Black Forest

Do you want the north Black Forest or the south?

Do want hiking or model trains or a spa or old traditional buildings or culture or University life or wood chip carving or lakes or famous churches or what?

How long have you got?

Why do you want to go to the Black Forest? What is calling to you? What do you expect to see?

The Black Forest varies quite a lot and it is quite large - it is not all the same. Thus the questions....

As Nigel noted, the Black Forest is not a distinct destination, but a long mountain range that runs parallel to the Rhine from around Karlsruhe to the Swiss border. What did you have in mind?

"... how do we get to the Black Forest from Zurich?"

I went from the western edge of the Black Forest at Lahr to Zürich by going through Basel, and the reverse, Zürich to Basel, might be a good way into the Black Forest at Freiburg, but I think the best way would be to go across the Bodensee, or through Schaffhausen, to Singen and from there to either Titisee and Freiburg or through Donaueschingen to Triberg and Hausach.

Thank you Nigel,Tom and Lee.

We are looking at 3 days there. From what I have seen on the internet I am leaning at staying at Frieberg. We are open to suggestions, prefer a smaller town/village.
Not sure what to expect only seen beautiful pictures, would like to do some forest walks but not long hikes.
Thanks

"I am leaning at staying at Frieberg. We are open to suggestions, prefer a smaller town/village."

There are lots of those in the Black Forest. Train lines criss-cross the Black Forest and connect small places very nicely. (All the places I mention below have train service.)

You do mean FREIBURG, right? As the photo shows, Freiburg is one of the larger cities in this area (but actually outside the Black Forest.) You probably don't want to stay there. Or do you mean TRIBERG? It's a small town at higher elevation on the scenic Black Forest Railway line which runs between Offenburg and Donaueschingen. There are several nice Black Forest Railway towns. I would probably avoid Triberg in favor of a different small town where the train station is easier to use (Triberg's requires a bus connection or a steep hike) and pick a town that is maybe a little less touristy than Triberg (a tour bus stop.) Look into GENGENBACH, HASLACH, and GUTACH (home of the VOGTSBAUERNHOF open-air museum) for starters. (I recently stayed at this farm apartment in Steinach, near Haslach, and did outings by train.) There are also some nice towns on other train lines near the BF Railway - SCHILTACH is between Hausach and Freudenstadt on the map above. LOEFFINGEN (Spelled "Löffingen" in German) is on the Hell's Valley Railway between Donaueschingen and Titisee on the map (Titisee is a scenic and popular destination too, but touristy.)

In these small towns you will receive a KONUS guest card from your hosts for free train and bus travel throughout the Black Forest and discounts during your stay. Click on the KONUS Flyer link at the page above to see a list of participating towns.

If the city of Freiburg is on your list of places to visit, you can day trip there by train pretty easily from either Gengenbach or Löffingen.

THE BLACK FOREST TOURISM site has a very complete set of accommodations listings.

Thank you Russ you have been very helpful.

We stayed 5 days in the small town of Gengenbach. Very quaint town and from there we took the local train to various other towns (Triberg, Strasbourg). The train is free with the Konus card, given to travelers who stay in the BF. Loved our time there and could have stayed there longer, exploring.

Thanks Alexandra,

What was the name of the accomodation you stayed at??

It was called Gasthof Hirsch. It was old and quaint. Room decor was a little dated and the shower stall was quirky but it was clean and the bed was fine. Breakfast was always wonderful and we ate dinner there 2 of the 5 nights we were there. Really nice owners. An easy walk to the train station too.