Of course, there are always the tourist hotspots that are quickly found. But if you’d rather go for a coffee like a local, then read on – today I’ll tell you where we locals meet for a coffee in Constance.
Stadtkind
The Stadtkind is probably the loveliest café in Constance for me. When you get in, you immediately feel at ease in the light-flooded, Swedish style furnished, slightly crooked café in the quarter of Paradies. Each table looks different, both in size and in design. Here and there is a lambskin or a few pillows on a bench or a chair. When the weather is nice you can sit outside in one of the small seating niches and let the sun shine on your nose. In the large counter there is everything you could wish for – from different cakes to sandwiches and salads, even a soup of the day you can eat. Everything is ice cream in the next room – mhhhh, yummy. Simply a feel-good café!
The Stadtkind is located a few minutes’ walk from the Seerhein, directly behind the College of Technology, Business and Design (HTWG). A visit can be easily combined with a walk on the bike bridge to the other shore in the Herosé Park. From the Gästehaus Centro you walk there in about 15 minutes.
More information is available here.
NikOlala ‑Café Cult & Creatives
In the Café Cult, the typical artist atmosphere prevails. Everywhere on shelves of the walls, on the windowsill and the counter there are all kinds of bells and whistles, which gives the room its cosiness. There’s even a Vespa in the middle of the café. Here you can make yourself wonderfully comfortable and eject a rainy afternoon. You can also enjoy a glass of wine here or have a snack. The owners and staff are fun, open-minded and nice. They always have a few minutes to chat about anything – such as sock design 😉
There are also lovingly restored furniture and second-hand clothes to buy, as well as jewellery, cards and all sorts of decorative items. It’s worth a visit!
The Centro is only about 7 minutes’ away. More information here.
No elf
No elf is a small café for the foodies among us. The owners specialize in coffee and wine – there’s only the best of the best available! The tiny half-timbered cottage in Gerichtsgasse 11 – hence the name – offers a cosy and hip atmosphere for a tastefully and visually artful coffee or a carefully selected glass of wine. Of course, you get all the information about the origin of the coffee beans and the wine.
From the Gästehaus Centro you walk there in about 10 minutes and here you can stroll through the beautiful old town and the cathedral square. The connection with a visit to the cathedral is great.
You can get more information about No elf here.
Kaffeerösterei Konstanz
Not a conventional café – but right at the source to the best beans. Do you know this wonderful smell of freshly ground coffee? Yes, this is exactly whics meets you when you enter the Kaffeerösterei Konstanz. Here you cannot only buy delicious coffee from different places in the world but also enjoy a cup, along with selected small treats.
If you would like to learn more about coffee, you will also find what you’re looking for here: coffee seminars, barista seminars and toast seminars, where everyone can participate. But if you just want to enjoy the coffee, you can simply get detailed advice from the staff and take home personally tailored coffee. Try it!
From the Gästehaus Centro you walk there in about 6 minutes.
More information is available here.
Voglhaus
If you prefer the typical café atmosphere, the Voglhaus is just around the corner from the Kaffeerösterei. Admittedly, the Voglhaus is now quite well known and therefore often full – but, it often draws even us locals. The Voglhaus is a bit unconventionally furnished – one sits, for example, in window niches or on wide steps of the wall. There are few normal tables. This and the generally prevailing busyness, which you can observe from here wonderfully calm, make the visit to the Voglhaus a unique experience. In self-service one gets here delicious hot or cold drinks – also self-created smoothies or lemonades (depending on the season) are on the menu. Of course, snacks and cakes shouldn’t be missed out. Lactose- and gluten-free options are also available.
When eating and drinking, attention is always paid to sustainability and health. Even a small department store for decoration and fashion is connected to the coffee. Events take place here over and over again – concerts, readings, lectures, discussions, cabaret etc.
The Voglhaus is so busy that I cannot describe everything here. Take a look for yourself there!
From the Gästehaus Centro you walk there in just 5 minutes!
