Unteruhldingen is where most people first meet the prehistoric lake dwellers of the Alps, thanks to the Pfahlbaumuseum, an open-air museum of reconstructed houses on stilts standing in the shallow water of Lake Constance. It started in the 1920s and has been adding houses ever since, and walking along the wooden walkways between thatched huts gives you a vivid idea of village life thousands of years ago. The real archaeological sites, like Stollenwiesen just offshore, lie underwater, a series of settlements preserved in lake mud and listed by UNESCO in 2011 as part of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps.
The northern shore of the lake, the Überlinger See arm, is one of the most beautiful stretches of the Bodensee. Vineyards and orchards climb the slopes above the water, and the views across to Switzerland and the Alps are spectacular on clear days. Just up the hill from Unteruhldingen stands the pilgrimage church of Birnau, a rococo masterpiece in pink and white, famous for a little cherub licking honey from his finger. A few kilometres east, Meersburg is a lovely town of steep lanes, half-timbered houses and an old castle where the poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff spent her last years. Car ferries run from Meersburg across to Konstanz.
The riding is scenic but often slow. The lakeside road is beautiful, but in summer it is busy with tourists, caravans, cyclists and buses, and the towns along the shore have low speed limits. For more fun, head inland into the hills of the Linzgau and toward the Hegau volcanoes, where the roads are quieter and the bends tighter. Spring, when the fruit trees are in blossom, and autumn, when the vineyards turn gold, are the best seasons.
Uhldingen-Mühlhofen, two kilometres away, has fuel, shops and a choice of restaurants and cafés. Meersburg and Überlingen offer more. Try Felchen, a whitefish from the lake, often served fried or smoked, with a glass of local Müller-Thurgau wine or a Spätburgunder from the Meersburg slopes, if you are done riding. Parking can be tight near the museum, but bikes have an easier time.