5 Best Restaurants in The Bodensee, Germany

This bustling multilevel café opens early and closes late and offers a mind-boggling array of ice-cream dishes and other sweet and savory fare. For a quick and inexpensive meal, consider the tasty breakfasts, sandwiches, and German- and Italian-influenced items on offer.

This popular place, with two floors and a large terrace on Marienplatz, has an international range of dishes, from kebabs and curries to pastas and local specialties. You can also enjoy coffee, cakes, or an aperitif.

This ancient inn was serving warm meals to the patricians, officials, merchants, and other good burghers of Lindau back in the 14th century. Today you can sit under the building's arches on the cobblestoned street or in the traditional warm wooden interior and enjoy authentic home-style cooking featuring fish from the lake in season, venison from the mountains, and apples—pressed to juice or distilled to schnapps—from local orchards.

Enjoy eclectic cooking—including Italian, Bavarian, and Swabian fare—on the terrace at this warm-weather spot on the harbor. Sit outside and watch the busy harbor traffic, or enjoy the beer garden with sandbox for children and big TV screen for watching sports. The restaurant frequently presents sporting, culinary, and live-music events. If you're in town on Ash Wednesday at the end of the Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht (carnival) celebrations, try to get a spot at Hafenhalle's annual fish-and-snails dining event, which marks the reopening of the restaurant after their period of winter closure.

This kiosk-style restaurant at Reichenau's yacht harbor provides an ideal lunch, drink, or snack stop when wandering the island. In good weather, you can sit outside and watch the boats come and go. It's also a perfect place to try the Bodensee specialty Zanderknusperle (crispy battered pike-perch bites)—fresh out of the lake.