Baden Baden

If it's gambling or spa treatments you are after, B-B could make sense. But there are other options closer to Strasbourg that could work better as short-term bases for outings. Gengenbach (just 8 train minutes from Offenburg, in the Kinzig River Valley) is a fetching old walled town that's often recommended on this forum - easy to reach and a good springboard for towns and villages in the Black Forest.

To orient you, the little arrow from Offenburg on this regional map points in the direction of Gengenbach.

And this map of the scenic Black Forest Railway (with connecting railways) includes several of the interesting places to visit nearby. This train route - the "Schwarzwaldbahn" - is an interesting attraction in itself:

Scene in Hornberg

I would make a point of seeing the Black Forest Vogtsbauernhof open-air museum in Gutach (near Hausach) for sure. Gutach isn't shown on the above map but it does have its own rail station, a popular summer bobsled run, and a few places to stay as well.

Gengenbach is one of the Black Forest towns where all the innkeepers hand out free "KONUS Guest-Cards" to all their guests. These cards offer free train and bus travel throughout the Black Forest.

While Freiburg isn't really a Black Forest town, it might be a good outing for you as well; from G'bach you could get there by train in about one hour with your KONUS card.

I didn't mind Baden Baden, it's kind of orderly and clean. There's an easy, nice walk through the park to the next village over, Lichtenthal, which has an abbey and had an outdoor market the day we visited, a there's a set of small trails above the Kurhaus. Even the large number of Russians didn't ruin my day.

If you are staying in one of the wine villages around Colmar, then Gengenbach, Freiburg and Staufen are all a better choice for me.

Thank you both!

We haven’t decided if we are staying in Colmar or Strasbourg yet. We want to settle in for a month and take a few day trips. Not a lot of traveling because we want to sink into the town we are “living”. But the area looks beautiful and I knew the Black Forest was close.

We stayed in Aix-en-Provence for a month last year and loved it!! Charming squares, cafes, markets, easy bus trips to see other parts of Provence during the day. I’m looking to do that elsewhere. Thought the Alsace might be nice.

Dijon and Beaune also look like they offer a lot.

In Baden Baden, we enjoyed the spa bath house very much! The fee was base on how long you want to stay. This one reminded us of a version of the ruins of a Roman bath house. Cold pools, warm pools. A huge swimming pool inside that you could swim through a open window to the outside. If you walked upstairs, it's clothing optional. It was a wonderful experience, but I don't remember the name of the bath house. I know it's not the Caracalla, they have mixed changing rooms. When you get to Baden - Baden ask a local for a recommendation - tell the person you want a typical bath house, not a modern one. And I bought a post card with just 'Baden Baden' written on it. (like the German pronunciation of the word :) )

Research on TripAdvsor for ideas..

Best wishes on a wonderful trip!

We loved Baden-Baden so much (Friedrichsbad Spa) that we went back again the next year. It was wild to bathe nude and amazingly relaxing. We splurged on the whole 9 yards with the scrub brush and cream massages.
We stayed at the Hotel Etol both times. The breakfast spread was one of the best that I can remember of all our travels.
I would go again this very moment if it was in the cards.

I thought Baden Baden was worth a few days. It's a beautiful location and some interesting history there, as well as the Baths. I didn't get a chance to visit those as my main focus was photography so I ran out of time.

Regarding your question about basing in either Colmar or Strasbourg. I've been to both and my suggestion would definitely be to stay in Colmar. It's an exceptionally beautiful smaller town with canals and has some nice restaurants and hotels, as well as the Unterlinden Museum. However, Strasbourg is well worth at least a day trip to see the impressive Cathedral.

Both Colmar and Strasbourg sound beautiful. It’s interesting how strongly some feel about one town over the other.

I like the idea of spending a month in one town or city and sinking in. We won’t rent a car so I will have to take public transportation into account.