Bodensee-Radweg (Lake Constance Cycle Path)

Tarmac cycle path through meadows near Lindau, with a Zeppelin in the sky

Photo: Andreas Lippold, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Distance
about 263 km (163 miles)
Countries
Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Difficulty
Easy
Type of trip
Cycling route

The Bodensee-Radweg goes right round Lake Constance, through Germany, Austria and Switzerland. There's no fixed start, but Konstanz, Friedrichshafen and Bregenz all have trains, and most people ride it clockwise. Wikivoyage splits the loop into five days of roughly 45 to 60 km and suggests about a week, or three or four days if you're fit. You sleep in hotels and guesthouses in the towns round the lake. There's nothing to book for the route itself, but lakeside towns are often full in high season, and Switzerland costs more, so Wikivoyage suggests planning your nights on the German and Austrian shores.

It's almost all tarmac, with some fine gravel near Mainau, and mostly flat. The only proper climb is on the Bodanrück, north of Konstanz. The path through the Marienschlucht gorge is for walkers only, so bikes go up about 150 m over the ridge from Wallhausen and down to Bodman. The ADFC gave the route four stars out of five in 2016. The signs are less even. All three countries use the same logo, a cyclist with a blue back wheel, but the green-on-white German signs are easy to miss and the short Austrian stretch is worse. In Switzerland you follow the red signs of national route 2, the Rhine Route, from Rheineck to Stein am Rhein. It isn't all quiet lakeside path. Between Ludwigshafen and Überlingen, and between Allensbach and Konstanz, it runs beside noisy main roads, and on holiday weekends the path gets crowded.

Highlights along the way

  1. Mainau: The flower island is about 9 km from Konstanz. You leave the bike on the shore, as it's foot access only, and there's an entry charge.
  2. Unteruhldingen and Meersburg: Unteruhldingen has the Pfahlbau museum of pile dwellings. Meersburg, 5 km on, has an old town and castles, and the car ferry across to Konstanz.
  3. Friedrichshafen: The Zeppelin Museum is on the lakefront, and the ferry to Romanshorn in Switzerland lets you cut the loop short.
  4. Lindau and Bregenz: Lindau's old town is on an island in the lake. Bregenz, about 10 km further on, has a lakeside promenade, the festival stage and a cable car up the Pfänder.
  5. Stein am Rhein and Reichenau: Stein am Rhein has an old town with Burg Hohenklingen above it. On the way back to Konstanz you can reach Reichenau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its monastery, by causeway or by ferry from Allensbach.

Distance

About 263 km (163 miles) all the way round, the ADFC figure given by German Wikipedia, with about 1,163 m of climbing. Wikivoyage gives anything from 183 to 298 km (114 to 185 miles), depending on which variants and ferries you use. The Wallhausen to Überlingen passenger ferry saves 35 km (22 miles) and the Bodanrück climb, and the Konstanz to Meersburg car ferry saves 54 km (34 miles).

Best time to go

The official site says May and June are the best months, warm but not yet hot. The season starts at Easter, the orchards blossom from mid-April and the path is often quiet in spring. From late July to early September, during the southern German school holidays, it's at its busiest, and long weekends such as Ascension, Whitsun and Corpus Christi can be busy too, so book beds early. From mid-September it gets quieter, and fog is common from mid-October. The lake's passenger boats, the Weiße Flotte, finish around 15 October. The official site says the cycling season winds down in early November. As of 3 November 2026 the official site, bodensee-radweg.com, had no page of diversions, so ask the local tourist offices about roadworks before you go.

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