Maximilian Street

If you’re out and about on the island, you can’t miss it: Maximilian Street is a promenade, an architectural gem, a shopping street and a history lesson all rolled into one.

Maximilian Street – Lindau’s promenade

You should look down as you stroll along the 230-metre-long promenade: its cobblestones are bumpy and date back to the Middle Ages. You should look to the side when standing on the street, which is up to 20 metres wide: every few metres, small, often narrow, winding alleys lead back to times long past. And you should look up when sitting in one of the restaurants or open-air cafés: the patrician houses with their gable cranes, dormers and ornate wall and ceiling paintings tell the often multifaceted stories of their former inhabitants.

Historic buildings along the street

What has been a pedestrian zone since 1973 was once the seat of the guilds and the centre of trade, which also gave the different sections of the street their names: from the western ‘Mezg’ it continues to “Brodplatz” and finally to ‘Alter Markt’. This was the residence of the patrician society ‘Zum Sünfzen’, which was first mentioned in documents in 1358 and whose striking house with a four-arched arcade can still be admired today. Equally impressive are buildings such as the Frey wine bar, the Haus Zum Bären and, of course, the colourful Old Town Hall. Not officially part of Maximilian Street, but clearly visible in its extension, is the former main post office building, now an art museum, with its striking façade facing the station forecourt and harbour entrance.

Once you have had your fill of architecture and eaten your fill in one of the many restaurants housed in historic buildings, window shopping offers a colourful change of pace: many shops belong to long-established Lindau families and impress with their individual range of goods as well as their unique premises.