Café Auszeit
The Café Auszeit in Paradies hasn’t been around for so long … That’s why it’s a testimony to quality that it’s already often visited by the inhabitants of Constance. Smartly located on a street corner with a large forecourt, you can eat either inside or, when the weather’s good, outside and have a coffee and a piece of cake or a sandwich.
You can have a nice breakfast in the Café Auszeit, which doesn’t bear its name in vain. A bit away from the big hustle and bustle in the old town and the many tourists, you can really sit and enjoy in peace here. So, if you don’t feel like getting into the hustle and bustle, then get out of bed!
From the Gästehaus Centro you walk there in about 17 minutes. You’ll also get to know one of the oldest residential areas of Constance, called Paradies.
More information: Auszeit
Eugens
The Eugens Bio-Café is not just a café, but you can eat right here. Everything from organic farming. In a rustic atmosphere you can also get very delicious coffee and cake – on request gluten- and lactose-free.
Since the Eugens is very popular, there’s always something going on here. But not in the negative sense – the coming and going guests make up a large part of the cosiness of Eugens. Here one feels invited to linger by the friendly staff, the admirable, loving decoration and the opportunity to sit back and watch the coming, sitting and walking guests.
Directly opposite there is the Eugens Patisserie, where you get the delicious pastries, cakes and even soups and salads to take away!
My recommendation: Try the delicious quiches in Eugens! In only about 3 minutes, you will be here from the Gästehaus Centro.
More information: Eugens
Seelig
If you’d like to take a longer walk, cycle or simply visit the Strandbad Horn, the „Hörnle”, or the Therme, it’s worthwhile to stop by the Restaurant Seelig on a sunny day.
On the modern sun terrace right by the water you have a wonderful view over Lake Constance and you can either enjoy a coffee and cake or have a proper dinner.
I recommend a walk along the lake road and along the shore: So come on!
More information is available here.
Pano
The Pano is definitely worth mentioning in terms of its location and size – but I have to say that we in the meantime largely avoid it because the tourists love and fill it.
The Pano is beautifully decorated and very comfortable – if you get a seat. It was recently expanded and is now probably one of the largest cafés in Constance. The offer leaves nothing to be desired of: hot and cold drinks, snacks for food and even ice cream can be got here.
Located right next to the Marktstätte, you will walk there in 2 minutes from the Gästehaus Centro.
More information about the Pano here.
Holly’s
Actually more like a restaurant than a café, Holly’s is still worth mentioning for its location and delicious ice cream. Here you can sit wonderfully on the shores of the Seerhein and drink, if you like, a coffee on the terrace or have something to eat.
When the weather is fine, the best option for me is to grab an ice cream and sit down on a bench or the wooden platform in front of the nearby Bodenseeforum, enjoy the view and let your legs dangle.
After a walk through the Herosé Park on the Seerhein, Holly’s is perfect for you or, of course, when you visit an event in the Bodenseeforum. In about 25 minutes, you will be there from the Gästehaus Centro.
More info: Holly’s
Strandbar
While we are already by the Rhine, the beach bar of the HTWG is worth mentioning: here you can enjoy a coffee, iced coffee or a cold beer in a deck chair in summer. Everything, of course, with a view of the Seerhein.
On this occasion you can also look at the HTWG, formerly the University of Applied Sciences Konstanz.
The beach bar is a 17-minute walk from Gästehaus Centro.
More information is available here.
Eiscafés
So, and because this is important for the summer: Here are my favourite ice cream parlours in Constance:
In the city, I recommend the ice cream parlour Nicoletti. It’s a stone’s throw away from the Gästehaus Centro: only 2 minutes and you’ve got an ice cream! You can either sit on the Marktstätte or get an ice cream on the hand and walk through the underpass to the harbour and enjoy the lake.
If you are on the other side of the Rhine, you should either get an ice cream at Holly’s or go to the ice cream parlour Pampanin. There you can get a delicious ice cream and then walk down Theodor-Heuss-Straße to Seestraße and sit by the lake or go for a walk.
So that’s it for now! Enjoy your coffee or your ice cream and your time in Constance 🙂