Lake Constance Bicycle Path (Upscale Lodging)
6 nights from €1079
3.67Many of our clients have asked for an upscale lodging option around Lake Constance. We're pleased to introduce Lake Constance Bicycle Path: Upscale Lodging, which stays in the top hotels in each overnight stop along the way, primarily 4- and 5-star hotels in town centers.
Bicycle touring around Lake Constance is a very special experience. You will pass vineyards, fruit orchards, and picturesque villages and landscapes. Time and again, you will enjoy the breathtaking view of the expansive water surface of Lake Constance and the Alps, which arises behind the southern shores.
This is one of the most popular routes in Europe, and this package includes upscale hotel options. You'll enjoy cycling on dedicated bike paths or quiet side streets on this tour around the lake, and come home each night to your 4- and 5-star accommodation.
Daily Program
Day 1: Constance
Arrive in Constance and check into your hotel. Inspired by late classicism and neo-renaissance architecture, the hotel was first opened in 1874. After the bike fitting and tour briefing, take time to visit the island of Mainau or the convent on Reichenau island.
Day 2: Constance –Stein am Rhein region/Schaffhausen
19-31 mi/30-50 km
Today you will cycle along the Lower Lake to the picturesque village of Gottlieben. The architecture of this former fishing village is really impressive and is one of the nicest in the area. The Drachenburg castle and the Waaghaus are worth a visit too. The Waaghaus, a Gothic building in the Old Town, was originally a weighing house but is now a puppet theatre. Cycle on to the famous Rhine Falls. In the summer, roughly 600,000 liters of water per second crash over Europe’s biggest waterfall.
Day 3: Stein am Rhein region/Schaffhausen – Bodman-Ludwigshafen region
25-40 mi/40-65 km
Make sure you spend some time in Stein before beginning to cycle – it's one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Switzerland and worth taking the time to explore. From Stein am Rhein you continue your journey across the Höri Peninsula to Radolfzell, home to the fantastic Radolfzell Basilica and the "Austrian Castle“, both absolute must-sees for any visitor!
Day 4: Bodman-Ludwigshafen region – Friedrichshafen/Lindau
25-43 mi/40-70km
Your first stop today is the stunning Birnau Conven and then it's on to Unteruhldingen, famous for its pre-historic stilt houses which are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Continue on through the fishing and viticultural village of Hagnau.
From here the Lake Constance bike trail leads you to Friedrichshafen, also known as the Zeppelin city. For those interested in this early form of aviation, a trip to the Zeppelin Museum is highly recommended. If not, then perhaps enjoy a stroll along the lakeside promenade, or head up to the lookout point (72ft/22m) and enjoy a majestic view of the Alps!
As you continue on your loop of Lake Constance, you'll cycle through the most important nature reserve on the north shore: Eriskircher Ried. Once out the other side, your path leads along the lakeshore to Lindau. This stage can be shortened by 21km if you opt for a train transfer (ticket not included).
Day 5: Friedrichshafen/Lindau – Bregenz region/Swiss Shore
19-43 mi/30-70 km
The old town of Lindau, which is located on an island on the lake, the lighthouse with lions (Lindau's landmark), and the town hall shouldn't be missed. From Lindau, pedal to Bregenz, capital of the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. Parts of the James Bond movie “Quantum of Solace” were filmed at the festival here in Bregenz. Make sure you explore the old town before moving on.
Crossing the Rhine Delta you then reach the old harbor town of Rorschach, where you can visit one of Switzerland’s beautiful corn houses that includes a museum. From here, continue along Lake Constance until you reach the pleasant village of Horn.
Day 6: Bregenz region/Swiss Shore – Constance
19-40mi/30-65 km
On your last day of cycling, you pedal through the canton of Thurgau passing many beautiful, small villages on the way to Romanshorn. After Romanshorn, continue to cycle on the bike trail back to Constance thus completing your loop of the Lake. Enjoy a final night's stay here. This stage can be shortened by 21km if you opt for a train transfer (ticket not included).
Day 7: Constance
After breakfast, you may return home or extend your stay.
Hotels
These are sample hotels and may vary based on availability.
