We got back home late on Wednesday, and many loads of laundry later, I think we’re back to our usual routines – aside from the holiday weekend, anyway! As I catch up with folks, I continue to tell them how delightful Lindau was, a true surprise and delight for our family. There were a few places we’d considered visiting when we booked our tickets to Zurich earlier this year. We strongly considered Italy, but something about this lakeside town spoke to us.
As I’ve shared before, we don’t often travel in the summer since it gets so expensive; we prefer to travel when and where there are cheap flights available. Finding a good price on direct flights this summer was such a treat, and Lindau was the perfect spot to spend some of our summer vacation. Here’s how we spent our five days there:
Day 1: Arrive in Lindau
After we landed at ZRH, we made our way to the SBB ticket office to get our train tickets to Lindau. They no longer had any direct train tickets available (we learned these fill up in advance), but their team was able to book us a train to Romanshorn, Switzerland, followed by a train to Lindau, Germany. Romanshorn is also on Lake Constance (also known as Bodensee), and the stop allowed us to break up the travel – and grab some baked snacks from Dä Sunne Beck Strassmann.
Once we arrived in Lindau, we walked from the train station to our Airbnb. It’s very popular to stay on the island in Lindau, which is where most of the restaurants and shops are, but we really enjoyed our condo on the mainland – I would definitely recommend the “Hugo Inn.” There was no air conditioning, but the cross breeze was perfect, and we were able to settle in quickly.
We figured we needed to venture out for groceries, so our adventure for the evening was to the nearby Denns BioMarkt. We quickly found out this market was focused on organic foods, so we didn’t get quite the haul we’d anticipated, but we got what we needed to make dinner for the night.
Day 2: Explore the Island
We walked to the island in the morning, wandering through the Schindlerwiese – Lindau am Bodensee park and walking along the bridge. We got breakfast at the Theater Café Lindau where Tyler and I split a large breakfast (it was very large), and we were introduced to the bees of the area. Note: they may require a sacrifice to leave you alone at meal time!
From there, we walked around without much advance planning to see what we could find. Highlights include:
- Spielplatz Insel Lindenschanze (“spielplatz” means “playground” – one of the German words I picked up on the trip)
- Karlsbastion
- Ring for Peace
- Pulverturm and Pulverschanze
- Spielplatz an der Pulverschanze
We also stopped by REWE for an in-depth grocery haul, and were able to knock out most of our shopping there. Of course, we obviously had to grab a little treat on the walk back to the Airbnb for our afternoon rest – gelato from La Shazada was just the thing.
In the evening, we made our way back to the island for dinner at Cantinetta al Lago. I had the seafood risotto, which I shared with the baby girl – we both loved it. The boys each had a pizza, which was large enough for leftovers. We sat on the terrace and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset before heading back.
Day 3: Ferry to Bregenz
We crossed another country off our list! As I shared last week, we took a day trip to Bregenz, Austria because of how close it was to Lindau. In approximately 20 minutes, we were in a whole new country! I love that about Europe.
Our big Lindau stop for the day – outside of the ferry office – was Jean & Jacques Lindau. This little ice cream shop has excellent Google reviews, and considering they’ve been around for almost 100 years, they clearly know what they’re doing! We found that ice cream was surprisingly inexpensive on the island – it was less than $6 USD for three of us to get a single scoop cone – so we made sure to treat ourselves.
Day 4: Train to Friedrichshafen
Since Tyler had to spend the day working (I guess this was arguably a “bleisure” trip for him), I needed to figure out a plan for the rest of us. What we landed on as our chosen kid-friendly activity was the Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen – or as our son would call it, the blimp museum!
Getting there was an adventure on its own. I don’t have cell service abroad, and I don’t speak German, so I loaded up my map directions while I had wifi and hoped for the best. Fortunately, the three of us made it onto the train (with a little assistance from strangers with the stroller), and we made the 40-minute train ride to Friedrichshafen, Germany. From there, we walked to the museum.
I got a discount on my ticket for taking the train there, and neither kid required a ticket, so it was fairly inexpensive. The exhibits were very interactive, and it was honestly more interesting than I expected it to be. That being said, we weren’t allowed to eat inside the exhibit, and the museum restaurant was closed, so we ended up heading back – after a quick visit to the Buchhornbrunnen fountain – and eating a very late lunch at the Airbnb. Tyler had made a run out to EDEKA for more groceries, so we were well stocked.
Our evening went a little haywire, as we walked about twenty minutes to a restaurant to get dinner, only to find it unexpectedly closed. We were able to pivot quickly though, and ended up grabbing dinner at Hotel Landgasthof Köchlin. Their beer garden was really nice, albeit a little expensive, and we convinced our kiddo that his chicken schnitzel was really one big chicken nugget – so that was a win. We had quite a ways to get back to the Airbnb, but the pedestrian paths made for a nice walk home.
Day 5: Explore the Island, Part 2
We had already done the big stuff we wanted to accomplish, but it was nice to have this as a “down day,” where we could be a little more low-key. We got the opportunity to go back to the island, grab breakfast at Café Hugo – owned by the same folks as our Airbnb – and soak in some more sights. Some of the best ones were:
- Neuer Lindauer Leuchtturm – the only lighthouse in Bavaria, with a lot of stairs!
- Freie Uferstelle – Südliche Insel
- Shutzinger am see
- Ginger’s Café & Bar
- Lindauer Wissenspfad, Wissenspylon an der Spielbank
We spent the afternoon resting and packing up, though we did make a quick venture out for a “swim” in the nearby Kneipp-Anlage. Our son made a friend there, and his dad joked that they were speaking the universal language of Paw Patrol. It was a great way for us to wrap up our stay in Lindau, as we grabbed an early train the next morning.