It’s nearly always a bit hazy over Lake Constance, but on a (relatively) clear day you can get some fine views by taking the cabin lift from Bregenz up to the top of the Pfänder mountain (1064 meters).

The lower station of the cabin lift (Pfänderbahn) is on Belruptstraße, just a short walk from the center of Bregenz. But the number 1 bus also stops there, in case you don’t feel like walking.

In the cabin lift

The cabin lift leaves at least every full and half hour, or more often if there is more demand. A return trip, up and down, costs € 13.00 for adults, with reductions for seniors, teenagers, children, families and groups. (Price as of 2018.) You can take your bicycle along for free from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., otherwise a bike costs € 3.80 for the trip either up or down.

View from the cabin lift

View from Pfänder Mountain

On the top of the Pfänder you can walk around and get some good views in various directions, for instance looking east toward the Austrian Alps.

Peak of Pfänder Mountain

There is also a restaurant up here, as well as a free “alpine game and wildlife park” with such animals as dwarf nanny goats, mouflons, ibexes, wild boars, red deer and groundhogs. In earlier years there was also an “eagle observatory” with a forty-minute show twice daily, but as of 2018 that is no longer in operation.

Lake Constance (Bodensee) from the cabin lift

My photos in this post are from 2005. I revised the text in 2018.

See also: Verdi’s Troubadour in Bregenz.