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It was suggested to me to go to Germany during my stay in Switzerland. Is this an easy task? From St Gallen, would I get there by bus or train? Also, would this be better as an overnight trip or a day trip into the country? I am not bilingual; I assume enough people speak English over there for me to get by? Thank you for your time.
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Hello Fulton,
Germany is a very big country and English will not be a problem. But where in particular did you plan to go and why?
From St Gallen you can catch a train to Konstanz and your are in Germany. From there you could catch a train through the Black Forest to Offenburg or take a cruise up the Rhine River to Schaffhausen.
You can catch a train to Rorschach in Swiitzerland and take a ferry across the Bodensee to Lindau and be in Germany.
There are many options.
Hi Fulton,
It is easy to get to some towns in Germany from St. Gallen – it is quite close to the border. But it depends on where you were told you should go. Munich isn’t too far for example. You could even take a bus if you wanted to Neuschwanstein castle (via Munich) if you wanted.
What are you hoping to see/do there? English is almost as good as Switzerland there, especially in larger cities and/or tourist areas.
Thank you for your responses.
I don’t know much about Germany and don’t know what towns to visit. I’d like to do a day trip and experience the culture, museums, etc.
Just take a day trip to Konstanz. A very nice old University town on the shores of the Bodensee. Google it.
We’re getting off topic for MySwissAlps! But Munich could work well for you.
It is the capital of Bavaria (to me real, typical German culture – think beer and pretzels!) and visit some of the beer halls it is famous for. There are also some great museums. Look at FlixBus to get you there cheaply in about 3 hours from St. Gallen.
Thank you all for your suggestions. I will definitely take them into consideration.
Hi Fulton,
The good thing about Konstanz is that even though it is in Germany there is an SBB station there and you can still get there with your Swiss Travel Pass. You may have to change trains at Kreuzlingen which is one stop away on the Swiss side of the border.
I made a comment yesterday and see that it is not here. No idea why. I have to rush right now so will be very brief. My suggestion was that if you are going to Konstanz you might want to consider visiting Insel Minau which is a very short city bus ride away. Here is their website: http://www.mainau.de/de/ It is also available in English and French (choose your preferred language at top right of their home page). My question was that I have no idea when this trip is being made. Is it this Winter or sometime in 2018 ? I repeat this now because Minau is much more interesting during the warmer months. Also, if you are there on a clear day, you will have a clear view over to the Säntis, the highest mountain in Eastern Switzerland, so there is a connection to the Swiss Alps.
August 2018 is when my trip is planned. Thank you!
Aha, not until August of next year. In that case Insel Mainau will be a wonderful place to visit. Attached is a map that shows how close it is to the railway station and the time it takes to make the bus ride. The second map (attached) shows how easy it is to get from Saint Gallen to Konstanz.
The Butterfly House at Minau is amazing. Like entering the Amazon jungle.
Or you can take a ferry over to Friedrichshafen and go for a ride in a Zeppelin! http://www.zeppelinflug.de/en /
Yes, the Butterfly House is amazing. Your camera lens and glasses (if you wear them ) will fog up.
There are a number of boats that ply the Bodensee. Here is the website of die Bodensee Schifffahrt: http://www.bsb.de/en/timetabl e-one.html
Attached is a map of their “ports of call” which is on their website (German and English).
If you have a clear day, I too recommend a flight in a Zeppelin. When I was visiting Mainau, a Zeppelin buzzed over the island sever times. Imagine the view of the Eastern Swiss Alps from up in the air ! Check out the Friedrichshafen Zeppelin website: zeppelin-nt.de/en/Zeppelin-flights/scenic-flights-Friedrichshafen.html
Attachments:Hi all
All this information about Mainau has been very useful as it was on my list of places to research for next year – a friend had recommended it to us as a really beautiful and interesting place to visit. So thank you for the links etc. You have saved me some research time!
Maggie
Attached is a map showing the four circuits taken by the Zeppelins. The blue line indicates the one that flies over the Insel Mainau. The orange line the one that flies over the Bodensee as far as Saint Gallen and then returns to Friedrichshafen. A warning however, these flights are not inexpensive ! More expensive per person than my three weeks of a car rental !
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Hi Fulton-
You have lots of excellent suggestions about how to visit parts of Germany.
I’ll take a differnt approach. Why not visit a different part of Switzerland? There is a wide range of cultures and scenery. And, the old towns are old.. Not rebuilt after WWII.
How much time do you have? When will you travel?
Also. as i have looked again at your original question, I believe this map might be helpful to see how close Germany is to Skt. Gallen.
map.search.ch/?pos=762816,269504&z=4
Zoom in enough, and you can see train lines.
Slowpoke
My trip is going to be an interesting one. I will be in St Gallen for 2 weeks, next summer. My main objective is to visit with the 7 boys (and their families) my husband and I hosted last year. That being said, I’m certain they don’t know their schedules so far in advance so my schedule will need to be quite flexible. I’m flying by the seat of my pants as they say.
I’ve already purchased a Swiss Travel Pass. This will be the trip of a lifetime so traveling within Switzerland is also at the top of my list. I’m also very much a safety girl so I don’t want to walk down any dark allies. Planning and preparation are important to me.
