Must-see attractions in Lake Constance

Near the eastern end of Friedrichshafen’s lake-front promenade is the Zeppelin Museum, housed in the Bauhaus-style former Hafenbahnhof (harbour station),…

Crowned by a filigreed spire and looking proudly back on 1000 years of history, the sandstone Münster was the church of the Diocese of Konstanz until 1821…

Awarded Unesco World Heritage status in 2011, the Pfahlbauten represent one of 11 prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps. Based on the findings of…

Jutting out over the lake and bursting with flowers, the lusciously green islet of Mainau is a 45-hectare Mediterranean garden dreamed up by the…

Lions and voluptuous dames dance across the trompe l’oeil facade of the flamboyantly baroque Haus zum Cavazzen, which contains this museum, showcasing a…

In summer the harbourside promenade has a happy-go-lucky air, with its palms, bobbing boats and folk sunning themselves in pavement cafes.

Founded as a Cistercian monastery in 1134, the immense estate known as Schloss Salem was once the largest and richest of its kind in southern Germany. The…

Looking across Lake Constance from its lofty perch, Burg Meersburg is an archetypal medieval stronghold, complete with keep, drawbridge, knights’ hall and…

Seven exceptional late-medieval houses set around a glass-covered courtyard shelter a permanent collection focusing on Ravensburg’s past as a trade centre…

This exuberant, powder-pink Cistercian abbey church is one of Lake Constance's architectural highlights and a popular pilgrimage destination. It was built…

In AD 724 a missionary named Pirmin founded a Benedictine monastery on Reichenau, a 4.5km-by-1.5km island (Lake Constance’s largest) about 11km west of…

No zoo-like cages, no circus antics, just happy Barbary macaques free to roam in a near-natural habitat: that's the concept behind conservation-oriented…

At the end of the pier, giving ferry passengers a come-hither look from her rotating pedestal, stands Imperia. Peter Lenk’s 9m-high sculpture of a buxom…

Housed in the 400-year-old Heilig-Geist-Spital (Hospice of the Holy Spirit), this new museum presents an intriguing interactive romp through the history…

The glass pyramid in front of the Münster shelters the Römersiedlung, the 3rd-century-AD remains of the Roman fort Constantia that gave the city its name…

Stroll the harbour for classic snaps of Lake Constance or to hire a pedalo. On the jetty, you can’t miss – though the pious might prefer to – Peter Lenk’s…

In 1710 Prince-Bishop Johann Franz Schenk von Stauffenberg, perhaps tired of the dinginess and rising damp, swapped the Altes Schloss for the dusky-pink,…

The heart of the Altstadt is the elongated, pedestrianised Marienplatz, framed by sturdy towers such as the round Grüner Turm, with its lustrous tiled…

Looking back on a 1000-year history, this enigmatic church is now a war memorial, hiding exquisite time-faded frescoes of the Passion of Christ by Hans…

Running a dragnet through your wallet, the borderline-kitsch Sea Life immerses you in an underwater world. Highlights include a shipwreck where you can…