Stein-am-Rhein

Stein-am-Rhein, a nearly perfectly preserved medieval village and one of Switzerland's loveliest towns, lies at the point where the Rhine leaves the Bodensee. Crossing the bridge over the river, you see the village spread along the waterfront, its foundations and docks rising directly out of the water. Here restaurants, hotels, and shops occupy 16th- and 17th-century buildings, and the Rhine is calm and lazy—nothing like the sprawling industrial trade route it becomes farther downstream.