Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
You can drive, walk or cycle to Mainau, 8km north of Konstanz. Take bus 4 from Kon-
stanz' train station or hop aboard a passenger ferry.
Reichenau Island
07534 / POP 3200
In AD 724 a missionary named Pirmin founded a Benedictine monastery on
Reichenau
(
www.reichenau.de
)
, a 4.5km-by-1.5km island (Lake Constance's largest) about 11km
west of Konstanz. During its heyday, from 820 to 1050, the so-called Reichenauer School
produced stunning illuminated manuscripts and vivid frescoes. Today, three surviving
churches provide silent testimony to Reichenau's Golden Age. Thanks to them, the island
was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2000.
Bring walking boots and binoculars, as this fertile isle of orchards and wineries is home
to
Wollmatinger Ried
(
www.nabu-wollmatingerried.de
)
, a marshy nature reserve whose
reed wetlands attract butterflies, migratory birds including kingfishers, grey herons and
cuckoos, and even the odd beaver.
A 2km-long tree-lined causeway connects the mainland with the island, which is served
by bus 7372 from Konstanz. The Konstanz-Schaffhausen and Konstanz- Radolfzell fer-
ries stop off at Reichenau.
Marienschlucht
Well worth the 15km trek north of Konstanz,
Marienschlucht
( daylight hrs)
is a deep
ravine wedged between the villages of Bodman and Wallhausen. A wooden staircase zig-
zags up through the chasm, past a babbling stream and 30m-high cliffs thick with lichen
and ferns. The top rewards you with snapshot views of Lake Constance through the beech
trees. Bear left to follow the trail along the ridge and back down to Wallhausen. There are
picnic areas and a kiosk en route, as well as pebbly bays for refreshing dips in the lake.
Coming from Konstanz, Wallhausen is the best place to access the gorge, either by bi-
cycle or bus 4 from the Hauptbahnhof (€2.30, 30 minutes). From Wallhausen it's a 3km
walk to Marienschlucht.
Meersburg
07532 / POP 5630
