Located on the eastern side of Lake Constance (Bodensee) is a small town and island named Lindau. It forms the meeting point of the Austrian, German and Swiss borders and is famous for its architecture, harbour and lighthouse, gardens by the lake, boat trips, St. Peter’s Church and definitely the old town (Altstadt).
For me, visiting Lindau came as a sudden plan to overcome the boredom of a lazy Saturday and explore a new town on a sunny day.
With the Deutschland ticket you can hop on a regional train which takes 2.5hrs approximately from Munich HBF to Lindau Reutin or Lindau Insel(Island). The first one will leave you inside the main city and the latter one takes you directly to the island which is eventually connected to the mainland by a road bridge and a railway track as well. It’s a 15-20min walk from the island to the mainland. I would surely recommend exploring the island with the old town first and then walk to the mainland since the island was my favourite part of the trip.
We took the 7:54am RE96 from Munich HBF to reach Lindau Insel by 10:45am. There was already a queue for the ferry so we decided to skip it and walk around.
The major attractions while walking by the Bodensee is the Lighthouse (Neuer Leuchtturm), the Mangturm and the iconic Bavarian Lion (Bayerische Löwe). The weather was perfect with the shining Sun and the cold wind. We could also see the Swiss and Austrian mountains on either side at the end of the vast stretch of the lake.
The Promenade is filled with cafes and restaurants so you will definitely not go hungry during the long walks! One thing that struck me were the street shops selling pendants, rings, ear-rings made from different special stones. I am not sure if Lindau in particular is famous for these stones but they sure looked beautiful and something different from what I have seen till now in German cities.
After the long walk by the port side for nearly one & a half hours, we entered the old town (Altstadt). The Altstadt wore the typical German beauty with the half-timbered houses, the colourful flowers, the family-run shops & small cafes. We walked through the small alleys and the old market and eventually came to a halt at Peterskirche. It’s more than a 1000-year-old church but is still very well maintained from both inside and outside. An unusual tower which we saw next was the Diebsturm, located just next to the church and also known as Thieves Tower. It does look like a fairy tale tower though! In another 10 minutes’ walk we also stopped by the Stephanskirche with a fountain structure and flowers just in front of it which made the plain sight of the church beautiful. The next picturesque building is the Historic Town Hall, almost at the centre of the old town and still not far from the dock.
I love buying magnets as souvenirs whichever new place I go and that was my plan here as well. While buying the magnet from one of the old town shops, I came across this ring which changes colour based on your mood – I guess basically detecting the temperature of the body and I bought that without a second thought! Most souvenirs are within 3-5 Euros including the ring, if you want to buy from the old town shops.
It was 2pm and we were pretty hungry! There were a lot of options and we decided to go with Thai-Asian cuisine. There is a small place named Ban Thai Asia Imbiss just by the Bahnhof and near to the water. We took a plate of Pad Thai & Bami Phak with Garnelen (prawns) and both were pretty delicious and filling. There are a lot of options from which you can choose and the prices vary between 9 to 13 Euros max. I would definitely suggest this place if you like Thai cuisine.
Our next plan was to cross the bridge and enter the Lindau mainland. There was a beautiful view on both sides while crossing the bridge with the boats in the waters and the distant mountains.
The mainland however doesn’t have much tourist attraction so instead we took Bus No. 5 towards Leiblachstrasse from Toskana (nearby bus stop), got down at the last stop and walked about 1km to cross the German-Austrian border! Yes, you can walk from Lindau to Austria or even cycle.
We found out about a garden/small forest named Bäumle by Lake Constance which was just 6-7 minutes’ walk from the border. We walked in-between the trees and sat down by the waters. You can get down in the water for a swim or even barbeque on the side of the waters. It was really peaceful and we had a great view of the lake and the mountains in the background. I would say it’s the perfect place to relax at the end of the trip!
We planned to catch the 6.15pm RE back home so we started walking back from Bäumle but while returning we took the bus only till Lindau Reutin and the RE70 from Reutin station. The route back was completely different from the one we followed while coming to Lindau-Insel in the morning and if you like some rollercoaster ride feels with mountains on both sides this one is definitely recommended!
We arrived in Munich around 8.45pm. It was a long day from morning 8 to nearly evening 9 but being in that place it didn’t feel so. It was neither tiring nor did we ever run out of places to see or eat. Also, I had an amazing company throughout the trip so we never ran out of things to speak as well!
The total trip cost for me was just around 18 Euros with the souvenirs & food and obviously because I had the Deutschland ticket! If you want the cruise or boat rides it will be another 20 Euros more. I would say it’s definitely worth visiting the island as it gives a way different feel from city life with all its harbour, cafes, alleys and colourful flowers.
German Bharatham 