5 days in Black Forest Germany in Sept - some advise / comments...... Thx !

Have you tried the saver fare tab on the DB website planner? At the end of the buying window I have seen some €118 pp r/t juicy fares.

If you drive you need to be prepared to buy a Swiss Vignette (CHF40) for the drive to Zurich. If you drive into Basel on the back roads you can avoid the vignette on that bit, but you will probably use the A5 autobahn to Weil am Rhein and into Basel and onwards to Zurich and you will need that vignette. Big on the spot fine without.

Gengenbach options:

Ferienwohnung Moser: homepage

Ferienwohnung Wink:
Bigtyke's report
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I'm looking at the DB itinerary page for Amsterdam Centraal-Gengenbach on Aug. 1. Every itinerary between 7:00 and 10:30 am is priced below €200 - that's the total for TWO adults. The trick is to buy right at the beginning of the 92-day window before prices rise. I would not schedule such a train RIGHT after your scheduled arrival in Amsterdam or you may have to forfeit the ticket (if there's a flight delay or other interruption.)

It does seem like the Black Forest is a VERY DISTANT destination from Amsterdam! You will spend SEVEN hours driving there on Tuesday and the same number driving back on Saturday - so your visit in Gengenbach really amounts to only 3 days. Why the Black Forest?? I like the BF, but there really are MANY wonderful destinations in Germany that are much closer to A'dam. You can catch a train from Amsterdam Centraal to Cologne - less than 3 hours, as little as €38 for two. Travel to the Middle Rhine Valley or the Mosel Valley from there for just a little more. You'll find lots of half-timbered old-world towns, great scenery, and vacation apartments in these areas too.
Oberwesel
Cochem

I agree with Russ, there are forested, mountainous places closer to Amsterdam than the Black Forest. I spent 5 days in the Harz in 2008 and enjoyed it immensely - beautiful forested mountain, Northern Germany's highest mountain, the Brocken, and on the plains north of the mountains the Fachwerk towns of Goslar, Bad Harzburg, Wernigerode, and Quedlinburg.

Yeah, you are going way, way out of your way if you have to do a round trip to Amsterdam in just 4 days time.

There are beautiful forested areas and hills all over Germany. If you stick to the Rhine, maybe add in a lot of Taunus mountains for pretty scenery and medieval towns. Try Marburg, Elteville with Eberbach Monastery, Idstein, perhaps head over towards Bad Homburg and the Open Air Museum, Hessen Park. There is also a reconstructed Roman fort called the Saalburg also nearby.

If you stay more in the Frankfurt area, you can also hit Heidelberg. Not sure how to work Strausbourg or Zurich into this mix though.

Google "Ferien Wohnung" to find apts to stay in what ever region you choose.

Hostels also can have kitchens and private double rooms, such as this one that Rick lists near Freiburg: http://www.blackforest-hostel.de/en/index.htm.

Here's a brief list of forested mountain regions of Germany that are closer to Amsterdam than the Schwarzwald: the Eifel, Sauerland, Westerwald, the Taunus, the Vogelsberg, the Thüringerwald, the Odenwald, the Pfälzerwald, the Harz, and the Hünsruck. You're traveling far out of your way for name familiarty. If you're headed that far south, why not just go a little further south and east to the much more majestic Alps?

Hello friends !

Thanks for the feedback - have discussed with the wife but she does wish to go to BF - so whom am I to argue ! Plus we also have plans for Basel and Zurich - as already mentioned in my post. So BF it will have to be - but your points are well understood, thanks.

I have already booked a one week rental with Hertz (EUR 200 all inclusive incl CDW insurance). We will leave on Tue Sep 2 around 6am - and plan to drive "leisurely" across Belgium and Luxembourg, reaching our hotel in Gengenbach probably early evening. I think we will look at the drive itself as part of the holiday.

Currently booked this hotel - http://www.blackforest-tourism.com/stg/ukv/house/FIT00020070044553330. Total EUR 148 for 4 nights. However, it is 4 miles from town - so will have to look at options closer to town. Suggestions welcome.

Wed/Thu/Fri - in BF and will use the Konus card as well. Is the Murg Valley Railway ride a must do - is it free with Konus card? Or any other train ride?

I believe we can go to Basel also with the Konus card? - will save us the 40CHF mentioned in the post by Nigel. Though will have to look at other options for Zurich - may be just take public transport?

Sat - will leave towards Baden Baden and spend a few hours in Heidelberg - before returning to Amsterdam late night.

Thx for your help and advice - but any more advice for our stay in BF will be welcome.

Coupla things

Because you are looking at a FeWo, it might be worth checking that they in fact do issue the Gaestecarte which includes the Konus facility. Hotels will, not sure about FeWo. They have to collect the Kurtaxe in order to.

The Konus allows travel on non IC, non ICE trains. There is a little (really little) train which runs frequently from Gengenbach through Offenburg where you change for the big regional to Basel. It runs into Basel Bad Bahnhof which is linked to all parts by tram and bus.

The faster ICE trains go into Basel SBB Hauptbahnhof but are not covered by the Konus.

Don't short change Basel - there are all sorts of things to do and it is a really nice city to walk around and don't forget Klein Basel just over the river. Plan to take one of the motorless ferries across as well as the bridges. We keep going back.

When you drive through Luxembourg top off the fuel in the car tank. Luxembourg has the cheapest fuel in Europe, by a large gap. Be sure to use the right hose. The price is the same throughout Luxembourg no matter small station or motorway service area. Expect long queues at big service stations of people buying dirt cheap (no tax) cigs and booze, as well as coffee. We bring home 6 months worth of coffee beans when we pass through.

Oops, sorry, I missed the point about you headed to Switzerland next. OK, then, the Schwarzwald makes sense in the flow of your trip.

Seconding Nigel, don't overlook Basel...but don't stay too long either. It's amazingly expensive.

"Currently booked this hotel - http://www.blackforest-tourism.com/stg/ukv/house/FIT00020070044553330. Total EUR 148 for 4 nights. However, it is 4 miles from town - so will have to look at options closer to town. Suggestions welcome."

At this point, you may wish to stay where you booked already. German law requires you to pay for any accommodations reservations you confirm. Cancellations are at the discretion of the property management; in Germany you have no refund rights if you cancel unless the management says you do in advertising or in the booking agreement you make with him/her.

According to the Google, the walk into town from Huberhof is 3.5 km (about 2.2 mi). According to the Bahn, there is a bus stop 1.4 km (less than a mile) from Huberhof, from which the bus takes 3 min into town.