Visiting the Black Forest from Strasbourg

Month of year? Train? Volume of luggage? Walking on groomed trail abilities? City flying home from? Familiar with Free And Independent travel logistics?

My wife and I are traveling though Germany for 21 days in September. We are older too, 66 and 64. We will be visiting the Black Forest area as well. We plan to visit the town of Freiburg Im Breisgau two overnights and one full day. We have a car reserved through EuropCar-there are several other car rentals in Freiburg as well. We will be using the car to take a quick road trip around the Black Forest with a stop in Triburg, and also driving the Black Forest High Road Drive with a stop at the Triberg waterfall. There are a couple of museums near Triberg as well-German Clock Museum and the Black Forest Museum that look interesting.
This will be the first time for us to visit the BIack Forest and from what I've learnt through the Rick Steves books and videos, I wouldn't do the Black Forest without either a rental car or some form of transportation.

Thank you dhb60 for the info and Tim for your questions.

Tim: We will be in Strasbourg the second week of May, 2025. We will start out via train from Belgium and are open to renting a car either in Strasbourg or in the Black Forest if needed. We all love hiking and biking and travel with carry-on luggage only. We'll be making our way back to Amsterdam after the Black Forest visit and then home to Minnesota.

I disagree that you cannot do the Black Forest without a rental car. I stayed in Gengenbach in the Black Forest for four nights, and traveled exclusively by train. I didn’t have any problem getting to the places I wanted. If you want to get a car, that’s fine, but there’s really no need to.

And in terms of destinations, I highly recommend staying in Gengenbach. It is a beautiful and charming town, filled with the quaint half-timbered houses of German folklore. It’s often been called a chocolate box village because of its charm. It has a number of very nice restaurants and cafés and shops, and has the additional advantage of being on the main train line so it’s very easy to get to the other villages and towns in the area.

Also, if you stay in Gengenbach, you are entitled to a free KONUS card, which gives you free public transportation within the KONUS area. I loved my stay here and plan on going back at some point in the future.

Since you have so much lead time, you might look into the Multiple Cities tab of your preferred airline, and see if you can fly home from Basel, Zurich, or Frankfurt. Since Lufthansa is a United partner, we have often gotten a second flight segment in Germany for virtually zero. And there is often no extra cost for an Open Jaw ticket.

I know little of the BF, but besides a nice day-out in Freiburg (via KONUS card), I took the train one-way to hopelessly touristy Titisee, and walked back alone to my hotel on a well-blazed forest trail. There were three levels of trail difficulty available.

There is nothing wrong with limiting yourselves to the rich destinations of Colmar and Strasbourg, but we enjoyed having a car to stop many places in Alsace.

How many days do we need to get a real feel for the Black Forest and what do you recommend doing with those days?

We spent five nights based out of Baden-Baden, and felt like we got a good sense of the Black Forest from our daily excursions. Baden-Baden had plusses and minuses as a base. The train station is very far from the city center; however, there's an excellent bus system from the city center that takes you into the heart of the Black Forest. The town itself is a bit "meh," but it is large enough to provide variety for meals, grocery shopping, an evening drink, etc. Others have or will recommend Gengenbach or Freiburg Im Breisgau as a better base, and I don't disagree, but Baden-Baden did have some advantages too.

Anyway, our itinerary was as follows, all of which I recommend. Not a clunker in the bunch:

• Gengenbach & Freiburg Im Breisgau, especially the cathedral and Augustinermuseum. Have a meal at the Feierling brewery.
• Geroldsauer Wasserfall trailhead from Malschbach (Baden-Baden local bus #204) – Easy 2-mile loop through the wild and romantic "Grobbach" valley alongside a creek to the waterfalls of Geroldsau.
• Triberg waterfall and Trinkhalle in Baden-Baden
• 4-mile trail through the Black Forest from Seibelseckle to Ruhestein. Return on bus via Mummelsee where Black Forest hams are smoked lake-side.

We will spend four-five days extra in Belgium then continue on to
Strasbourg and Colmar for another three to four days. From there we
want to visit a few days--maybe three to four--in the Black Forest
before returning home to the States.

The BF really does feel more traditional and a little less attached to the modern world than the rest of Germany. Walking through a town like Schiltach brings this home. So does a visit to the Vogtsbauernhof Open Air Museum (in Gutach) which really should not be missed. The museum acquired its own train station a few years ago as a result of its popularity.

The town of Triberg is on the same railway as Gutach - the scenic "Black Forest Railway" - and makes for a good visit too - a bit touristy but also worthwhile for its "Schwarzwaldmuseum" and waterfall.

Gengenbach is an old walled town and also on the Black Forest Railway; it's known for its Christmas Market and equally beautiful in the warmer months. G'bach has a small-town feel with good dining and lodging options (including Michelin-guide entries) and makes for a very good base town for a short stay like yours. From Gengenbach you can catch a direct train to Schiltach, Gutach, or Triberg. Other attractive and worthwhile towns include Haslach and Hornberg - which are also on the BF Railway. See railway map.

Freiburg isn't especially Black-Foresty, but its a worthwhile destination and just an hour by train from Gengenbach. From Freiburg, the also-scenic "Hell's Valley" Railway heads east into the mountains toward Donaueschingen with stops in Hinterzarten, Titisee, Neustadt, Loeffingen and other nice towns. I've enjoyed some very nice hikes in this area.

The link below includes the Konus Karte information mardee has mentioned as well as a map of the Black Forest's railway connections:

https://prospektbestellung.toubiz.de/media/prospekt/file/5736289_KONUS_GB_2022.pdf

Happy planning!

What Mardee said. We stayed in Gengenbach 5 days last July. Loved it! Trains were great everywhere! Went to Strasbourg also! We prefer not using rental cars in Europe. Some people feel it’s necessary. Each to his own….

Wow! I am so thankful for your insights and suggestions. If we can see the sights without a car, I would prefer that, and it seems as though that is quite possible. We may not be able to see everything, but there seems to be plenty to see with public transportation. I will learn about the KONUS card, too.

Your comments have encouraged us to spend more time in the BF. We love mountains (even if not the Alps), hikes, waterfalls, and the like. We also love the idea of enjoying a not-so-modern looking part of Germany. Your observations have hit the jackpot for us. Gengenbach seems like a pretty ideal center for us.

Thank you all2alb, Russ (with so many details!), History Traveler (also amazing details), Tim, Mardee, and dhb60. Your comments worked like a well-tuned travel team. You da best!.