Meersburg

Meersburg is built on two levels, a lower town on the lake and an upper town on the terrace behind, connected by steep stepped lanes through vineyards. The Alte Burg, with a keep whose lower parts are very old, has been continuously inhabited and is described as the oldest inhabited castle in Germany; it is privately owned and shown as a museum, its rooms furnished rather than emptied. The poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff spent her last years in a tower there and died in 1848. The Neues Schloss above, a baroque prince-bishops' palace, has a staircase by Balthasar Neumann.

History

The name means "castle on the sea", after a castle that, by a tradition recorded in 1548, the Merovingian king Dagobert I built here in 630. The town became a free city in 1299, though still nominally under the Bishop of Constance, and in 1803 it passed to the Electorate of Baden (Wikipedia, Meersburg).

What you'll find

• The Alte Burg - a continuously inhabited castle shown furnished.
• The Droste-Hülshoff rooms - the poet's tower quarters and death room.
• The Neues Schloss - a baroque palace with a Neumann staircase.
• The vineyard terraces - slopes running down to the lake front.

When to go

May to September; the lower town is very crowded with day visitors in summer. The car ferry from Konstanz runs year-round. Wine festivals fall in autumn.

Things to know

The lower town is packed and commercial in season. The old castle is privately run with its own pricing. The climb between levels is steep.

Nearby

Birnau lies west; Friedrichshafen is east.