The Pfänder terrace

The Pfänderbahn leaves from a station a few minutes' walk from the harbour and reaches the summit in six minutes. That is the shortest route from a town centre to a serious alpine view anywhere on this lake: 1,020 metres, with Bregenz directly below, the whole Bregenzer Bucht spread out, and on a clear day the far end of Lake Constance and a couple of hundred alpine peaks behind you.

The summit is developed but generously so — a broad terrace, a restaurant, an easy circular walk over open pasture, and a fenced viewing platform above the drop. Walk five minutes along the ridge path and the buildings leave the frame entirely, leaving grass, the lake far below and Switzerland and Germany on the far shore.

The view is west and north-west, into the afternoon sun, so mornings are the clear, legible hours before haze builds over the water; late afternoon and sunset give colour but often lose the far shore in glare. In autumn and winter the valley below fills with fog and the summit stands in sun above it, which is the best condition of the year here.

The cable car runs all year with a maintenance break, usually in spring, and the last descent is earlier than most people expect. Check the current dates and the last cabin down, and take a layer — it is regularly much colder and windier at the top than on the promenade.