Amazing Austria – A Short Trip to Beautiful Vorarlberg

This August, I decided to visit my Austrian family for a long weekend. After a short Ryanair flight from Stansted to Memmingen (near Munich), we arrived in Austrian Vorarlberg after a swift 50 minutes’ car journey. We passed the lovely German town of Lindau and Austrian Bregenz, both situated along the picturesque Lake of Constance (Bodensee) which was teaming with sailing boats and people swimming in the warm waters.

During our stay, we visited the scenic county capital of Bregenz, famous for its annual ‘Festival on the Lake’ attracting hundreds of visitors from all over the world. This summer, Bizet’s opera Carmen was on the programme for a period of two weeks. We admired the very modern, impressive stage before we relaxed in the ‘Beach Bar’, a popular open air bar, complete with artificial sand, palm trees and deck chairs. My daughter then fancied a pedalo trip on the lake which was great fun!

The following day, my family decided that, whilst in Austria, we should do some hiking! So off we went to visit a very impressive gorge called ‘Rappenloch Schlucht’ in nearby Dornbirn. After a couple of hours of easy hiking on shady paths and tackling hundreds of steps and twists and turns, we finally reached the top of the gorge and were rewarded with fantastic views, waterfalls and a deserved ice cold beer and meat platter, served up in a little mountain hut.

Vorarlberg is ideal for cycling holidays with all the family, as the whole country is covered by well maintained and connected bike paths, away from traffic, leading cyclists across beautiful landscapes, surrounded by majestic mountains, across wheat fields or along the River Rhine, where you can cross the border to Switzerland and Liechtenstein within a mere 15 minutes.

We really enjoyed our whistle stop tour to Vorarlberg, the most Western part of Austria, where us ladies also managed to squeeze in some shopping in numerous excellent boutiques and sports shops in Dornbirn, Bregenz and Feldkirch (which comes with a historic castle dating back to the Habsburg Monarchy and which is famous for its gigantic Wiener Schnitzels).

So if you are tempted to visit this little Austrian jewel, then please let me find the perfect break for you, too!