Steigenberger Inselhotel, Constance
www.steigenberger.com
Best Western Bahnhof, Schaffhausen
www.bestwestern.ch
Hotel Adler, Bodman
www.seehotel-adler.de
Seehotel, Friedrichshafen
www.seehotelfn.de
Hotel Germania, Bregenz
www.hotel-germania.at
Please note any city or visitor's taxes are not included in the tour costs.
Interested in visiting other areas before or after your tour? Visit our hotels page to learn more about lodging options.
Bikes
Bikes available to be rented (in advance at the time of booking) include:
- Standard touring bike, 21- or 24-speed
- Electrically assisted bike*
*More about electrically-assisted bikes >
All above bike rentals will be equipped with the following at no additional charge:
- 1 Saddlebag per bike and 1 handlebar bag per room
- Cycle computer
- Repair kit (one per group)
- Lock (one per 2 bikes)
Additional equipment available upon request:
- A second saddle bar or a second handle bar bag
Helmets:
Please plan to bring your own helmet for safety and hygiene purposes. Helmet rental is not available on this tour.
Dates
Not being offered in 2024.
Prices
Tour package
| Season 1 | Season 2 | |
| Per person, double occupancy | €1229 | €1618 |
| Single use room (1 person/1 room) | €1949 | €2338 |
Bike Rentals
| Standard touring bike, 24-speed | €99 |
| Electrically assisted bike | €229 |
Extra nights, Constance
| Per person, double occupancy | On request |
| Single room (1 person/1 room) | On request |
Discounts
| Children, ages 0-4 sharing a room with two full-paying adults (on base package price) | 100% |
| Children, ages 5-13 sharing a room with two full-paying adults (on base package price) | 25% |
| Third person in room, ages 14+ sharing a room with two full-paying adults (on base package price) | 10% |
Included services
- 6 nights accommodations in centrally located hotels with 4-star-level or higher
- Breakfasts (mostly buffet)
- Luggage transfer from hotel to hotel (unlimited number of luggage pieces)
- Detailed information with maps, route descriptions, sightseeing recommendations
- Bike protection (if rental bike is booked)
- Trip by famous cable car Pfänderbahn Bregenz (bike not included)
- Admission to the Lindwurm Museum in Stein am Rhein
- Admission and tour of the pile-dwelling museum in Unteruhldingen
- Service hotline available in case of problems or questions
- GPS data is available on request
Please note any city or visitor's taxes are not included in the tour costs. These should be paid directly to hotel reception.
Surface and terrain
The Lake Constance cycle path runs mainly on cycle paths or on quiet side-streets, which are mostly paved. The larger part of the route leads you in close proximity along the lakeshore and is signposted throughout.
How to get there
Tour start and end
Nearest airport: Zurich (ZRH)
Nearest train station: Constance (Konstanz)
Trains run frequently between Constance and Zurich. It's about 50 minutes between the Zurich airport and Constance and 65 minutes between downtown Zurich and Konstanz.
Tips for getting to and from your tour
Reviews
- ★★★★★ Erik Coats
Great place to cycle
Lake Constance is beautiful and the cycling is great. 80% of the trip is on paved hike/bike paths, with about 10% on unpaved paths and 10% on regular roads (shared with cars). You should pay for the GPS aps on your phone to navigate as the maps and written directions are often insufficient. Most of the hotels were in lovely cities, but the spacing out was inconsistent, leading to some very short days of cycling and some very long days. Most days were short enough to give you time to explore the cities you're passing through and staying in. We had a couple issue and were able to reach the tour company for support, which is appreciated.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2023
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- ★★★★★ Sandy Anderson
Lake Constance Upscale
This trip was good overall, yet we made a mistake by choosing Upscale Lodging because most of the hotels were not in the old towns, and we had to go through the city at rush hour with unclear directions. We would have preferred staying along the river in the old towns. Upscale lodging was not necessary.
Secondly, the KaMOOT app that we bought and tried to use was a disaster. It lead you along any trail that came up...whether it was for hikers, or a dog path, so we were constantly rerouting on the first day, until we gave up on it and used the written guide.
