Lake Constance & Lindau Island – Germany 2009

Our next major port of call was Lake Constance, Lake Konstanz or Bodensee, depending on how anglicized you want to be. The lake is large and very scenic. It’s probably best viewed from the German side as this provides a stunning backdrop of Swiss Alps, albeit as much as 14km away – the width of the lake, which is large enough to be prone to rough seas!

We decided to stop at Lindau Island, a small island in the north-eastern corner of Lake Constance. Vehicular access to the island isn’t terrifically practical (at least parking isn’t) and we followed the signs for motorhome parking on the mainland. This turned out to be a large car park in with a motorhome service point and overnight parking facilities. Although it looked popular, this was the only place we stopped in Germany where the motorhome facilities and signs had been vandalized (albeit only cosmetically). This, coupled with a fairly high price for overnight parking, persuaded us to park for the afternoon only and not to stay the night.

The walk to Lindau Island from this car park probably took about 20 minutes and is clearly signposted along a footpath from the back of the car park (don’t go back to the main road, it will take you longer). The island itself is attractive but very highly geared towards tourists – notably Brits, judging from what we saw.

The lakeside area is lined with cafes and lake cruise ship operators – departure announcements for these lake cruises are made in both English and German. I did say it was touristy… to be honest, this was a bit much for us and we did not really warm to the place, although it is attractive and the lake is undeniably impressive. It was a bit reminiscent of the towns around Lake Garda, in Italy – if you like one, you’ll probably like the other.

Here are a few more pictures, anyway:

On leaving Lindau Island, we headed towards Singen, a nearby town in which we were planning to spend the night. Unfortunately, the car park with the motorhome parking was being resurfaced – fortunately, there was another one next door which all the motorhomes were using instead, albeit without the facilities available in the closed car park. I did see a couple of Slovakian immigrants camping out in a tent at the back of the car park but there didn’t seem to be any signs of trouble and we had a peaceful night*, along with several other motorhomes.

There’s an excellent bakery across the road from the car park, too – ideal for supplies before you leave in the morning.

*Peaceful if you don’t mind the noise of trains passing by 50 yards away…