Studio Maria

Slotted into a residential building on Pfister Strasse, Studio Maria is a private self-contained apartment in Bregenz, the compact Austrian city where Lake Constance meets the Vorarlberg Alps. Upper floors are stair-only, rewarded with mountain and garden views that frame the Pfänder ridge to the east.

The kitchen and dining table make it workable for longer stays, while a coffee machine and tea maker handle mornings without leaving the flat. Board games sit alongside the flat-screen TV for evenings in. On-site parking removes the usual old-town hassle of finding a spot near the lake.

Bregenz is best known for its summer opera festival staged on a floating lake stage — one of Europe's largest open-air venues. The Pfänderbahn cable car, climbing to 1,064 metres, departs less than ten minutes by foot from the central waterfront.