Black Forest favorite towns

Triberg or Titisee.

Titisee. Touristy. In a bad way. When I was in the Black Forest a few years ago, our B&B owner initially suggested skipping Titisee. Then she said, "No, go to Titisee and see all the foreign tourists. Then go to Schluchsee to see the German tourists."

There is an open air museum at Gutach. https://www.vogtsbauernhof.de/en

Schiltach has a many half-timbered houses.

Gengenbach is a great town for a base -- it is the town a friend and i used for a base several years ago.

Freiburg is a nice college city with a Black Forest twist.

Triberg is touristy but the waterfall is cool. I also enjoyed the Schwarzwaldbahn Erlebnispfad, a hiking trail built around sites related to the Black Forest train line. http://www.schwarzwaldbahn-erlebnispfad.de/de/startseite. (in German)

I really liked the nice little village of Feldberg. Maybe because we found modern accommodations there - not so easy in the Black Forest Feldberg area, I think. I also liked the 'Ravenna Gorge', the small but beautiful 'Menzenschwander Waterfalls' and the 'Schluchsee'.

Mentioned Freibug is a jam.

don't know what you mean by "spa". If you mean a typical German therme, our favourite is in the woods (bus available) just south of Freiburg im Breisgau https://www.keideltherme.de/

A little further south and also in the flatlands is Bad Krozingen with several spas and a therme.

As far as hotels with a spa area for treatments, that's not my style so I have no recommendation.

Using Gengenbach as a base checks the boxes you asked for, "I am mainly interested in pursuing cute little towns, local shopping and dining, interesting little museums" There is a fun museum about how the logs used to be floated down the Kinzig river which is right next to the museum. A nice small town with a bit of wall and beautiful towers and gates.

Schiltach and Triberg are my favorite towns after Gengenbach. In Gengenbach be sure to visit the Narren Museum. It has limited open hours. In Schiltach be sure to visit the town museum, perhaps the best designed small museum I have ever visited.

Paris is an easy train trip from Gengenbach via Strasbourg

I visited Titisee 35 years ago, and it was great back then, but more tourists are going to Europe now.

Some nice suggestions. We enjoyed a couple nights stay in Staufen im Breisgau.

Based on your stated interests in the Black Forest, your plan to stay in Gengenbach makes good sense to me. Some details on worthwhile places Dave and others have mentioned...

The BF open-air museum (Vogtsbauernhof) is excellent... 25 minutes from G'bach by train to the "Gutach Freilichtmuseum" stop.

Gengenbach is on the scenic Black Forest Railway, an engineering wonder for its time and one of Germany's most scenic train rides. In theory, you could ride this railway on just one train all the way to Konstanz on Lake Constance (at the Swiss border) which would require 3 hours, something you might want to do on a rainy day. However, the KONUS card is valid only to Donaueschingen (the source of the Danube River) which is a trip of roughly 65 minutes; on the way you'll pass through Haslach, Triberg, and Villingen (a larger and very attractive medieval town that Rick Steves apparently never bothered with) so stops along the way make sense.

BF Railway map: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Verlaufskarte_Schwarzwaldbahn_%28Baden%29.png

Villingen: https://www.villingen-schwenningen.de/en/tourism-experience/experience-vs/places-of-interest/city-district-villingen/

Haslach, another very pretty old-world town. The Costume Museum might interest you.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g2291703-d3474405-Reviews-Schwarzwaelder_Trachtenmuseum_in_Haslach-Haslach_im_Kinzigtal_Baden_Wurttemberg.html

Looking for a walk? There is a walk you can take - the "Walk of Remembrance" which memorializes the experiences of the forced-labor prisoners during the Nazi regime and takes you out of town to a former work site, now memorial site, called Gedenktstätte Vulkan. (The signage there is largely in German.)

https://www.gedenkstaetten-suedlicher-oberrhein.de/en/gedenkstaetten/haslach/

(We managed to get ourselves a bit muddied in our tennies, so consider the conditions before setting out.)

Flyer (German) with map of the walk, if interested: https://info.haslach.de/_Resources/Persistent/cb04b62af582cab24fff340b061ca33fe34b9d0d/Flyer%20WdE.pdf

Schiltach is very attractive... 35 minutes from G'bach. The train ride to Schiltach from G'bach takes you on a detour off the Black Forest Railway and onto the Kinzig Valley Railway; you could easily spend a day poking around in Schiltach and the other towns on this route:

Kinzig Valley Railway

Alpirsbach brewery: https://de.academic.ru/pictures/dewiki/86/Verlaufskarte_Kinzigtalbahn.png
Wolfach glassblowing: https://www.dorotheenhuette.info/1/
Freudenstadt: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g187282-Activities-oa0-Freudenstadt_Baden_Wurttemberg.html

Freiburg makes for a really nice city-outing from Gengenbach. It's 1.25 hours from G'bach by train. Be careful not to use the ICE or other long-distance trains that are on this route with your KONUS card, which is only good on the regional trains.

Of the villages I've visited there or thereabouts, in order:

Gengenbach and Staufen

Schiltach and Haslach

Löffingen, Endingen, Wolfach and tiny Oppenau

The village of Schluchsee is a lively place in a pleasant setting, though it's not particulalrly attractive architechturally.

If you like to hike you can spend a day in and around Baden-Baden.

Nice scenery around Durbach and the Munstertal Valley.

I'd avoid Titisee, Freudenstadt and Triberg, unless you want to walk the waterfall trail.

The longer train ride to Freiburg from Gengenbach, via Donaueschingen, is supposed to be very scenic. As are the villages of Calw and Bad Wildbad.

Strasbourg is better reached from Gengenbach, if you are considering basing further south in Alsace later on without a car. Three or four nights without a car in Alsace is more doable if you base in Colmar.

The Black Forest is one of my favorite places in Germany, and you definitely can't go wrong basing in Gengenbach.

Other wonderful places have been mentioned above but I would second (or third or fourth) the recommendations for all the towns mentioned Have you considered taking the Black Forest Railway? It's a great way to see places like Schiltach and Haslach and many more. Here is more info on it: https://www.black-forest-travel.com/places-of-interest/black-forest-railway.html

And I would also agree with Dave and Russ's rec to see the Vogtsbauernhof, which is an incredible open air museum. It's very easy to get to by train from Gengenbach, and they tell you exactly how to get their on their website. It's sort of in the middle of nowhere but there are 2 cafes—one at the museum, and one across the street. I loved visiting here. https://www.vogtsbauernhof.de/en/visit

And while you are in Gengenbach, 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!

Interestingly, I found out (from Nigel, I believe) that that hike I just mentioned is part of the Camino de Santiago trail that goes through Spain and France.

Great suggestions. Thanks!

If you make it to Schiltach the free Schüttesägemuseum was interesting. It was near the parking lot we parked at and the town center was a short walk away.

Schluchsee is okay. I found it slightly underwhelming as a destination but fine.

Titisee Titisucks.

Gengenbach and Schiltach thumbs up.

The town of Titisee isn't too exciting but the surrounding scenery is outstanding - this from the perspective of someone who has taken the lovely hike between Titisee and Neustadt across the Hochfirst peak/lookout:

https://mein.toubiz.de/api/v1/media/cb02ba57-31da-406f-99b4-c54331688d82/view
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=047TYS33dbk&t=12s

I can agree with that Russ, the area probably feels the most "alpine" out of all the Black Forest. I've ridden a bike up some of those higher peaks

Good info. Saving for future.