More questions about my German trip - need help with Stuttgart/Black Forest area

Tuebngen is a fine choice. I spent a week there usng public transportation. No problem

Gengenbach is a great choice. Public transportation is free with the KONUS card your hotel will provide you. No need for any anxiety about heights

My wife and I stayed at the Park Hotel Post in Freiburg. Cozy rooms and a nice breakfast It's about 2 or 3 blocks from the train station and 4 or 5 blocks further into Old Town. We loved their market (look for the cheesecake tent) where w outfitted a nice lunch for our train trip to Nuremberg.

We took the train to Freiburg from Berlin (stayed at the Melia a few blocks from your hotel) and trained to Freiburg. It was a long but comfortable trip passing small picturesque towns we will probably not get to see again. There was just one stop in Frankfurt that was long enough for me to learn the rules for using a pay bathroom in Germany
RS recommended Simone Brixel as a tour guide for the Black Forest and we spent a wonderful tho rainy day with her driving us to Triberg where we had our photo taken in front of the waterfall and visited cuckoo clock stores, etc We went to the folk museum too. Her tour was on the expensive side but you only live once right?
We are not ready to go back due to Covid but your post brought back wonderful memories. I hope you have a great time

Tübingen is a nice town, but I probably wouldn't use it as a base town for the Schwarzwaldbahn towns you plan to visit. Gutach's Open Air museum would be 3-4 hours and 4-5 trains each way from Tübingen.

You would much closer to your target towns and probably quite happy with Gengenbach as a base. From Nuremberg it's about 4 hours to G'bach with the better connections (7:41 - 11:49, or 9:42 - 13:49, for example.) And as stephen mentions, G'bach's hosts, unlike Tübingen's, provide the KONUS card for rambling around the Black Forest by train for free.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Verlaufskarte_Schwarzwaldbahn_%28Baden%29.png/518px-Verlaufskarte_Schwarzwaldbahn_%28Baden%29.png

Use the Gutach Freilichtmuseum station when you visit the Open Air Museum (not shown on the Schwarzwaldbahn map I linked to, but it's there.)

Schiltach is on the Kinzig Valley Railway, which shoots off the Schwarzwaldbahn in Hausach:
https://de.academic.ru/pictures/dewiki/86/Verlaufskarte_Kinzigtalbahn.png

From Gengenbach you could also day trip on the KONUS card without much trouble to Freiburg. Strasbourg (FR) is nearby too with an add-on fare to cover the tracks between Strasbourg and the German border town of Kehl (which is as far as the KONUS card will get you you on that route to Strasbourg.)

Stephen, thanks very much! I've been reading good things about Gengenbach and it sounds perfect, especially with the KONUS card. I had heard about that but wasn't sure what areas it covered. And thank you also for reassuring me about the heights issue.

culp3, I'm glad you have some happy memories of that area. I am very much looking forward to visiting there! And I hope to get to Freiburg to visit!

Russ, can I just bring you along as a tour guide? Seriously, thank you. It looks like Gengenbach is a sure winner. And thanks for all the information and links. I'm glad you mentioned Strasbourg - I was thinking about tacking it onto a day trip. My maternal grandfather's family came from that region in the early 1800's and I've always been interested in it. It would definitely be worth paying an add-on fare. Thanks for the railway graphic also - that helped me to visualize it much easier.

It sounds like you are already well on your way to a decision, but I will throw in another endorsement of Gengenbach. I stayed there in May 2017. I loved it! The town is full of Fachwerkhäuser (half-timbered houses/buildings) and very pleasing to the eye. There is a great town square where my travel companion and I would sit at the end of each day, eat gelato from the Italian restaurant across the street, and enjoy the non-hurried atmosphere of the town. It will offer a much different vibe than Berlin or Nuremberg.

Gengenbach > STRASBOURG > Gengenbach day trip: ticket/trip details

Ticket machines at Gengenbach station should have an option for the "Europass 24h Mini" or "Europass Mini 24h" (the French prefer this latter word order, it seems.) It's good for one person (+ 2 kids which you don't have a long) on the REGIONAL TRAINS (no ICE, EC, TGV etc. trains) and priced at €6.80. Buy it there. Then, with both your KONUS card and the daypass in hand, board a train to Offenburg, where you will change to a Strasbourg-bound train.

Both the KONUS card and the day pass are valid at any hour - no after-9 am restriction. The trip takes around 45-50 minutes. It's a busy route with lots of schedule options that can be found at the DB site. Sample:

G'bach 8:26
Offenburg ar. 8:34
(change of train; move from platform 7 to platform 2)
Offenburg lv. 8:42
Strasbourg ar. 9:10

Your KONUS card is valid only as far as Kehl, but you stay on that 2nd train to Strasbourg since the day pass you bought in Gengenbach covers the tracks between Kehl and Strasbourg. Keep the day pass for your return trip.

Note that the day pass is also valid on buses and trams in Strasbourg in case you need those.

The first linked page (in English) has a bewildering number of ticket options for Strasbourg. Scroll down to the bottom to find the Europass 24h Mini. The 2nd page (in German) is from the local transit authority (Ortenau region) on the German side of the border.

https://www.cts-strasbourg.eu/en/online-store/fares/tickets/
https://www.ortenaulinie.de/,Lde/Startseite/Fahrkarten/Europass_24h.html

€6.80 round trip from Gengenbach to Strasbourg and back is a pretty good deal. A standard fare bought at Gengenbach station would be €24.

The KONUS card for free transport has been around for many years, but the idea has been picked up by other vacation regions in Germany as a come-on to attract visitors. No matter where you plan to visit, it's smart to look into the availability of such freebies.

