Cuckoo Clocks

Baden-Baden, Black Forest region, or lots of shops in Bavaria, for starters.

Triberg, in the Black Forest.

One consideration- Cuckoo clocks do not travel well. Consider having the company ship the clock after you pick it out in the store. Nothing is more depressing than a beautiful, but non-functional cuckoo clock.

We bought a clock for a friend in Triberg at a placed called Oli's. Oli is a a Master Carver and although he does not have the volume that House of 1000 clocks has he did have a very good selection. He explained that to be a Master Carver you have to train & then go before a Government panel and take a test to be licensed as a Master Carver. Also, he said they have to re-test every 5 years to maintain the Master Carver certification. The carvings on his clocks really impressed us and they have "mcc" on the face of the clock indicating the clock was made by a Master Carver. Oli also has a real Cuckooo bird mounted in his store.
He also will ship clocks to the States. Word of caution. Oli is a talker and will take 30 minutes to an hour telling you about cuckoo clocks but it is most educational. In addition if you need a place to stay while in Triberg he has nice and reasonable rooms to rent above his shop. The waterfalls in Triberg are beautiful.

Actually, my cuckoo clock traveled just fine. We bought an authentic Black Forest clock in Salzburg, Austria. It is beautifully carved with hand-painted accents. It had its own box that was appropriately padded. The box fit nicely in my carry-on.

However, expect luggage with clocks to get special scrutiny in security. We departed for home aboard an Air France plane from Charles De Gaul Airport. It took a little extra time but we had no problems; they just opened the box and carefully removed the clock and then carefully replaced it back in the box. This happened while we were standing there.

My clock is a treasured keepsake of a wonderful trip. I hope yours is as well.

Having the store ship it is another option--they take care of all of that for you and usually are experienced at packing them.

That is what we did Kent. In 2004 I purchased two in Rothenburg ob der Tauber and had the merchant ship it to us. In May of this year in Triberg the shop mailed my friend's clock to us. All arrived with no promblem and no damage.

Lane: That's exactly what we did.

Thanks everyone for the helpful tips!

Jessica, my advice would be to search for Honig cuckoo clocks in the US. The cuckoo clock industry has become so commercialized that it is very difficult to find one that hasn't been mass produced in some fashion. The Honig brand is from Europe and high quality. They are sold all over the world, including all over Europe.

This way you don't have to worry about getting it home.

There is a wonderfull shop selling Black Forest Souvenirs at Lichtentalerstrasse in Baden-Baden. They will pack and/or ship to the USA.
While there go to the Caracalla Thermal Bath/Friedrichsbad and enjoy the spa like the Romans already did. They also have a wonderful Christmas Market open till Dec. 26, 07 with Glühwein and Bretzels.

We purchased a cuckoo clock in Switzerland (with credit card) in a little shop and had the lady ship it to us. When we arrived back in the US we anxiously waited for our package...and waited and waited for 2 months. Finally I found the receipt and phone number for the shop. I called and the lady said she had lost our mailing address...(really?) She lost the address, never shipped it, and never attempted to refund the money to the credit card...until we called. Soon it was delivered to our house. If you ship it home, pay with credit card and keep receipt and phone number.