Seeing culture, museums, and getting to know the people would be wonderful. I will definitely have to look into that one.
I appreciate all the suggestions! I will definitely take each one into consideration. Thank you all for your help.
Hi Fulton –
<<“This will be the trip of a lifetime so traveling within Switzerland
is also at the top of my list. I’m also very much a safety girl so I
don’t want to walk down any dark allies. Planning and preparation are
important to me. Seeing culture, museums, and getting to know the people would be wonderful.”>>
Did anyone refer you to this link and, especially, the several links on those pages?
http://www.myswissalps.com/ge ttingstarted
An easy and interesting trip from the St. Gall region is Altes Bad Pfäffers and the Tamina Schlucht.
Most of the web sites about it are in German, unfortunately;
http://www.altes-bad-pfaefers.ch/
http://www.altes-bad-pfaefers.ch/oeffnungsz eiten.html
This one in English is brief but useful:
http://www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/tamina-gorge-monastic-spa-and-wonder-of-nature.html
Luckily, Switzerland Mobility ( Schweiz Mobil) the site for all things related to personal transportation, has one of their characteristically detailed pages about it:
The main Schweizmobil web site is terrific for planning hiking, biking, canoeing………and, you can get it in English.
It has lots of such detailed information pages. I always have trouble finding my way to them, so you’re in luck.
Follow all the links and arrows on that descriptive page about the baths. You can learn a lot.
We’ve been twice. Timed our train trip to arrive at Bad Ragaz station just in time to catch the small bus that gets in there to the restaurant at about lunch time. Good kitchen; atmospheric restaurant. After lunch, we walked a few meters to the “Schlucht” and walked in on the easy and well lighted trail. Then, we have walked downhill back to Bad Ragaz, a few easy kilometers along the road.
Lots of explanatory signs about the history of the baths and the Schlucht; I can’t recall if they were in English, but take one of your friends and they can translate, if you don’t read German.
By the way, what country are you from; I note that you do not speak French, German or Italian?
In the general area of Bad Ragaz is the Ostschweiz ( East Switzerland) wine region, called “die Bündner Herrschaft.” Nice to visit in August, although it can be hot. In September, harvest season, it is a mad house.
I’ve attached a couple of pictures that I had easily accessible showing some of the eastern Swiss region.
The ones of the Untersee ( near Ermatingen) were taken not too far from Stein-am -Rhein.
http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/stein-am-rhein
http://www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/stein-am-rhein.html
Stein is nice, very very touristy, don’t go on a weekend. Try to have lunch in the castle above the town.
Check out Ebenalp, reachable via Apenzell;. Both of those are good day trip destinations.
By the way, St Gall is both a city and a canton.
The canton has extensive reach, as far as Rapperswil on the Zürichsee ( Lake Zürich). Do you know where you will be staying? Close to the city, or in a village within the canton?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Rapperswil
The splash page of that Wiki link for Rapperswil has a nice aerial view, showing the land bridge crossing the lake, with the boardwalk through the nature preserve visible. Rapperswill is in Canton St. Gall. Tye other ( southwestern shore of the lake is in Canton Zürich
I like to stay in the area and walk on that boardwalk. Sometimes, I stay in Hurden for my jet lag recovery day or days.The Way of St. James ( der Jakobsweg) passes through there. I’ve attached a couple of pictures.
If you really want to learn about Swiss culture, you may find this interesting:
direct-democracy.geschichte-schweiz.ch/
Finally, although I linked you to Mapsearch.ch in my earlier post for the geography, you will use the timetable if you travel anywhere in Switzerland.
Be sure to read the explanatory page here:
http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable
Slowpoke
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Hi Fulton:
<<“I don’t know much about Germany and don’t know what towns to visit. I’d
like to do a day trip and experience the culture, museums, etc.”>>
The culture, architecture, dialects all around the Bodensee (Lake Constance) are very similar, derived from the same Swabian culture. In fact, Lake Constance is sometimes called the Swabian See. A short day trip won’t expose you to much of anything that is very different from that region of Switzerland.
http://www.britannica.com/pla ce/Swabia
If you want something different, go in the opposite direction. Try the French-speaking region of Switzerland.
Geneva is 3 hours and 53 minutes away by fast trains once per hour, with intermediate trains taking 4 hrs or hrs 3 to 6 minutes. Montreux is 3 hours 45 minutes. The closest city in the French-speaking region by main-line train is probably Fribourg/Freiburg. Most of the city is “French” but the old town down by the river still retains German signs and some German spoken language. It is right on the language border., so it has two names.
Fribourg is 2 hours 30 minutes by train with no changes, every hour at at xx25.
Neuchatel is another option……shortest trip is 2 hours and 36 minutes.
http://www.neuchateltourisme. ch/en/
http://www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/neuenburg-neuchatel.html
Italain culture –
Canton Ticino , the Italian-speaking canton, is sort of like a neatened up Italy.
It is also quite different from the Swabian region, and the trip to Lugano is a bit over 3 hours. We like Locarno, with similar travel times.
Slowpoke
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