Countless rulers and cultures have held the key to history in their hands around the Bodensee lake, Europe’s heart. Stone and Bronze Age settlers built pile dwellings (e.g. Unteruhldingen), the later settlers were more concerned with power and wealth. Celts, Romans, Allemanni, Merovingians, Carolingians, Staufers and Habsburgers all ruled the scene at one time or another and left a wealth of silent evidence from their times. The rulers left their mark as much on the resorts and towns as on the landscape and Europe’s third largest lake.

In the west, the up to 250-m-deep Bodensee is bordered by the cooled cones of former volcanoes and in the east by the Alpine panorama. The enormous mass of water acts as a heat reservoir, benefiting fruit and vegetable cultivation and vineyards.

The international cycling route leads through three countries, close to the shore, through fruit orchards, over sunny shimmering meadows, through old town centres, nature reserve oases and flower islands, always accompanied by the «Schwabian Sea», wide, silver and as smooth as glass. Providing almost every atmosphere and experience, and fulfilling almost every wish.