This May, we are flying into Paris and taking the train to Stuttgart. Can't decide whether to stay in the Black Forest Region or head over to the Romantic Road. We have 5 days in Germany and need to head to Geneva on day 6. What is the best way to travel to these places (train or car)? Would you recommend the Black Forest or the Romantic Road?
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19240 posts
If you stay within the Black Forest, you will pay a resort tax of a few Euro per day per person, but with that you will get a Konus Karte (Konus Card) which gives you unlimited use of the buses and regional trains in the Forest. It's definitely cheaper than renting a car.
Posted by
Paradise
6950 posts
From Stuttgart you'll find lots of great destinations. The Romantic Road is not necessarily so romantic, essentially just a label that serves to attract tourism. It would be simple to take the train to some nice places, maybe some in the BF, maybe some on the RR, maybe some elsewhere. I suggest you research these towns: Würzburg: RR town, Residenz palace; 2 hours by direct regional train Weikersheim: RR town, palace, 2.5 hours by regional train Tübingen: handsome university town, 1 hour by direct regional train Calw: Beautiful Black Forest town, 1 hour by regional train/bus Bad Wimpfen: Gorgeous town on Neckar River, 1 hr. by regional train.
Schwäbisch Hall: half-timbered town, 1.5 hrs. by regional train All these destinations are accessible on a Baden-Württemberg ticket, a daypass good for regional trains, 25€/day for two. Buy this ticket from a DB machine in Stuttgart or any other station.
Posted by
Paradise
6950 posts
Stuttgart-Geneva can be done by train for 29€ each w/ advance-purchase tix from www.bahn.de. This price is currently available on May 6 for some departures. You can buy these tickets no earlier than 92 days in advance; buy them on the first day they're available to ensure the best prices - prices go up as tickets sell.
Posted by
Stuttgart, Germany
3050 posts
Are you staying in Munich (which is what I assume you mean by Muennich) and do you have to go there? If not, you certainly don't need to go to through Munich to get to Geneva, and in that case if you wanted to cut down on traveling time and have your route follow a logical path it would make more sense to see Black Forest/Baden-Wurttemberg towns. Lindau wouldn't be too far out of your way and is lovely to consider as well. Russ' suggestions above are great too. Those towns are also fairly small and you could sort of "hop" along one town to another on regional train and see some nice countryside, particularly in the Black Forest. Since you're arriving in Stuttgart, consider heading straight from the train station to Ludwigsburg to see the palace there, if you're not doing Versailles in Paris. It's pretty impressive, modeled after Versailles. They have one English tour a day at 1pm, although you can also take a German tour just to see it as well. Stuttgart also has two of the world's premiere car museums (Porsche and Mercedes-Benz) if anyone in your party is interested in that sort of thing. As far as train versus car, either works fine, depending on where you're going. You can see more of the Black Forest by car in terms of scenic drives, but there is also a lovely rail route you can take.