If you’ve read last week’s post, you’ll know we got up to plenty during our time staying near Lindau. You’ll also know I hinted at a day where, thanks to Lindau’s location on the Bodensee and it being close to the Austria border, we visited four countries in one day. Whilst you don’t have to read that post, I’d certainly recommend it however, as promised, this post is all about the day where we visited Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland all in one day!
Obviously, our day started at our accommodation on the outskirts of Lindau in the German state of Bavaria, and we set off around the eastern end of the Bodensee, soon crossing into Austria in the town of Unterhochsteg. Our first destination of the day was Bregenz, Austria’s westernmost city and the capital of the state of Vorarlberg, which sits in the southeastern corner of the Bodensee and at the base of the Pfänder, a mountain with a peak 1062m above sea level. Our target for the morning was to reach the top of the Pfänder, however not by hiking, but by the Pfänderbahn, a cable car that climbs more than 600m from the outskirts of the city to 40m or so below the summit.
A return ticket on the Pfänderbahn is €18 for adults, although I believe you can purchase combined boat and Pfänderbahn tickets and do a round trip from Lindau harbour. At the top, there is a shop, restaurant and Alpine Wildlife Park, the latter of which is free to wander around, however be warned the path around it is very steep in places. We spent around 2 hours at the top of the Pfänder, taking our time around the wildlife park (and the steep slope to get back up from the bottom) before sitting and enjoying a coffee with a view out over the Bodensee and grabbing some souvenirs from the shop ahead of the decent on the Pfänderbahn. There’s also a few different view points at the top, including the roof of the Pfänderbahn station and all of these have signs to show you what you’re looking at.
Heading back down the Pfänderbahn to Bregenz, it was time to head to the next country of the day, which involved a drive of an hour or so south through Austria. The world’s smallest country to border two other countries, Liechtenstein has an area of only 160 km² and is the world’s sixth smallest country overall. I’d visited the capital Vaduz previously, during my (Not Quite) All The Small Things trip (read about that here), however had visited via public transport on that occasion so it was nice to see some different parts of the country as we arrived by road from the north. Parking up across the road from Vaduz’ main street, we had a wander to see some of the main sights such as the Parliament and Government buildings, before deciding to find somewhere for lunch.
With this part of Europe still enjoying some excellent weather, we decided to enjoy some alfresco dining at Café BarDuz, a small café located on the main street close to the Post and Art museums. Whilst there is a fairly limited food menu, we were both happy to go for the Flammkuchen recommended by the manager, which is kind of a really thin pizza with only light toppings. As well as being delicious, it’s perfect as a light meal and we sat for a while enjoying our lunch and watching the hustle and bustle of Vaduz. One note of warning, a lot of the smaller shops, cafes and restaurants only accept cash, so make sure to have some on you. However, despite the official currency of Liechtenstein being the Swiss Franc, most places also accept Euros with the cash points offering the option of both. After lunch, we took a drive up the hill to one of the parking spots close to the castle, taking a break to enjoy the views over the Rhine valley and of the castle itself.
With Liechtenstein completed and Beth’s country count starting to look a bit more respectable, it was time to head to the fourth and final country of the day, Switzerland. From the centre of Vaduz, we could have walked to the border in about 20 minutes, as the river Rhine, which marks the border, runs along the western edge of the capital. However, to ‘do’ Switzerland properly, we decided to drive 90 minutes to the west along the Swizz motorway network (having paid a fortune for a Vignette for the hire car) and pay a visit to another part of the Rhine. Close to the town of Schaffhausen in northern Switzerland and a few kilometres from the western end of the Bodensee, the Rhine Falls are the most powerful water fall in Europe, with 600 m3/s of water flowing over the falls in the summer months.
The Rhine Falls are a popular tourist attraction, and you are able to enjoy various boat trips from the base of the falls ranging from short ones just around the basin itself to 90-minute tours that include a journey along the Rhine. We decided to go for the latter and joined the ‘3B’ grand tour which took us down the Rhine to the town of Rheinau, before returning and taking us into the basin of the falls themselves. Whilst the trips aren’t cheap, I would certainly recommend doing one, even if its one of the short ones, as you only feel the true power of the falls when you’re almost underneath them. As a side note, interestingly for someone like me who is fascinated by maps and borders, this is another part of Europe where the borders are ‘messy’ with a German enclave sitting surround by Switzerland a few miles upstream and the border, which follows the middle of the Rhine for the most part, randomly heading west and north of the river to give the Canton of Schaffhausen most of its land.
You could easily spend a whole day in the Rhine Falls area, with there also being Schloss Laufen and of course the towns of Neuhausen am Rheinfall and Schaffhausen to explore, however with our four-country adventure, we unfortunately had limited time there. With the day drawing to a close, it was time for us to start heading back east to complete our loop of the Bodensee and after rejoining the Swiss motorway network at Schaffhause, we were soon crossing into Germany to follow the main road back to Lindau. However our day wasn’t over yet, as we decided to stop midway along the Bodensee at Hafencafé Schloss Kirchberg, located in a marina close to Hanau am Bodensee, for dinner. Whilst we’d been able to find this restaurant online and saw it had good reviews, we hadn’t been able to look at the menu and so were pleasantly surprised when we found it served Japanese cuisine. Whilst we usually try and eat local dishes whilst on holiday, this was a pleasant change to the heavy meat and potato dishes we’d being enjoying, and we had a fabulous meal whilst watching the boats sail in and out of the marina.
Doing four countries in a day as a loop around the Bodensee is certainly do-able and was great fun, however it made for a very long day, and we were knackered by the time we got back to our accommodation. Vaduz does really only take a couple of hours, however both Bregenz/the Pfänder and the Rhine Falls are worthy of a day to themselves. So, if your time around the Bodensee is limited and you want to tick off a few countries, I’d certainly recommend doing a lap and four countries in a day, however if you are on a longer holiday, give a day to each!
Flights & Times 