Scenic drive through the Black Forest?

Towns you ought to look into in your loop to Freiburg:

Gengenbach, Schiltach, Titisee, Hinterzarten, St. Blasien

Why drive, unless you already have a car? There are some great scenic routes in that area, and they are almost entirely regional trains, so you can make the day trip mostly (Except Strasbourg to Kehl or Offenburg) with a €27 Baden-Württemberg. With the train, you can watch the scenery instead of the road, and there are some pretty scary roads on that route. Take the train across the river to Offenburg, then up to Baden-Baden and then to Rastatt. Take the local train up the Murg river to Freudenstadt (www.freudenstadt.de) then down the Kinsig to Hausach, then to Triberg and Donaueschingen. That part, from Hausach to Triberg is known as the Schwarzwaldbahn. From Donaueschingen you could go west through Titisee to Freiburg, then back down the relatively flat, non-scenic Rhein valley to Offenburg and Strasbourg.

If you don't want to do Baden-Baden and Freudenstadt, you could go directly from Offenburg to Hausach.

Thanks for the suggestion! However, we will be in a car because our hosts want to drive us around. Unfortunately, they do not know this area well. And I want to plan our route ahead of time, so I can be sure we've made it to as many of the picturesque villages, charming towns, and scenic views as we can comfortably fit into one day.

It seems you know the area very well. Would you be willing to suggest a route for me? We won't have time for Baden-Baden, unfortunately. My guess is we'll have to start our southward journey into Bavaria at Offenburg.

Based on other comments and some reading, I'm wondering if the following is the best plan -- or if it is too ambitious, or if it leaves out something good!:

Offenburg to Gengenbach
Gengenbach south, then east to Schlitach
Schlitach, back west, then south to Triberg im Schwarzwald
Triberg, south down 500 to Hinterzarten and Titisee
Titisee, west on 31 to Freiburg im Breisgau
Freiburg, north on a highway in the evening to Strasbourg

(The castle at Donaueschigen looks stunning, but I'm afraid that town is too far east for this trip.)

By the way, we're not interested in touring factories or churches. We mostly want to soak up the beauty of the region...and walk around some towns and perhaps take a short hike up a hillside or two for views.

So, is this trip do-able? Or am I biting off way more than we'll be able to chew?
(If so, would it be best to drop Titisee and Hinterzarten?)

THANK YOU for any advice you can provide. :-)

P.S. Are there any really scary roads we should avoid?

Oops. The format changed when it posted. Here's the tentative plan:

Offenberg--then south to Gengenbach--then south and east to Hausach and Schiltach--then west and south to Triberg im Schwarzwald--then south down 500 to Hinterzarten and Titisee--then west on 31 to Freiburg im Breisgau for dinner and early evening---then north on a highway back to Strasbourg.

That sounds like a nice route to me. The Murg Valley Lee suggests route is also very scenic - a narrow gorge with several pretty villages including Forbach, with its unique wooden bridge. If you can do that too, all the better.

What ever you plan to do take a GPS (with European Maps) . We just came back and would have been totally lost with out one. We travelling 17 days on our own travelling from Hamelin (Germany) to St. Goar, Wurzburg, Salzburg, Fussen, Triberg, Frieburg and then to Frankfurt. We many times took a wrong turn but the GPS got us back on track.