather still nice, we sat outside enjoying watching people pass by on evening strolls, surrounded by the historic buildings on Lindau’s main Maximilianstaße. Deciding to forgoe desert at the restaurant, we stopped at La Gelateria just over the road for ice cream, eating this as we strolled to the railway bridge at the western end of the island. Our timing was perfect, as we enjoyed the stunning sunset, before continuing our stroll along the northern edge of the island and the shore of the Kleinen See on our way back to the car.

The following day we met up again with my family and whilst Beth and my mum stayed at the holiday camp with the girls to go horse riding, my dad and I, along with the youngest child, headed out to visit a couple of local aviation museums. First up was the Dornier Museum at Friedrichshafen Airport which is open Tuesday to Sunday 1000-1700 and costs €13.50 for adults, or €23 when combined with the Zeppelin Museum. The museum is in a great location on the southern edge of the airport, with great views of arriving and departing aircraft (although there aren’t many) as well as having a large collection of pretty much every type of aircraft that Dornier were involved in the production of. With a café/restaurant and outside terrace, we could have spent much longer than the couple of hours we had to spend there, and its relatively kid friendly as well.

After the Dornier Musuem, we had a quick 20-minute drive into Friedrichshafen itself to visit the Zeppelin Museum which is located in the former station building of Friedrichshafen Hafen railway station. Between May and October, the museum is open daily from 0900-1700, with the hours reduced to Tuesday to Sunday 1000-1700 during the winter months. Entry is €14.50 or r €23 when combined with the Dornier Museum and they do have a reduced post-1600 price of €9. The Zeppelin Museum is more detailed than the Dornier Museum and has lots of models and artifacts on display as well as a mock-up of a portion of a Zeppelin. It also had an area telling the history of the Zeppelin company and how it had been left to the town of Friedrichshafen, as well as the history of Zeppelins and their part in the history of flight.

The evening of day 3 once again saw us heading into Lindau itself, with another wander around the time, including taking a look at the impressive Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall). Originally built in 1422, the Altes Rathaus was rebuilt in 1576, with an extension (the New Town Hall) being constructed in the early 18^th century. Both the front and rear facades of the Altes Rathaus are covered in beautiful paintings depicting Lindau’s history which were renewed in the 1970s based on the original 19^th century designs. Then it was onto another new restaurant for us, Zum Alten Rathaus, where we were lucky to turn up just as a large outside table became free. Here I had roasted pork tenderloin with cheese spaetzle in a cream sauce and, as with all the food we’d had so far, was delicious! After dinner we headed across to the other side of the railway line to the Westpromenade, which was very busy as everyone had had the same idea as us to come out and watch the sunset!

Our final full day staying in Lindau saw us doing a lap of the Bodensee as we visited four countries in a day, however that is worthy of a post in itself, so check out the blog next week for that one. With an evening flight back to the UK, we were able to spend the morning of our final day in Lindau before heading back to Stuttgart airport. Starting off with breakfast from Bäckerei & Konditorei Hamma, we sat and enjoyed this in the Stadtgarten overlooking the eastern shore of the island, before heading to the harbour with the intention of taking a boat trip. Unfortunately, the 90-minute scenic tour we were hoping to get tickets for was cancelled for some reason, and so we bought a return ticket to Bregenz in Austria and sailed out and back to enjoy the scenery at the eastern end of the Bodensee. With our time in Lindau coming to a close, we had time for a final meal in the town as Corner Café overlooking the harbour, where we both enjoyed the Swabian Maultasche. These meat filled dumplings are a traditional Swabian dish and have geographical protection by the EU, the same as Champagne, Port and Stilton cheese.

Lindau and the Bodensee region was a delightful place to enjoy a few days on holiday and, as with a lot of places, has made it onto the revisit list. As you’ll find if you read next week’s post, Lindau is a great base for heading round the lake into Austria and Switzerland, and there’s also regular ferry connections across the lake connecting all the large towns. It’s an area with a traditional ‘alpine’ feel, and we stayed in an alpine cottage and could hear cow bells clanging in the distance. As holiday spots go, we’d certainly recommend it!