Travel to Black Forest

The Black Forest is roughly 200 km long from north to south. You might want to be more specific about what you want to see. I would suggest the following. At the Baden-Baden station, buy a Baden-Württemberg-Ticket for €21 for the first person, €5 for ea additional traveler up to 5. It's an all day, hop on/off pass for regional trains. That ticket is valid after 9 AM weekdays You can buy it from a ticket automat or for €2 more from a ticket counter. Take one of the hourly IREs in the direction of Kreuzlingen. That train will go along the Rhein to Offenburg, then turn east to Hausach and south along the Gutach to Triberg and Donaueschingen. The section from Hausach to Triberg is known as the Schwarzwaldbahn and hugs the side of a steep, scenic valley. At Donaueschingen, change for a train west to Freiburg. On the way to Freiburg you might want to stop at the Titisee. At Freiburg, catch a regional train back down the Rhein to Baden-Baden. If your hotel in Baden-Baden gives you a Konus Card (free), you can use it for the whole trip instead of buying the B-W ticket.

Thank you Lee. Can you suggest any specific places in the Black Forest that we can look at ?

Lee has provide a good train trip for you. The railway into the Black Forest from Offenburg is described in the third link below (click on the town names near the bottom on that page.) I would also recommend Gengenbach, a beautiful town of cobblestones and old town walls and towers which is close to Offenburg. BF Railway map: http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/083/Purple/19/b1/19/mzl.cmmcrfpj.png http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/877263.jpg http://www.black-forest-travel.com/places-of-interest/black-forest-railway.html Not sure why you have picked Baden-Baden - perhaps you have a good reason. Also, it is not an easy town to make outings from since the train station is quite far from the town itself. If you stay in Gengenbach or 130 other smaller villages, train travel in the BF is FREE - your hosts issue a KONUS card to guests that can be used to visit Baden-Baden on one day, Freiburg the next, etc. I stayed in St. Georgen last year and did several daytrips by train - all at no cost to me. http://www.blackforest-tourism.com/konus

Thanks again Russ - this is most helpful.

We spent a week there summer before last. You may want to purchase Visitor's Guide to the Black Forest: itineraries for touring & exploring by George Wood. It's 256 packed pages of information and suggestions, and we found it invaluable (we were driving, but the sights are the same by train).

Thank you Dennis.