Black forest

Will drive.

Ensure to have valid driving permission for Germany, case depending driving license only is not enough.

Also re-sort order of destinations. Munich makes most sense in the middle.

Freiburg. Nice city, worth a visit, good location.
Konstanz. Nice city, southern end of the forest, near to Rhine Falls, loads of stuff to see and do.
Baden-Baden. Historic spa town, casinos, old money, nice when it isn't raining.

Hi, nipabusu,

My favorite place in the Black Forest is Gengenbach. I stayed there for 4 nights in 2022 and absolutely loved it. The town is very charming with beautiful half-timbered houses (it's frequently called a "chocolate box" village) and has a beautiful Altstadt, with quite a few restaurants and cafes to choose from.

The town church (Saint Marion) is quite beautiful, and the medieval gates to the city are really interesting. The Benedictine Abbey is also worth a visit, and behind it are some cloistered gardens that were a joy to wander through. This was one of my favorite places. It was peaceful and inviting and I could have stayed for hours. There were little signs of inspiration scattered around, and some children from a nearby kindergarten playing on one side.

Also don't miss a walk through Engelgasse and Höllengasse streets (near the TIC). Here you will find cobblestones and half-timbered houses, flower pots and cats resting on doormats and quaint dolls in the window. I felt like I had walked back in time when I strolled through these quaint and narrow streets.

There is also a nice hike you can take that will get you above the town with some absolutely beautiful views of below. The hike ends up at a church called St. Jakob auf dem Bergle that sits above town. The TIC in town will have maps showing you how to get there. it was a really nice hike and as I said, the views are just lovely!

Also, since the German regulations are bit difficult for the average American to understand, here are the exceptions where you cannot use your US driver's license in Germany that Mark was referring to. They're mostly common sense rules, so you should be fine. And you should get an International Driver's Permit. If you are in the US, you can buy one at AAA.

• Must be valid in the US.
• Cannot be provisional or learner's permit
• You must be at least 18
• You could not have been a resident of Germany when you got your US license.
• Your US license has been refused, withdrawn, revoked or relinquished in Germany

Also re-sort order of destinations. Munich makes most sense in the middle.

I would imagine the OP is probably flying into Munich, which is why he has it first.

Based on your current route the Black Forest seems a little out of the way. We visited Staufen (breakfast) and Freiburg (Christmas Market) before driving a loop in the Black Forest on one enjoyable day trip about 5 years ago from Colmar. I would suggest adding the 1-2 days somewhere more convenient to your route.

Thank you everyone. We had a fabulous trip. Started with Munich. Then Fussen, Rothenberg , Freiburg, Baden- baden, Boppard. Last few days in Berlin.

Thanks so much for the suggestions.