Excursions

Vorarlberg is blessed by an abundance of water. From glacial ice to the shores of Lake Constance, the crystal-clear wet stuff seeks its way, is collected, filtered, drunk and – increasingly – is converted into electricity.

The Bregenz Festival is a must for any culture vulture, with a varied programme of opera performances, orchestral concerts, music and poetry presentations at its outdoor stage, the Festspielhaus (festival hall) and the Lake Studio.

The Mohren Brewery in Dornbirn has been shaping beer culture in Vorarlberg since 1834. How is their beer produced? How did the Mohren Brewery get its name? What varieties do they brew here? These questions and more are answered over four storeys and 700 m², including exhibits from the collection of the Huber family, which owns the brewery.

With around 5,000 m² of exhibition space, a visit to the FFA Museum is an experience with numerous highlights such as the flight or car simulator, on-site maintenance of aircraft and vehicles and exhibits from the Swiss Army and the British Rolls-Royce production.

Around 130 animals from 23 different species live here spread across an area of 10 hectares. Visitors can experience and observe numerous alpine animals first-hand during a walk in the Ardetzenberg Wildpark. 

This interactive centre is the region’s most visited museum and one of the most high-tech nature museums in Europe, with underwater cinema, avalanche simulator, science centre, and more. 

The Zeppelin Museum has long drawn visitors to Lake Constance. Here you can experience the varied developments in the history of aviation and even walk through a model Zeppelin. In fact, the museum offers the world's most extensive and important collection on the history and technology of Zeppelin airship travel. 

The truly picturesquely Lünersee (“Lunar Lake”) at an altitude of 1,970m sits at the foot of the Schesaplana mountain and is surrounded by various peaks. There’s a wonderful circuit along the lake’s shore that takes about three hours and is relatively flat.

The museum landscape based around the yearly Schubertiade Festival is a delightful mix of small and historically significant spaces. First and foremost are the Franz Schubert Museum and Schubertiade Museum where visitors can get a comprehensive overview of the stories of the great composers. 

This palace is regarded as one of the most important Renaissance buildings in western Austria. Its construction dates back to Cardinal Markus Sitticus III of Hohenems. The palace is now owned and lived in by the Waldburg-Zeil family: Countess Stephanie Waldburg-Zeil can even give a personal tour of the palace on request.

Bregenz's local mountain towers over the city at 1,064 metres, offering panoramas of three countries across the lake in one direction and the Bregenzerwald in the other. 

Formerly a humble stable, this building now houses one of the world’s foremost collection of cribs. The exhibition presents an astonishing variety of widely differing specimens from places as diverse as Austria, Italy, Spain, Lapland, Africa and China. 

The Fenkart family specialise in a variety of delectable hand-made chocolates and pralines. They now offer tastings and guided tours in their showroom where visitors can find out everything about the cultivation of cocoa and the production of chocolate. 

Hohenems is a small city with grand stories. Testament to this are sites such as the stately Palace of the Counts of Ems who founded an Israelite community. 

The Jewish Museum Hohenems, located in the former Heimann-Rosenthal Villa, commemorates the rural Jewish community of Hohenems and its contributions to the development of Vorarlberg and surrounding regions.