Mainau

Mainau lies just off the southern shore of Lake Überlingen, the north-western arm of Lake Constance, near Konstanz, joined to it by a footbridge, and the whole island is one garden, run for generations by the family that owns it. The lake keeps winters mild enough for palms, tubbed citrus and a Mediterranean terrace stepping down to the water. The planting is arranged as a relay: hundreds of thousands of tulips and narcissi from March, rhododendrons and then roses in the terraced Italian garden through June, and dahlias carrying it into October. There is a butterfly house of free-flying tropical species, an arboretum of sequoias and cedars planted in the nineteenth century, and a baroque palace and church that are only partly open to visitors.

History

In 1862 traces of early settlement were found on the south shore of Mainau, among them wedges, a potsherd, flint flakes and an axe, and a pile-dwelling settlement of six houses, uncovered in the 1930s, was dated to the Neolithic, around 3,000 b.c. Until the Napoleonic secularisations the island belonged to the Teutonic Knights, and after a period in private hands it was bought in 1853 by Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden, who used the knights' palace as a summer residence; his son Frederick II kept it after giving up the throne, and on his death without children in 1928 it passed to his sister Victoria, wife of King Gustaf V of Sweden (Wikipedia, Mainau).

Highlights

• The spring bulbs - hundreds of thousands of tulips and narcissi from March.
• The Italian rose garden - terraced beds above the water, at their best in June.
• The butterfly house - a warm hall of free-flying tropical species.
• The old trees - sequoias and cedars planted in the nineteenth century.

When to go

Three peaks are worth timing for: the bulbs from late March into April, the roses in June, and the dahlias from late August to early October. Sunny weekends in May are the heaviest days of the year. Arrive at opening; the coach groups build through the morning and the paths near the palace are the first to jam.

Before you go

The entrance fee is high for a garden and there is no reduced short-visit option. The island is hillier and larger than it looks in photographs, and covering it properly means several kilometres on foot. Between the flowering peaks there are weeks when comparatively little is out. Food on the island is expensive and the queues at lunch are long, and the palace itself is largely closed.

Nearby

Konstanz across the water, Reichenau island, and Meersburg by ferry.