The bikepaths were wonderful and scenic and we loved that part of the ride.- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens, Families with young kids
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- ★★★★★ William McGill II
Lake Constance Up Scale Lodging- +’s and -‘s
We enjoyed the scenery, weather, bikes and the people we met on the trail. The local bike company provided maps and directions were lacking organization, accuracy and specific detail for our trip. As an example they did not include directions to the route from the starting hotel nor to the ending hotel. One of the “upscale”hotels was far from the lake in an area with undeveloped, unkempt grass like a vacant lot. Only after painful and time consuming negotiation did the local bike company agree to deliver the bikes to our starting hotel. We previously took a Danube and Mosel upscale lodging bike tours and received great customer service from the local bike companies. I recommend that until the local company selling this tour significantly improves its customer service Bike Tours stop selling this tour.
- ★★★★★ Mychelle
Do Your Research
My husband and I did the Lake Constance Self Guided bike tour. When we arrived at our hotel we dropped off our bags and we took a taxi to the bike company to pick up our bikes (per our instructions). We were greeted by a man that spoke only German. The maps and instruction he gave us were not clear (some of them were in German as well). The monitor on the bike was not in English (he got a translator over the phone to help him change it). I had upload the suggested Bike app on my phone ahead of time with the trail map but it would not work once we arrived. The first 24 hours of our trip did not go smooth (prior to our ride). I ended up going to the Visitor's Center in town and found someone that spoke English to walk me through the route. I got a much better trail map from them as well. Once we got through the hump of what we felt was very poor planning on the part of this company everything else went well. The hotels were wonderful, the bike trail was breathtaking, the weather was mostly sunny (a little rain) and the trail is well marked. I emailed this company during our trip to let them know about our problems and they were little help.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists, Families with young kids, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
BikeTours.com staff reply from Chloe
Thanks, Mychelle, for your review and for taking the time to chat with us directly. We appreciate your details about the communication, language, app, and instructions. We understand this made your first 24 hours less than ideal. We will work with the tour operator to improve the experience for future clients as well as consider how we may better prepare clients for their tour. Thanks again for your feedback, we're overjoyed to know the hotels were wonderful, the path was well-marked, and the trails were breathtaking.
- ★★★★★ Lovetotravel
Lovely Tour
We arrived in Bavaria in the midst of a heatwave, which made the trip a little more challenging, but overall, was still enjoyable. Scenery was beautiful - while the tour is not always hugging the lake, the meadows, valleys and villages were quite lovely. There are some pretty steep hills on this trip, so if you're looking for a flat ride throughout, this is not it. The tour also went around some key towns (eg instead of riding thru Lindau, it took us thru an industrial area behind the town) - so room for improvement there. The hotels were quite lovely and I'm glad we chose the upscale lodging. Two had a/c which was welcomed after a day of riding in 35C+ heat. Again, the trails were beautiful, and had it not been so hot, we would have appreciated it even more. The bikes were in good shape and rode smoothly throughout (although my husband's gears started slipping midway). The villages and towns that we rode through and also stayed in were very charming and gave you a taste of Bavaria. In terms of navigation - this is a pro and a con - get the Kamoot app! If we had just used the physical maps, it would have been a challenge as there are many twists and turns that are easy to miss. The app got us there easily (and you can download prior so you don't have to use data). The only thing it doesn't help with is getting to your hotel - so that's where google came in. Also, the guide that has all scenery tips, history and dining/shopping tips is only in German - so you have to wing it on your own. The start of the tour was a little confusing - no one to greet you and no one communicated that our trip guide was actually at the hotel. We cabbed it to the Velotours office...twice! First to enquire about the trip itself and second to actually get the bikes. They need better communication to help get folks on their way. With all that said, we would do this again in a heartbeat (and in cooler weather!).
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
BikeTours.com staff reply from Chloe
Thanks kindly for the review - so glad you enjoyed your tour despite the heat. We love the suggestion about the Kamoot app, clients are often looking for a way to simplify navigation. Thanks additionally for the feedback about the operator and on-tour documentation. We'll work with the operator to improve this aspect.
- ★★★★★ pmr52
- What was the date of your tour?
- 24 june - 1 july
- How many tours have you completed?
- 7
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
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