Hello from Zurich! We have been having the loveliest time in both Germany and Switzerland, but one of the highlights of this vacation has definitely been the day trip we made to Bregenz, Austria. We had planned to do this all along, since Bregenz is very close to Lindau, Germany, where we stayed. It gave us the chance to cross another country off our visit list, so we figured, why not?
Much like when we took our day trip to Talinn, Estonia, last year, we knew we had to keep a tight schedule – especially with two small kids in tow. Fortunately, this time around, we didn’t have to spend nearly as long on the boat! We walked from our Airbnb in Lindau to the island and bought tickets to board the 10am BSB ferry from Lindau. It was only a ~20 minute ferry ride (though we could have taken the train in a similar amount of time), so we were docked before 10:30.
Our first stop was finding somewhere for food, as we’d eaten a light breakfast in the apartment. We landed on Café Götze, where we had a very nice selection of drinks and pastries. I ordered a vanilla frappe, which was more like a milkshake than I’d envisioned, but still very good!
We then made our way to the Pfänderbahn, after a quick side trip at a playground we stumbled upon. This mountain cable car takes you from Bregenz to the peak of Pfänder. Some people opt to hike one of the directions, but we bought roundtrip tickets (no hiking with the stroller). The cable car is very quick and smooth – much nicer than the cable car ride we had in Santorini – and had us to the top in no time. Our son, who is three now, overall enjoyed it.
Of course, he couldn’t enjoy anything as much as the very cool playground at the top. With a retired cable car, swings, and a longggg slide, there was nothing better for him – not even the view of Lake Constance could compete. We also checked out the Alpenwildpark, which is free to enter and had some animals I hadn’t seen before in real life. Who knew wild boards are kind of cute?
It was very chilly at the peak, so we were glad to have brought our jackets. It was much balmier after we made our way down! At that point, we were due for a late lunch. We ate on the terrace at Restaurant Kornmesser, which was gorgeous. They had an expansive menu selection, including for kids, though both Tyler and I opted to get the pork schnitzel. I had eaten it on our last trip to Germany, so I knew I liked it, but it was nice to revisit the dish.
After that, we headed back to the dock to catch our return ferry to Lindau, and made our way to the Airbnb! I couldn’t help but make a quick stop at Jean & Jacques Lindau for an ice cream cone on the way, just because, but more on that to come. 🙂
