I will be traveling to and staying in Konstanz for 4 days in September with a friend who will be in meetings all day. Any suggestions for day trips I could make on my own? Germany, Switzerland, Austria... I would like to experience the scenery and culture, perhaps museums. The plan is for the 2 of us to head down toward Milan in the 3 or 4 days following the business! Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated for this newbie to Europe.

The Insel Mainau (island of Mainau) is a must! One of the most beautiful and large flower displays in a setting of an old castle and church. The whole island is one flower garden. You can take a bus from Konstanz. In September, you might catch their annual dahlia (SP?) show.

There also might be a ship, going from Konstanz harbor to the Mainau, but you better check that.

Also, perhaps in the afternoon, take the boat or ferry to Meersburg across the lake and visit the old town (there is a bus from the ferry terminal to the town,which sits above the lake). Again, if you are lucky, you might catch their annual wine festival, which is a major event with parade, wine tastings, etc. Meersburg has a great castle and a small palace.

And again, check if there is a boat from the Mainau to Meersburg. You then could do a circular tour: Mainau, Meersburg- Konstanz.

Thanks for the advice. Would anyone recommend any trips farther afield? I forgot to mention, I will be taking the train everywhere.

hi there,
the island Reichenau with its monastier is just put on the UNESCO list and sure worth to be visited.
A nice city is Lindau, You can reach by boat.
When visiting Meersburg perhaps do a sidetrip to the baroque chruch Birnbaum (spelling?).
Stein am Rhein is not so far (Swizzerland) and a very nice little town with beautiful old houses.
One more Swizzerland: St. Gallen, also on the UNESCO list with its beautiful monastier and bibliothek.
And the last - the Rhine falls in Schaffhausen.
have fun
Gar

Oh, a museum that is worth is the Zeppelin museum in Friedrichshafen (www.zeppelin-museum.de)

For a day trip, Zurich is just over an hour by train and has lots of museums, restaurants, and a very charming old town. I also agree that St Gallen and Stein am Rhein make good day trips. I think you could probably take a ferry down the Bodensee to Bregenz or Rorschach, and then a train to get to St Gallen, would be a pretty trip. You could do the falls at Schauffhausen as part of a longish day trip that would include Stein am Rhein. Winterthur about an hour by train has some excellent art musuems.

The stunning Walensee is about 2 hours from Konstanz, a longish day trip but you will have lots of daylight hours in September. This is a glacial lake in quite a spetacular setting. Take the train to Wessen, and then a ferry down the lake to Murg or Unterterzen and a train back from there.

The “black madonna” in the beautiful baroque church at Einsiedeln is about 2 hours by train.

For information on train times and train schedules for any of these places, go to Rail.ch, the website for Swiss Rail. They have timetables for trains all over Europe, not just Switzerland, although you cannot get prices for journeys outside of Switzerland, you have to e-mail them for those prices. You can also look at bahn.de, the website for German Rail.

For suggestions on what to do as you work your way down to Milan, I would suggest:

The beautiful mountain region around Interlaken (i.e Wengen, Murren, Jungfrau) is about 4 hours by train, a very pretty ride. From there, Milan is about 5 hours by train. The Interlaken area is wonderful in September and there is very good walking here, as well as the opportunity for ferry rides on the lakes (maybe you have a enough of this on the Bodensee.)

The gorgeous Engadine valley is about 4-5 hours, and included in that would be the most beautiful train ride in Switzerland, IMO, from Chur to St Mortiz or Pontresina or continuing on to the Scuol valley, esp the little village of Guarda. Excellent walking in all these area. All would be 4-5 hours by train from Konstanz. From either of those area, Milan is about 5-7 hours by train. You could also take the Bernina Express up over the glaciers and down into Italy. You can take the train from Chur, Pontresina or St Mortiz and it ends in Tirano, Italy. The trip from Chur takes 4 hours. From Tirano, it is about 3 hours by train to Milan. For info on the Bernina Express, go to rhb.ch.

Lake Como is 5 hours and also a very pretty ride, and the lake area is wonderful in September. From there it is about an hour to Milan.

Salzburg is a bit far, about 7 hours from Konstanz, so I am not sure you want to consider it. From Salzurg, Milan is about 8 hours.

The “Romantic Road” area of Germany is quite close to you to the north, as well as Neuschwanstein, “Mad Ludwigs” castle near Fussen Germany. Fuseen is about 2.5 hours by train. For the Romantic Road, you would want a car, you could drive up to Munich and then train down to Milan, about 7 hours, there may also be discount flights on cheap intra-European carriers like Germanwings (go to germanwings.com)

Is Neuschwanstein Castle not to be missed, or would I be just as happy seeing the castles in Bellinoza on my way South?

Thanks for the responses.

What day trips did you end up doing,Sandy11?