I'm trying to find out a bit about Stein am Rhein. We will be staying in Meersburg next August--and for one of our sidetrips, thought we would go down into Switzerland to see the Rhine Falls and Stein am Rhein.

Can anyone tell me what the experience would be like in Stein am Rhein. Would we walk around on our own? Is there some kind of tour? I've planned a day basically to go there and then to the Falls. Does this make sense?

Also--has anyone also been to Ravensburg in Germany? How does it compare to Stein am Rhein?

Thanks so much. Any help at all will be much appreciated.

You can absolutely see the town of Stein-am-Rhein on your own. It's small, from what I recall, and quite charming. The riverside is lined with outdoor restaurants. We enjoyed the Kloster Museum St. Georgen and the Wohnmuseum Lindworm.

Unfortunately I haven't been to Ravensburg, but it sounds lovely as well.

We just spent a couple of days in Stein am Rhein in May. You can certainly see a lot of this charming little town in a few hours as it is very compact.

I found this run-down on Ravensburg:

"Die ehemals Freie Reichsstadt Ravensburg, mitten in der Ferienlandschaft Allgäu und Bodensee gelegen, ist mit 50.000 Einwohnern die wirtschaftliche Mitte der Region. Früher schon Handelszentrum, ist sie heute die Einkaufsstadt Oberschwabens.
Der zentral gelegene Marienplatz ist der ideale Ausgangspunkt, um die "Stadt der Tore und Türme" zu erkunden. Dort und in den angrenzenden Straßen und Gassen, herrscht reges Leben: In der Bachstraße, wo der Stadtbach offen fließt, oder in der liebevoll sanierten Marktstraße.

"This one-time Free City (of the Holy Roman Empire), situated with its 50,000 inhabitants in the tourist region of Allgäu and Lake Constance, is its economic centre. Always a trading base, it is today the shopping hub for all of Upper Swabia.

The centrally-placed 'Marienplatz' is the ideal starting point for reconnoitring this 'City of Gates and Towers'. There, and in the adjacent streets, such as 'Bachstrasse', which runs alongside town's little river, and the lovingly restored 'Marktstrasse' you will find plenty of activity.

Harzer

Stop in at the supermarket, Migros, and pick up some liqueur-filled LIndt chocolate bars. I brought a stack of them home as little gifts, and all my chocoholic friends loved them. They are a bit perishable, so be careful to keep them cool.

This website might be of interest to you:
www.magiccarpetjournals.com/SteinamRhein.htm

Stein am Rhein is a lovely little Swiss town known for its buildings with rich paintings.

Ravensburg is a town - as harzer has said already - with a remarkable medival touch, as halftimbered buildings and towers originating from the town´s fortification still are to be seen. If you have a chance to visit the library, located in a medieval building, originally constructed for the storage of grain, visit it. Marienplatz as the center is mere a large street then a square. They did a good job on restoring the city, but nevertheless Ravensburg is also an industrial and administrative center, where the locals live their live - in a nice surrounding, and they know it. Also, you will find nice shops there and also nice inns (Waldhorn is a gourmet restaurant, there are other ones too, serving larger portions for less money. Worth to see, or typical in some way: Weinstube zum Muke, a wine house having kept its ancient swabian town ambiente), coffeehouses, ice-cream-parlours and also butcher´s shops selling snacks and meals.

If you want to see the opposite, a town without these reminders of a large past, you migh visit Friedrichshafen. You will find there the Zeppelin Museum, the largest collection on Zeppelin airships, and a beautiful and also long walk at Lake Constance seaside.