Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Arbon it runs 134 km to Arbon; allow about 3 h 01 of riding. On the way it passes Konstanz-Hinterhausen, Hornstaad-Hörnle and back through Konstanz-Hinterhausen. It crosses from Switzerland into Germany - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
Scenic road chapters
Grand Tour of Switzerland
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 34 km this is Grand Tour of Switzerland, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
Length
34 km
Named road
Grand Tour of Switzerland
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Bleiche 2-3
Arbon sits on the Swiss shore of Lake Constance, in the canton of Thurgau, and just outside the town, on land that was once lake shore, lies one of the most remarkable prehistoric sites in Europe. At Arbon-Bleiche, archaeologists excavated a Neolithic village of wooden houses built on the edge of the lake around 3400 BC. Because the wood was preserved in waterlogged ground, tree rings allowed the village to be dated almost to the year: it was built, lived in for about fifteen years and then destroyed by fire. The finds, from pottery and tools to textiles and food remains, gave a detailed picture of how these early farmers lived, and Arbon counts among the Swiss sites in the Alpine pile-dwelling inscription of 2011. There is nothing to see at the site itself, which is now under buildings and fields; the finds are displayed in the Thurgau archaeological museum in Frauenfeld.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bleiche 2-3 is where the day begins. Next is Konstanz-Hinterhausen.
2. Konstanz-Hinterhausen
There is nothing to see at Konstanz-Hinterhausen, and that is precisely the point. Below the surface of Lake Constance, along the shore near the city, lie the remains of prehistoric pile dwellings: wooden posts, floors, pottery and food remains preserved in the mud for thousands of years. They are part of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, a World Heritage site that spans six countries and over a hundred locations. Archaeologists dive to study them, but the rest of us have to make do with the view of the lake and a bit of imagination.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Konstanz-Hinterhausen comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hornstaad-Hörnle.
3. Hornstaad-Hörnle
On the Höri peninsula, the long finger of land that pokes into the Untersee arm of Lake Constance, the shallow water off the point of Hornstaad hides the remains of a village burned some six thousand years ago. Hornstaad-Hörnle is one of the most important Neolithic sites in the region: the settlement was destroyed by fire, and the charred remains, sealed in lake mud, preserved an extraordinary record of daily life, including food, textiles, tools and house timbers, which dendrochronology has dated with great precision. It is part of the World Heritage inscription of the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, and finds from the site are displayed in museums around the lake.