Bregenz, Austria: A love affair with Lake Constance
Looking at the map spread over her coffee table, sat cross legged in a yoga position she looked to her boyfriend who was busy looking at the football scores on his iPhone.
The beautiful Constance said “we are going”.
“Where” came the reply,
“to a place called Bregenz on Lake Constance in Austria” she replied
A suitable retort of wonderful male enthusiasm came back “Oh” and then sort of waking up from his slumber with “Why”
Well Constance by this time, being in full female awaking retorted “because it says it’s beautiful, refined, elegant and cultured and I feel I need all of this!!”
…….A wonderful picture of a blissful relationship… I jest…..!!
(Each year millions choose to take a short break. Bregenz and the Vorarlberg region is perfect for such an occasion)
“Why” the boyfriend says, looking for hard concrete fact.
Out pops more information from a budding and energetic Constance
“Gentlemans Butler says it’s easy to get to, compact, beautiful, relaxing, different, well organised, has excellent food and yes it may just surprise you”
So Constance in full organising mode and thrilled to be visiting an area with her name decided that her boyfriend and one of her best friends who had recently hooked up with a new man in her life would book a weekend away for some fresh air, good food, culture and oh yes might even get a little shopping in!!
Gentlemans Butler or THE BUTLER to those more familiar , says any time of year will offer a variety of options but the safest bet is to visit from early Spring to late Autumn.
1. Finish work, travel to London Heathrow, flying time about 1 hour 20 to Zurich
BA 8769 Friday 18:35 arrives Zurich 21:10
2. Pickup hire car 2200 or take taxi
3. Drive to Bregenz (very easy drive, most of it on a motorway) allow 1 hour 20 minutes
4. We suggest you stay at Hotel am See and in a village/town called Hard which is 10 minutes easy drive from Bregenz.
THE BUTLER: To my mind it represents the best of a modern Austria. Typically well organised and well designed, in some way it’s a mix of Swedish, Italian and German but I am sure the Austrians would say quite rightly and proudly “its Austrian”. Stone, floors, white contemporary designs, sleek ergonomics and lots of wood but not overdone and not log cabin in style. I arrived tired, not from the trip but just from life, and the hotel manager Carmen who I can genuinely say has a real aptitude for running hotels welcomed us with some lovely snacks, all homemade and including some strudel. If you’re on a diet there are plenty of mountains to run up and down!! And if you are an environmental supporter well you’re in luck, as so is the hotel.
So Constance, her boyfriend and their friends “The Couple” are all checked into their rooms.
My advice to them and you is to get and early night, but before you do spare a thought for some good Austrian Hospitality.
There is a small bar area downstairs so I suggest you wander down and order four good Austrian beers, yes Constance no wine for the moment! Have a chat to the staff who are friendly, young and enthusiastic, then retire to have a good sleep and enjoy the country air. If you catch Carmen, the hotel manager she may well give you a little more information about the area which might go something like this…..
The town of Hard on Lake Constance, with its 12,500 inhabitants, lies just a few minutes by car from the Swiss border. Surrounded by 2,000 hectares of protected nature reserves, Hard is one of the few places on Lake Constance that can offer undeveloped, public and direct access to the lake shore and protected bays where you can commune with nature at any season of the year. In its natural harbour one finds the Hohentwiel, which the trade press has described as ‘the best restored steamship in Europe’ a historic paddle steamer built in 1919 and the oldest passenger ship on Lake Constance. It is not only via the lake, however, that Hard and the neighbouring regions of Vorarlberg can be discovered.
The well constructed cycle paths around the lake offer the opportunity to put together a number of beautiful tours. Three cycle trails pass through Hard the Hard Circular Way through the nature reserve, the Rhine Valley Way to Feldkirch and the Lake Constance Cycle Way along the beautiful lakeshore past Schleienloch. The classic of all the tours is the 268 km circuit of the entire lake. The neighbouring cultural and provincial capital, Bregenz, is only a few minutes away. In addition to the strong public magnet of the Bregenz Festival, a large number of other institutions among them the Bregenz Art House, the theatre and international galleries and festivals bring to the town their own particular charms and make worthwhile targets for an excursion. In the immediate vicinity of Hard there are also countless large skiing and walking areas in Vorarlberg; the views from the Pfänder mountain just outside Bregenz, for instance, extend way across the Alps and, in good weather, as far as the city of Constance, close to the other end of the lake.
Those looking for sporting activities will find a broad selection of activities in Hard all year round: the Kneipp Centre on the Dorfbach stream, a fitness course, a lakeside swimming pool, tennis courts, sailing and powerboat schools, an ice rink, a curling sheet, a naturist beach, a bowling alley (8 lanes and suitable for international tournaments), and a mini golf course to name but a few.
