We will spend 2 nights in Freiburg in December, and I'm a little concerned there won't be enough in Freiburg itself to keep us busy. We have been to Germany 3 times previously, but have never been to the BF and decided it's about time. Chose Freiburg over Baden-Baden as we are not too interested in the baths or gambling. Also Freiburg's Christmas market is supposed to be pretty good. We have biked around Lake Constance previously and have been to Colmar. Thanks in advance for your suggestions:)
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Freiburg's Christmas Market is good. And it has a very picturesque setting in the square surrounding the cathedral. You made a good choice.
If by "BF" you mean the Black Forest and you intend to go there before or after Freiburg, then I won't suggest that.
If you feel you want to go somewhere else on the second day I would recommend:
- Basel, also a nice Christmas Market. Around 30 minutes by train.
- Strasbourg. A bit further. Very famous Christmas Market and old town.
P.S. I am assuming you mean Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg and not Freiburg, Lower Saxony or Freiburg Switzerland.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32738 posts
Frequent fast comfortable trains link Freiburg (I'm assuming you mean Freiburg im Breisgau, not one of the several similarly named places in Germany?) and Basel, with onward easy connections to Zurich, Bern and many other places. Slower yet still comfortable and frequent trains link the towns and villages to the north and south. If you go north to Offenburg it is an easy connection to cross over into France and the little train goes right into Strasbourg; go the other way and it becomes the Black Forest Railway.
Freiburg itself has the fabulous Keidel Bad - have a little squint at their official website, especially at the scenic evening shot - http://www.keidelbad.de/english/
Can you tell we like it there a lot?
If you stay at a neighboring village or town (we like Gengenbach but it isn't really nearby) you will get a free Konus pass which will give you free local travel on trains and buses (not valid on the ICE) which is not given if you stay in Freiburg. http://www.schwarzwald-tourismus.info/content/view/full/7221
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32738 posts
Chris F and I posting at the same time. Looks like we have the same ideas. That's nice.
Posted by
Franklin, NC, USA
35 posts
If you want to see more of the Black Forest, you might refer to Nigel's suggestion to head north to Offenburg, then take the Black Forest Railway in a loop. The villages of Gengenbach, Hauslach, Wolfach are all beautiful fachwerk (sp?) towns. Gengenbach has Germany's largest advent calendar - the Rathaus windows are each decorated to countdown the days till Christmas. The railway continues on through Triberg, St Georgen, to Donaueschingen where you head back west through Titisee, Hinterzarten to Freiberg.
You could hop off in any village along the way, depending on your time & interests. If you stay in a smaller village & receive the KONUS card, the local train/bus transportation is free.
Posted by
OP
Nederland, CO
1430 posts
Thanks for all of the suggestions! I did indeed mean Freiburg-im-Breisgau. So - staying in one of the smaller villages is appealing, but my thought was that Freiburg will be very nice in the evening with the Christmas Market. Going to some of the smaller villages, especially Gengenbach via the Black Forest Railway sounds good too! Will do some more research on this option. Any suggestions for best routes? Or thoughts on if it would be better to stay in a different town? suggestions? Thanks for the help!
Posted by
Franklin, NC, USA
35 posts
Jill, By staying in a village close to Freiburg, you'd be able to get a KONUS card & still be close. Bad Kronzigen stays include the KONUS card & are only 11-16 min by train from Freiburg - trains run at least hourly from 5:45 am until 23:45 pm. Same for Hinterzarten to the east except the train ride is ~ 30 min. We really love the flexibility that the KONUS cards allow - easy to hop over to Freiburg for a meal (or laundry, as we have done once!)