Black Forest itinerary

woodchuck

I would highly recommend a trip to the Black Forest region in Germany if you're a fan of nature, small picturesque towns and/or hiking! When we started planning our trip, we had a lot of trouble putting together an itinerary, just because there weren't many itineraries online for the smaller towns and there are soooo many of them. So thought I'd share my experience here in case it helps someone else

We started in Triberg, but it was quite late in the evening by the time we made it there after our flight landed in Stuttgart. However our accommodation (Hotel Garni Central) were very helpful when we contacted them in advance and left us instructions about how to let ourselves into our room.

Day 1: Triberg Waterfall
I was afraid that Triberg would be very touristy, but apart from the row of tourist shops on the main street, we didn't get that vibe at all. It was very quiet and we didn't have to queue for anything. We had a nice time just wandering around the town between doing the activities below. We were there in late June though, so maybe it's different in July and August.

The waterfall is "the" thing to do in Triberg and it didn't disappoint! It is by no means Niagra Falls, but it's very pretty and there are small hiking trails around the area. They have lots of signs about squirrels and you can buy nuts to feed them, but unfortunately we didn't see any while we were there. We did spot some unusual birds though!

After the waterfall, we went to Cafe Schafer on the main street. They are famous for using the original Black Forest gateau recipe, so we had to go for a slice. It was nice enough, but I'm not a big fan of alcohol in cake tbh.
We also squeezed in a quick visit to the Black Forest museum. It was a good way to spend an hour or so, but I wouldn't stress about trying make it there just for the sake of it.

Day 2: Black Forest Open Air Museum Vogtsbauernhof
This was a short bus ride away from Triberg and well worth a visit. I've been to other open air museums before, but this was by far my favourite. I love animals and they had horses, sheep, goats, geese and rabbits! The houses themselves were also very entertaining. It wasn't just the typical old bedrooms etc. One of them had loads of wooden games e.g. pinball and skittles! So that was a lot of fun. We also stumbled across an attic where you could do your own shadow plays with your hands. So if you have kids or are a big kid yourself, this place shouldn't be missed!

We also got the bus back to Triberg and on the way, we saw the worlds largest cuckoo clock (in Schonachbach) from the bus :P We didn't think it was worth the stop (a bit cheesy!), but worth a photo if you can manage it since you're passing anyway - I don't think you can see it from the train! The bus also has another major advantage because it drops you off right in the centre of the town. It's about a 20minute uphill walk from the train station to get back to the town.

After dinner, we wandered back to the waterfall late in the evening. Walking through the forest in the (near) dark felt like being in Grimms Fairy Tales!

Day 3: Detour to Rottweil
Ok this was a surreal one for me! Part of the reason I wanted to go to the Black Forest was because my Grandad was from the area - Rottweil specifically. Even though it was a significant detour, we decided to squeeze in a few hours in Rottweil before heading to our next destination (Titisee). We were extremely lucky to get the last available large luggage storage locker in the train station (there are only 3!). We walked to the old town and just wandered a bit, browsing the market on the main street. But off one of the side streets I spot a shop... with my Grandfathers surname on it!! I knew there was a family shop in Rottweil, but I didn't think it was so central. I took some photos and whatsapped my Mam while we ate lunch - she confirmed that this her cousins shop and encouraged me to go in for a chat! I eventually worked up the nerve to do just that So with a combination of broken English and broken German, I met a distant relative in Rottweil! We had a nice chat, a drink, exchanged some contact details and took some photos

After that we just wandered the town a little more (with ice-cream!) before getting the train to Titisee in the evening and checking into our Air Bnb.

Day 4: Titisee
We had heard that Titisee was quite touristy. And the main street definitely was! Tour groups are bused in during the day, walk down the main street (with all the tourist shops) and get herded onto a boat to go around the lake. But off the main street, it's actually a nice quiet place and in the evening the majority of the tourists are gone.

On our first day in Titisee, we rented a paddle boat for an hour on the lake and then walked around the lake itself. Both were really nice to do! We came across some red squirrels when walking around the lake - I finally put those nuts that I bought in Triberg to good use

Day 5: Feldberg
We got the bus from Titisee to Feldberg and got the cable car to the top of the mountain/hill. There are lots of different hiking trials, so we spend the day there just wandering in nature! I would highly recommend it; very scenic! No squirrels, but an abundance of butterflies We also managed to fit in a round of minigolf when we got back to Titisee.

Day 6: Gengenbach via Freiburg
We missed a train connection, so ended up doing a whistle stop tour of Freiburg! It seemed nice, but nowhere near as nice as the other places we had been to so far. Freiburg was a much larger town... with a McDonalds So I wouldn't particularly recommend it :P

Once we were back on track, we made it to Gengenbach. We took it easy for the rest of the day just wandering a little bit - I made best friends with a goat and took a nap!! Gengenbach itself is lovely. A small, very picturesque town. And we came across some more squirrels when passing through the cemetery!

Day 7: Schiltach
We did a day trip to Schiltach by train from Gengenbach. Schiltach was beautiful! Possibly even nicer than Gengenbach if I dare say it. We wandered the town and went into some of the small free museums, which were a lot better than you'd expect - including the famous shower museum/showroom! It was surprisingly good. They had a small museum with bathrooms from each decade of the 20th century (Ireland appears to be stuck in the 60s/70s... the 80s looked futuristic!). The showroom itself was surprisingly fun trying out all the different taps/showers. And they had games too! We played giant connect 4 and a memory game :P

Day 8: Gengenbach
We decided to stay put in Gengenbach. After a few wrong turns, we managed to find our way up to a church on a hill for the view of the town. It was a particularly hot day, but worth it.

