Day Trip Drive Itinerary Assistance - Zurich to Black Forest Region

Are you trying to get into the Black Forest or are you happy with near? Neither Stuttgart nor Baden-Baden is in the Black Forest, and whilst Freiburg im Breisgau is close it isn't either.

Do you want to get out and walk or climb, or do you want to look out the window?

How many hours each day do you want to put into the trips? Do you also want to see some of Switzerland?

Which side of Zürich will you be on?

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Are you trying to get into the Black Forest or are you happy with
near? Neither Stuttgart nor Baden-Baden is in the Black Forest, and
whilst Freiburg im Breisgau is close it isn't either. Do you want to
get out and walk or climb, or do you want to look out the window? How
many hours each day do you want to put into the trips? Do you also
want to see some of Switzerland? Which side of Zürich will you be on?

I'm not sure if going all the way into the Black Forest is necessary or just being close is good enough, but I suspect with our time constraint that "close enough" will likely be enough.

We'd love a short hike, and we do want to get out of the car and experience things up close and personal. As for length of time....we can leave as early as we need and get back as late as we want, although it really is just a day, and will be followed by yet another day trip the next day, unless we combine the two somehow.

Finally, we will be seeing quite a bit of Switzerland. we have several days in country and our friends/hosts will be coordinating our Swiss adventures, although I couldn't begin to tell you which side of Zurich we'll be on. I know that they live about 10 minutes from the airport, if that helps.

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wine and drive are words not normally used together in Europe!!
Stuttgart is a large industrial city (Mercedes-Benz and Porsche to name two). It has a few museums in the centre but if you aren't interested in cars you can do better.
Baden-Baden - why, apart from the drive? The B500 which runs all the way from the border to Baden Baden is a great drive but takes over 4 hours without stops.

Wow...thanks, SteveB, for the detailed directions!

To answer your first questions, about Stuttgart and Baden-Baden.....no real reason, honestly. I was looking at a map and doing some reading to try to do preliminary planning, and both came up several times in my very light "research." That's why I thought I'd throw this question out here to see what some of you fine people had to say before I delved in too deep.