dolcevita

I'm looking for advice on what to do for a few days in midsummer with an adventurous boy with an interest in history and nature. We would be traveling by train or local buses. He would probably like tramping around the Fussen castles or perhaps Linderhof, maybe a day wandering Liechtenstein, or Berchtesgaden/Zugspitze but those are probably extremely busy then.

Is there a local equivalent of Rothenburg ob der Tauber? Feldkirch?

Is Lindau worth a visit?

The areas around Krimml and Hallstatt look very interesting - perhaps concentrating there and maybe a one or two of the more touristed areas?

KLouis

In the area indicated which encompasses half of Germany, Austria and Switzerland and all of Lichtenstein, there are:

Many mountain peaks accessible by cable cars (or whatever the American word is): Great for kids of that age!

You can take boat trips on lakes (e.g. Bodensee/Lake Konstanz): Great for kids of that age!

You can take small train trips up the mountains: Great for kids of that age!

You can go see the Rhine falls: Great for kids of that age!

Castles up the wazoo, from original medieval ones to fake medieval ones like Neuschwanstein: Great for kids of that age!

Zoos, when in big cities: Great for kids of that age!

Yes, many places may be crowded in midsummer, but there is nothing you can do about that, other than re-scheduling your trip, which you will certainly not be able to. You'll also notice that the things that I annotated with ": Great for kids of that age!" are also great for grown-ups

dolcevita

Oops, I forgot to narrow the scope in the body of the OP: I'd like to focus on a smaller area somewhere within the eastern third of Switzerland (the area I'm least familiar with), the Vorarlberg, Tyrol, or the German border zone, although the more I see of the Krimml and Hallstatt areas, the more I like them too.

Scenic train routes, cable cars up high mountains, scenic hiking trails he can manage (esp with waterfalls or mountain lakes) are all great ideas. If we have to hit the heavily touristed areas, so be it, but if I could find something quieter, even better.

greg5

Head up to Ebenalp and have lunch at Aescher-Wildkirchli. Wandering around Ebenalp is pretty nice, and the trip up the cable car is pretty scenic.

exilencfc

Lindau is nice, very pretty little town. Friedrichshafen might be worth a look too, the Zeppelin and Dornier Museums are both excellent. Ravensburg I haven't been to but it's supposed to have a nice Medieval centre. Ulm has Europe's tallest cathedral, the very pretty fisherman's quarter and solar powered ferries. For all that, I didn't find it a very likeable place and I know a couple of other FTers who felt the same.

The Tirol would definitely be a good place to go. Innsbruck has excellent transport connections, a very nice old town, and masses of nature close by. Some of the railways to and around Innsbruck are spectacular, the railway to Seefeld is great and the ride to Feldkirch is lovely too (the Brenner pass is supposed to be superb, i'm hopefully taking that in this year). The Stubaitalbahn will probably change the way you look at trams forever. You might want to consider the Achensee which is a mountain surrounded lake with ferries and a narrow gauge steam railway. Hall in Tirol is another town with an attractive old centre.