After that we went to the Narrenmuseum Niggelturm - very limited opening hours (only Wed pm, Sat pm and Sun) but well worth the visit! It's a tower dedicated to all the different festivals in the black forest, including dummies dressed up in the costumes (slightly creepy :P). The top floor happened to be dedicated to the festival in Rottweil, so given my family ties there, I was delighted with that!

Next: minigolf! This was actually the most amazingly bizarre minigolf course I've ever done. I don't want to give too much away, but we were given a bag of props before we started, including a frisbee!! Definitely check it out if you can

Day 9: Stuttgart
We were flying back through Stuttgart, but our (Ryanair...) flight was very late in the evening. So we had the afternoon in Stuttgart. But it was sooo hot and we were quite tired at the end of our trip that we were kind of just killing time until we had to go to the airport. I'm sure it's a nice normally, but it didn't compare in the slightest to the other small towns we visited in the Black Forest! There some sort of games festival on while we were there though, so had some fun with that.

Extra travel tips:
- Konus card
https://www.blackforest-tourism.com/info/KONUS
This is a card that a lot of accommodation in the Black Forest will provide. You get free transport and we put this to great use!! So if you plan to travel using public transport, definitely check your town/accommodation ahead of time to see if they'll provide a Konus card. No need to get a ticket at the station, you literally just hop on the trains! Just make sure to check the link above so you're informed about the (limited) limitations. You also get into some places for free or get a discount with it.
- Deutsche Bahn
https://www.bahn.com/i/view/index.shtml
This website was invaluable for planning all our journeys. It includes buses as well as trains. We only had a problem with one of our connections, but that's because that part of the track was being worked on, so they had a replacement bus that got stuck in traffic in Freiburg, so we missed our connection by literally about 20 seconds.

VG31

Excellent trip report! Some great info there! I visited the Black Forest last year as part of a larger trip which also included Lake Constance and the Rhineland. We stayed in Gengenbach for 4 nights (could have done with a little longer). Gengenbach was a beautiful town and an excellent base for day trips.

I agree with you about Triberg, it was nothing as touristy as I expected.
The Black Forest Open Air Museum was probably our favourite of the attractions we visited. There is also an alpine coaster about 10 minutes from the museum which is great fun!

If anyone is considering visiting the Black Forest (which I highly recommend), don't go to Strasbourg. We went there for a day trip and didn't like it at all. Compared to the lovely towns in the Black Forest it was a bit of a kip to be honest. It was very busy and quite expensive. The streets in the centre were full of immigrants trying to sell you stuff and there were also lots of roma beggars, including some lying flat on the street right beside the cathedral.

It would be a good idea to post your trip report on the TripAdvisor Black Forest forum. You might reach a greater audience there.

woodchuck

Thanks VG31 and I must look into casting a wider net Maybe adding some photos too :P

It's so hard to pick out what the highlights were, but some of my favourite parts (leaving aside the family reunion):
- Triberg Waterfall - I just love waterfalls and it's a great place for a nature walk!
- The Open Air Museum - it looks small, but so much to see/do! You really need a full day for this. Plus, animals (We did spot the alpine coaster nearby from the bus!)
- Feldberg - amazing views and small flowers and butterflies everywhere. Went spent hours walking around the hills.
- Gengenbach - A lovely little town in general, including the park with the animals and craaaazy golf! Also I'm normally not that into museums, but the Narrenmuseum Niggelturm was well worth a visit.
- Schiltach - such a pretty place to wander around! And had a good laugh in the shower museum :P

They also seem very squirrel friendly in that region in general I love squirrels, so this pleased me greatly

As you said, Gengenbach is a great base. I believe it's very easy to get to Triberg from there also, but we liked the idea of staying in a few different places and had plenty of time. Glad to hear that Strasbourg wasn't worth it, as it was another option we were considering. Baden-Baden is also easy to get to from Gengenbach, but didn't want to stretch ourselves too thin and I preferred the sound of Schiltach

VG31

woodchuck wrote: »

They also seem very squirrel friendly in that region in general I love squirrels, so this pleased me greatly

Storks seem to be a big thing in this region also. We had a great view of a stork's nest from our hotel in Gengenbach.

miamee

Sad to hear that about Strasbourg, I was in it once (admittedly about 15 or more years ago) and I loved it! It's been on my list of places to go back to some day but it sounds like I shouldn't bother.

Delighted you enjoyed the Black Forest woodchuck, there seems to be lots to see and do.

woodchuck

Just a few photos!

woodchuck

And a few more

Ceist_Beag

Thanks very much for the thread woodchuck. We're currently planning our holiday for next summer in the Black Forest. We're (family of 5, children ranging from 10 to 14) hoping to spend 3 weeks there.
Ideally we're looking at picking one location as our base, hopefully finding a nice house which suits our needs. It sounds like we will definitely need to hire a car for the duration so I would be interested in views as to where best to base ourselves.
Currently we are viewing two properties which look quite good. One is on the outskirts of Baden-Baden. It's not quite walking distance to the town so it would mean car trips for everything, even just going for a stroll around shops or restaurants.
The second is in a small town called Sasbachwalden. The town itself looks very small but very picturesque and seems to have plenty of eateries.
We're hoping to hire bicycles for the period and head off on some of the trails, plus we're going to plan in day trips to places like Europa Park, Baden-Baden, Freiburg, Triberg Falls, Heidelberg. We were thinking of Strasbourg as well but the above post suggests this might not be a great idea!

Would anyone have any views on these plans and have suggestions of other locations to base ourselves from? Also, is 3 weeks too long to be planning to spend in the area? Normally we take a 2 week break but are considering an extra week for next year.