The town of Überlingen

As a long-term resident, I definitely agree. Überlingen is a town of about 21000 people on the north-west shore of the Bodensee (lake Constance). For those new to the area, or just visiting, here are some highlights to life in and around Überlingen from an expat's perspective:-

Promenade: the longest on the entire Bodensee. At its best when the Föhn blows, a warm dry wind which comes across the mountains making the air incredibly clear. On these occasions, the Alps stretch behind the lake in an immense panorama from the Zugspitze to the peaks of the Berneroberland. Along the promenade and within a short walk of the lake approximately 50 restaurants and cafes to be found including German, Italian, Greek, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Mexican, amongst others.

Bodensee-Therme: a world-class thermal bath complex. Swimming pool (28 deg. C), whirlpool (37 deg. C), indoor/outdoor thermal pools (37C/33C), wellness area with 4 more pools (37C to 13C). Saunas - Finnish (85C), Herb (70C), Japanese (70C), Japanese steam bath (50C), regular steam bath (50C). Open year round. In winter, escape the cold, by relaxing in the warm outside pool as the snow falls. In summer, there's always the lake itself. The entire complex was built just a few years ago, the largest tourism project at the time in Baden-Württemberg.

Altstadt: picturesque, without being twee. Überlingen, although benefitting from tourism, is by no means given over to it. It's a real town, with a life of its own. Much of the original ramparts and defensive towers are still in place, with the western edge now home to the town gardens.

Bi-weekly markets - mainly organic local produce sold by the farmers themselves, but also with Italian, fish and cheese stalls. To my knowledge, the best market on the Bodensee.

Rengoldshausen -a large organic farm complex, rated by Geo magazine as one of the best in Germany. Year-round organic produce, available in their farm shop and at the weekly markets, also delivered direct to your door via the Grüne Kiste (Green Box).

Hiking:
Jubiläumsweg Bodenseekreis - an approx. 111km-long hiking path created in 1998 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Bodenseekreis. Runs from Überlingen to Kressborn, taking a very scenic route through the hinterland via Heiligenberg. Plenty of fine view points.

Bodensee Rundwanderweg

Bookshops:
Buch Friedlein (on Münster Str) has a small selection of english paperbacks

Libraries:

Überlingen Stadtbücherei
English section (approx 100 books/tapes) on top floor.
Interesting, evolving collection of DVDs - 1€/DVD/week (+ 12€/yr membership fee)
- films in German/English/French
German magazines/newspapers on ground floor


Konstanz University library
2 million volumes - excellent reference library. As well as German, a good selection of English fiction, non-fiction, academic journals, newspapers, magazines.
Also French, Italian, and other languages.
Easily reachable from Überlingen. 15 min ferry ride to Wallhausen, then #4 bus to Egg. 1 min walk to the university. Yearly membership 56€, most books can be taken out for 4 weeks.

Ferry/bus/rail/air connections:

- Ferries to Konstanz (harbour), Mainau, Meersburg, with connections on to Lindau, Bregenz and Stein am Rhein.
- Ferry to Wallhausen(nr Konstanz)
- Rail links east to Friedrichshafen and Lindau, west to Singen, Schaffhausen and Basel
- Daily direct trains to Schaffhausen/Basel(2hrs) with entire trip valid on Baden-Württemberg ticket.
- BodoZone travel system on most of the German side of the Bodensee.
- Bodensee Euregio CardTravel card valid around the Bodensee and into Switzerland/Austria.
- Daily Ryan Air flights to Stansted from Friedrichshafen airport

Other links:

http://www.ueberlingen.de/
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Überlingen

Hi KPR, I was looking forward to this post! Thanks for the info, definitely want to try the Therme and some of the hiking. It was great meeting you guys today, till next time

Hi There
We wanted to meet up in Überlingen as well, but couldn't make it that day. Have you another meeting planned? If so, please let us know as we'd love to meet up with you too!

Marzi - Yes, we'd like to meet up too!. The weather has been so good over the last few days it's been hard to get online ...

Marzi/TJ/any other Anglophones in this neck of the woods,

So ... when/where? To get the ball rolling I'll suggest the Krone again - perhaps next Saturday (the 28th April), or the weekend following. What do you think? We're open to suggestions ...

Hi KPR and TJ
This Saturday (28th April) would be fine by us if it suits everyone else. The Krone in Überlingen would be fine - about 11am like you did last time? Hope it suits!

I'm in, see you all on Saturday!

OK - that's fine with us - we'll see you on Saturday!

We'll be there too, so looking forward to meeting you all then!

Hello, my name is Lisa and I'm glad to meet you guys as this is my first post!

I'm very happy to see this post and here such good things about Uberlingen. I am from the US but will be moving to Uberlingen in three months! I was happy to come across this board and see that there are other English-speaking foreigners in the area.

Would you say the amount of Germans that speak English is high or low? I ask because I do not yet speak any German. I got this job opportunity so quickly and while I will do my best to learn what I can before I go, it will only be in a couple months time so I will be no where near conversational. I'm curious as to how easy it would be for me to get around as I continue to learn German while I'm there.

Lisa - just saw your post, we were off in Italy for the last couple of weeks, one of the nice aspects of living in the centre of Europe

Glad to see you're coming.There are some English-speaking Germans in Überlingen - the Bodensee is a tourist area, but you shouldn't totally depend on getting by in English alone since English-speaking tourists are still relatively rare in comparison to Germans, Austrians and Swiss. I haven't personally used English for years now in my day-to-day business around here - if you need some help with some phrases, etc, we'll happily help out. You will find however that qualified professionals such as doctors, dentists, vets and some laywers will know English - which can help until your German has improved. Often staff in restaurants can speak English - but in local shops and the market you're likely to need German.

As you travel further afield to more frequented tourist areas - e.g. to Zürich, or Munich, you'll find people will often switch to English as soon as they realize you're an English speaker - once you can confidently converse in German they'll switch back.

Of course, nothing will help your German as much as actually living here and continually being able to practise it ...

Let us know when you're here - we'll be happy to meet up.

Great, it's nice to meet you!

I have begun my German studies and will do my best to learn as much as I can before I go. I definitely want to be able to go to the markets and attempt to integrate myself as much as I can. But it's good to know that I'll be able to get around ok while I'm learning.

I look forward to any TT get togethers after I arrive and to hear about everyones experiences in the area! OH yeah, and I'm also very much looking forward to trips around Europe :-)

I've officially bought my plane tickets and am scheduled to fly in January 11th! I'm trying to find a place to live and am having a rough time since I don't really know any German yet. I'm thinking perhaps try to find an inexpensive short term furnished rental and then look around for something a little more permanent when I arrive. But I'm still having trouble finding short term rentals since 50 euro per day is a little high for me. I'm hope for more of a weekly rate. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm open to staying in a semi-private area of someone's house too.

Since I've now bought my plane tickets, I'm so excited! I can't wait till I arrive!