Living · Topic
You live by the water in Gaißau, Rieden-Weidach and Mehrerau.
“By the water” is a favourite in every listing. wohnwahn measures it instead: 19,661 water features across Bregenz, from Lake Constance to the Alter Rhein, and a cooling score per inhabited 250 m cell.
And we say honestly where the trade-offs are: the lake is a narrow strip, the valley is criss-crossed by ditches that are no waterside at all, and being on the shore is no guarantee, Lochau lies on the lake and still reaches only 8 per cent.
Ranked by the share of residential spots near a big open water, so it rewards districts with many waterside homes, not a single luxury shoreline. Linked: the full profile in the atlas.
Water geometry from OpenStreetMap + a water-cooling score per 250 m cell · as of: September 2026
Method: proximity to the big open waters per inhabited 250 m cell (Lake Constance, the Bregenzer Ache, the Alter Rhein and the gravel lakes count), bigger and closer water weighs more, share of cells above the threshold, clipped to the real boundary. Channelled races and small brooks are deliberately excluded, they don’t make a waterside home. A district scores high when many homes sit near water, not because of one exclusive shore.
No waterside listings online right now.
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Deeper blue means closer to open water. Every square is an inhabited 250 m cell; Lake Constance, the Bregenzer Ache, the Alter Rhein and the gravel lakes count, the drainage ditches of the Rhine valley do not.
Only inhabited cells are coloured. This is a proximity model for the big open waters, NOT an official flood map. Tap the map for the water-proximity score at that exact spot.
Water usually means the edge of the city. These places prove otherwise: many waterside homes AND within 20 minutes of Bregenz station by transit (Rieden-Weidach is the classic).
Our data shows how close and how cooling the water is around an address. Whether you actually see it depends on the floor, the orientation and the building, that’s what the listing and a viewing tell you.
Lochau is the case that proves it: the municipality lies directly on Lake Constance and still only 8 per cent of its inhabited cells are near water, because the settlement climbs the Pfänder slope. Inside Bregenz the split is just as sharp: Rieden-Weidach 70 per cent, Mehrerau 65, Schendlingen 61, but the centre 30, Vorkloster 26 and Ölrain 3.
Gaißau leads the whole market with 85 per cent, but its water is the Alter Rhein and the delta, not the open lake: flat, quiet, close to the Swiss border and 37 transit minutes from Bregenz. That is a different life from the shore promenade.
Of the 19,661 water features in this market 17,806 are lines, that is rivers, brooks and above all the drainage ditches of the Rhine valley, against only 1,855 areas. "By the water" here often means "by the ditch". The map shows which one is meant.
By share of waterside homes it is Gaißau (85% of residential spots near water), followed by Rieden-Weidach and Mehrerau. The classic addresses are Gaißau in the Rhine delta and, inside Bregenz, Rieden-Weidach, Mehrerau and Schendlingen on the lake. Source: OpenStreetMap water geometry, evaluated per 250 m cell.
wohnwahn measures water proximity and cooling, not flood risk. For a binding statement per address the official HORA hazard map is the reference; we do not issue a flood-risk rating.
The lake is wide open water with a long view, a promenade and summer crowds; the Ache is a mountain river with wooded banks that stays cool and is far quieter. Hard and Kennelbach show both sides: Hard on the lake, Kennelbach on the river, and they live completely differently.
Zentrum for example: many waterside homes and still ≈ 4 minutes from Bregenz station by transit. Rieden-Weidach is the textbook case: 70 per cent of homes near water and still nine minutes by transit into the centre.
Water geometry from OpenStreetMap, cooling score per inhabited 250 m cell, refreshed monthly (as of September 2026).
More honest data on where to live well in Bregenz and the surrounding area.
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Search, tap any address on the map, and see the water, the cooling, the noise and the travel times before the viewing. Free and independent.
How wohnwahn rates locations →Water keeps it cooler: cool living in Bregenz →Quiet living →Commuting to Bregenz →Green living →Family-friendly →Sunny living →
Sources: water geometry OpenStreetMap · cooling effect: own model per 250 m cell · transit: own routing on the Stadtbus Bregenz, Landbus and ÖBB timetables. Not an official flood map. Refreshed monthly.