where to go between Freiburg and Frankfurt

I don't know how important $budget is to you, but I wanted to note that even thought I was in a pretty fancy Black Forest hotel last year, they wanted me to turn in my Black Forest free railroad pass that came with the room, when I checked out. You will certainly have this pass too, but I wonder if you could keep yours the day you check out, and get to, say, Baden-Baden for "free" that day. I'm not proposing that you "cheat", only that you might want to ask exactly what the story is. Of course this is only useful if you find someplace you want to go that's still within the limits of the Black Forest train pass. I don't know Heidelburg, but it's highly recommended here. If the train is suitable and you haven't seen Colmar or Strasbourg, they are excellent. Would you be interested in a little bit of the Rhine or Moselle? I wonder if there's a boat you could get to Frankfurt from Mainz? Bingen would be a good taste of the Rhine. If the train is easy and you haven't done the Rhine, you could boat from Bingen to Koblenz and train from there to Frankfurt (which involves backtracking.)

What are you planning to do in Freiburg? You can do day trips from there to places like Lake Titisee or Staufen. On the way to Frankfurt you can stop at Gengenbach or Strasbourg or Baden-Baden. Near Frankfurt you can go to cities such as Stuttgart or Speyer. By the way - if you stay in a large city like Freiburg, you will not be eligible for a KONUS card (that provides you with free public transport during your stay) - you must stay at of the little villages for this.

Maulbronn Monastery Karlruhe Palace Bad Dürkheim German Wine Route Heidelberg, Baden-Baden... to name just a few. Also if you're into "haute cuisine" the area around Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden is the German area with the most restaurants that carry Michelin stars...

We stayed one night in Heidelberg last spring AND absolutely loved the "old town". My wife had been to Europe over a dozen times but never Heidelberg. She fell in love with it. We also stayed in Baden Baden. I would highly recommend both. Safe Travels!

We stayed in Freiburg last year and did day tours on our own from Freiburg. You can easily spend a week in Freiburg and the surrounding Black Forest. We found a place online offering Black Forest self-guided itineraries (please email me if you want the website, I don't think I am allowed to put it into the forum). The Company was called Black Forest To Go. It is very easy to visit all the surroundings by public transportation, no need to hire a private guide. You can also venture across the border into France for a day and do some winetasting.
Julie

Tim I'm shocked that they demanded your Konus Pass on your last day unless they were fiddling the Kurtax. If you were in a Konus town you paid for it with your Kurtax every night you were there and it is supposed to be from arrival day through departure day. My excellent hotel in Gengenbach certainly never asked for it back; in fact we had a last ride on the train after we left - it was stamped and with the date of departure written in.

Thank you to all who replied. I love reading about other peoples travels and suggestions for our travel. I am thinking that since we will be in larger cities for some of our trip, we might want to stay in smaller cities for this portion from Freiburg to Frankfurt. After looking into some of your suggestions, I have thought I would like to stay in Colmar (1 night), Bacharach (1 night), and then Frankfurt for our third night. (We want to take a train out of Frankfurt on the 4th day.) So, if I choose this itinerary, should I rent a car? We were sort of hoping to stick with a train but it doesn't seem very doable IF we want to go to smaller towns.
Thanks again for any input or suggestions.