5. Saturday morning wake and head down to breakfast which is a good twist of offerings, mainly of the healthy variety. For me their coffee and scrambled eggs were top notch and some excellent fresh breads. By this stage Constance who woke early and brimming with enthusiasm, that’s because she is a morning person and her boyfriend not …mmm oh well !!! and their partners in crime are there waiting to hear the order of play (cricketing term …) well surprise surprise Constance has one…For Constance this is just child’s play she can multi task, tweet, read the paper and have a conversation all at the same time…. get the picture…makes us mortal men feel quite inferior!! OH WELL…
To try to wake the boys up and engage their brains beyond being glued to their FotMob (dream app for football lovers) Constance has decided to organise a bit of exercise and then visit a museum which is not only highly surprising in its geography but can rightly be said to be a worlds first… The Rolls Royce Museum….. The countryside is stunning and only takes a few minutes drive to be enjoying mountain rivers, low lying alpine pastures and beautiful vistas.
Drive from Hard to The Rolls Royce Museum in Dornbirn
which will take about 25 minutes
We suggest you park the car at the museum and head out for a walk in the nearby Rappenlochschlucht region which as you can see has some stunning countryside.
Return and enjoy a mid-morning rest and then have a wander around what can only be described as unique collection of the finest Rolls Royce cars collected from around the world, including many amazing motoring accessories and cars from the English Royal Family and the Rolls Royce used in the famous film epic Lawrence of Arabia.
6. For lunch stay local, try the The Restaurant Gütle next to the museum…
7. By this time the boys have woken up, are all chatty and dreaming up schemes…well the afternoon is girls time…. so boys enjoy!!
Drive 25 minute from The Rolls Royce Museum to Bregenz
8. Girls Time: With a few hours to spare you can very easily have a profitable wander through the streets of Bregenz. With the region’s history in textile, lace and crafts you will certainly find some beautiful shops but we have pointed out two, one large multi-national company and the other a local small high end design focused shop. By the way if the boys are starting to huff there is plenty of sport based activities along the shores of the lake. Have a look at Strolz Leuchten
which retail and make bespoke lampshades and lights. It’s modern and chic and run by a charming lady called Anna Claudia, and you will be supporting a local business. Bregenz is the home to the world famous hosiery and lingerie maker Wolford. Not only do they have their factory there but a very large boutique selling all their lines. Interestingly Wolford has recently worked with Mario Testino for their latest photography.
I should also mention they sell a range of mens socks which Gentlemans Butler is a huge fan of as Wolford are super soft, comfortable and also last a very long time.
9. Drive back to the hotel, change for dinner, possibly wearing some of your afternoon purchases, but maybe not the lampshades!!
We suggest you take a taxi the short drive from the hotel to Bregenz where you can take the Hohentwiel an elegant steamship from a bygone age, where you can go for a lovely time on the lake, having dinner and being escorted right back to the world famous Bregenzer Festspiele
10. During the Bregenz Festival your evening should definitely include The Opera, which we will expand upon greatly next week. What I will say is even if you are not a connoisseur of Opera, you will for sure take away a great experience. I saw The Magic Flute and really speak very little German but the clever audio dynamics, meaning the sound moves across the stage giving the feeling of movement and geography as well as the imaginative use of set which uses the lake to its fullest makes for a fully interactive experience.
11. Sunday morning go for a walk or a cycle (bikes you can hire from the hotel) and the hotel is just 2 minutes walk from the lake.
12. Drive into Bregenz which has a good array of underground car parks, positioned right in the middle of the town.
13. 0930 – 1030 Pfänder Cable Car in Bregenz. We suggest you stop at top and have a coffee or hot chocolate.
14. Tour 1030 – 1230 then it’s into town to have a wonderful private guided tour of the old town.
I will not spoil the surprise too much but I am sure you will be told about the baroque architecture,
the textile history, its Scottish connections through a gentleman called Norman Douglas. You will walk past buildings dating back to the 1650’s, which I was told was originally a cheese trader. Bregenz is more than 2000 years old and is one of the oldest on the lake, partly due to its important harbour. The wonderful old muriels and The Martinsturm is just stunning, so old, beautiful and calming. It also has some wonderful archives and history from the area.
15. 1230 – 1330 for lunch. There are multiple options but we suggest the Restaurant Kornmesser in Bregenz which if you have not tried a Viele Schnitzel, theirs are super tasty.
16. 1330 – 1500 After your lunch head next door to first the Kunsthaus.
This modern art space is a must. You can spend twenty minutes or several hours and to some degree the building is just as much a part of your experience as the exhibits themselves, but as you would expect these are constantly changing.
After this walk into The Vorarlberg Museum next door where you will find wonderful creative spaces including a black room with a big glass window looking over the lake, meant for visitors just to enjoy.
In addition the museum has a key educational slant and catalogues the region’s history both old and modern. When I was there they had an exhibition using some wonderfully creative use of video interviews.
17. Leave the hotel 1540, drop off car at Zurich Airport 1700
18. Sun,24 August 18:20 Zurich ZRH 18:55 London LCY British Airways 8768
19. Leave Heathrow 1940, arrive home 2040 late dinner, DVD film and in bed by 11pm