4 Best Restaurants in The Bodensee, Germany

This small brewery with shiny copper cauldrons, part of a chain of five throughout Germany, serves simple dishes as well as regional specialties and vegetarian food on large wooden tables.

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 a sandbox for children and a 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 a period of winter closure.

Fresh fish from the lake is a specialty at this traditional restaurant near the New Castle, which has been in the Benz family for four generations. You can pair the day's catch with white wine from their own vineyard. A popular entrée is badische Ente (duck with bacon and apples in a wine-kirsch sauce). Reservations are recommended.