In Strasbourg, take the tram to the old town rather than walk.

Schiltach has a superb, free, town museum at the main square. It’s small, has English audio.

Dave, thank you for your thoughts about Gengenbach - it sounds charming!

Russ, thank you once again for your help! I have traveled quite a bit in Europe by train, but usually it's just a straight shot from one city to the next. This is different so your advice and information is invaluable. It is much clearer to me after your explanation.

Stephen, thank you for the information about Strasbourg - good to know. And also the museum in Schiltach - I love museums and that one sounds nice.

And I did go ahead and book a place in Gengenbach at the Stadthotel Pfeffermühle in town. The room cost €70 per night, which includes breakfast. It got good reviews on Google and was mentioned in Lonely Planet. It's also very near the Altstadt and only a 7-8 minute walk to the train station.

Another good vote for Gengenbach. We love the place.

On one of the trips we were at Pfeffermühle.

Oh, that's good to know - thanks, Nigel. I hope you liked it.

Just a few other suggestion for the area south of Stuttgart.

I don't know if you want to go into Stuttgart at all, or not, but I once stayed in the town of Herrenberg. It's on the end of an S-Bahn line to Stuttgart. Unfortunately, the town website is only in German, so staying there might be a challenge if you can only speak English. It's pretty small town, but loaded with Fachwerk buildings. We used Herrenberg as a last night's stay before flying out of Stuttgart's airport to Atlanta. We stayed at Kirchgasse 1, which is right on the town square. As I remember, our hostess was fluent in English.

Two other possibilities, on the line running south from Stuttgart to Gutach, are Freudenstadt and Alpirsbach.

Freudenstadt is sometimes called "the capital of the northern Black Forest". It's a larger town; should have more places to stay. It's known for it's large town square, with a covered arcade around most of it with shops and places to spend the night. It also has a spa, but the spa is "au natural" and not for the shy.

Alpirsbach was actually the first place in which I stayed in the Black Forest. It's quite a small place, but lovely. It's main attraction is a Monastery Brewery.

Both Alpirsbach and Freudenstadt are on the rail line that runs down to Hausach from Stuttgart. It would be a little more difficult, but possible, to get to Hausach from Herrenberg, but Herrenberg is a 24 minute train ride from Tübingen.

Lee, I did wind up finding a place in Gengenbach to stay but will have plenty of time for day trips and would love to visit that area. Freudenstadt sounds really lovely and I would like to visit a spa; just not in Baden-Baden. And I'm not modest - I grew up in a large family and worked for years as a theatrical costumer. You tend to lose any inhibitions about the body during costume fittings. :) I will check out the other places, too - thank you!

I believe that the Therme mentioned just above is the Panorama Bad Freudenstadt.

Like all normal Therme clothing is forbidden in the saunas, as is direct contact between a person and the seating/reclining area - be sure to sit or lie on a towel.

Equally in the rest of the facility, the Wellness area (currently closed because of Covid), the open air pool and the inside pool, as well as the children's pool, nudity is forbidden and swimming clothes are required.

The website has an English option at https://www.panorama-bad.de/en

Nigel, thank you for the details and for the link.

How does the sauna work there? We have a sauna in our house here in Duluth (as do many houses in northern Minnesota) and the idea is that you sweat in the sauna and then run outside and jump in the snow. Do people follow the sauna with a cold shower or a dip in the pool?

In addition to the small locker for your wallet and keys there will normally be a unisex changing area with cubicles and lockers worked by your rfid strap, and you change, shower, and go into the pool areas for a frolic there. At the one we are speaking of there is also the waterslide area and a children's area as well as outside pools. At many there will be a current pool and various water toys but not there I don't think. There is also the (closed) wellness area with various other water features and resting areas.

You will then use your rfid strap to enter the sauna area and there will be showers and small lockers for your swimming clothes, or often (I didn't check this one for details) little cubbies where you the suit goes. The various saunas are spaced around - look at the website, it is quite descriptive, and there will be cold showers, often a cold bucket on a rope, and usually some sort of not really cold unheated pool. I didn't look. Sometimes an ice bath, I've even seen an indoor snow "cave" next to a "volcano". Often some saline. Each sauna will have a suggested maximum exposure guide, and many have large wooden (yes anything else would be too hot) wall mounted sand timers.

Everywhere has some of these, you need to look carefully for the features you want...

I believe that the Therme mentioned just above is the Panorama Bad Freudenstadt.

That's the one. Panorama was the first "textile-frei" Therme I ever went to. I kind of knew what I was getting into (pardon the pun). I had read their website. The entrance to the "Saunaland" was through a tunnel. At the end of the tunnel there were lockers on the wall before you got into the Saunaland itself. I went beyond the lockers to the Therme entrance to take a look inside to make sure it was indeed "textile-frei. I didn't want to walk bare-? into the main room and find everyone dressed. Ops!

At the next Therme I went to, at Bad Herrenalb, they used a little plastic "coin" with a chip that snapped into a wristlet. You dropped the coin into a slot in a machine when you went in and it recorded the time. You did the same thing when you left and it charged you by the hour you were in the spa. We had this explained to us by the young, female worker. I thought I saw an amused smile on her face when she explained it. She obviously knew we were Americans. I think she expected us to come running right out, red faced, when we found out what kind of a "spa" it was.

The clue to that spa was that there was just one entrance into a single locker room, not girls and boys locker rooms. If you went into the public, pool side, there was a hallway leading to the pool with men's and women's locker rooms on either side.

The best Therme I have found is at Bad Wildbad. It was built years ago as the private spa for a graf or whatever. It's beautiful, ornate, in a Moorish style. It's kind of out-of-the-way for where you are going to be, but well worth the trip.