Last week’s German holiday post took us to Berchtestgaden in the far south east of Germany. This week we’ll be looking at the south west and another of Germany’s internationally renowned areas, the Black Forest.
The Black Forest, famous for its cherry gateau and cuckoo clocks, is a spectacular place to spend a holiday or a weekend break, as we have done on several occasions. From farm holidays to spa breaks to hiking and skiing, there is a lot on offer.
So, whether you are looking for an outdoorsy, action-packed trip or a relaxing holiday in beautiful surroundings, the Black Forest is worth considering.
Our first break in the Black Forest was to a spa hotel for our first wedding annivarsary back in 2007. We hardly left the hotel, making good use of the pool, sauna and spa facilities.
On our family trips to the Black Forest, we have always gone self-catering. There is a huge range of accommodation available. A couple of times we have stayed on farms – a perfect option when you have children and enjoy good food. Farm holidays are very popular in the Black Forest and are reasonably priced. On top of that, you have plenty of outdoor entertainment for the children and access to meats, cheeses, fruit, vegetables, milk, honey and jam made on the farm or locally.
Our most recent trip was a winter trip to ski at Feldberg in the southern Black Forest. We stayed in a
large two-bedroom apartment in the village of Altglashuetten. The apartment is next to the restaurant owned by the very friendly apartment owners and is opposite the village bakery. We were within a short drive of the ski lifts, by car or local bus, and on the rail route to Freiburg. Not being directly in the skiing area was more reasonably-priced, so it was an ideal choice for us as a family on a budget.
One of the great things about holidaying in the Black Forest is that you are entitled to the
KONUS card which provides you with free travel on public transport in the region. Yes, free! Check with your accommodation whether they supply the card. As far as I know all types of accommodation provide you with the card as long as you are in an eligable area, and that area is quite big.
We went on a great day trip from Altglashuetten to Freiburg – two adults and two children on a 45 minute train journey and back again – for free with the KONUS card. We could have used the card each day to get to and from the ski lift too with the local bus but since we had our car with us, we drove. Another day we visited
Lake Titisee and the town of Titisee-Neustadt – a pretty town with a real holiday feel – again with free train transport.
The local activities on offer in the Black Forest region include:
Hiking
Mountain biking
Trout fishing
Swimming
Skiing
Spa breaks
Sight seeing
Where to fly to:
Baden Baden and Strasbourg (France) are the closest airports to the Black Forest.
Frankfurt am Main and Zurich (Switzerland) are suitable alternatives.
Places & sights worth visiting:
Vogts Bauernhof – an open air museum about the Black Forest, complete with petting zoo, cafe, crafts and typical Black Forest houses.
Freiburg – a charming city in the southern Black Forest
Triberg Waterfall – Germany’s highest waterfall. This is a gorgeous sight at any time of year.
Titisee-Neustadt – a pretty, holiday town right on Lake Titisee.
Mummelsee Lake – one of the larger mountain lakes, Mummelsee has a walking path (partly as a raised boardwalk and suitable for a buggy and small children) around the periphery, a restaurant, a cafe, pedal boat rental, a few pretty shops, a picnic area and playground.
[Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. We booked and paid for all our holidays, day trips and meals ourselves. We enjoyed it all thoroughly and want to share our experience with you. All links provided here are provided to help you plan your holiday because I want you to have a great holiday. I was not paid to include these posts.]
Linked up to Blogger Club UK with Becky and Debbie.
This is really interesting read – thank you! My husband and I have just been discussing the possibility of a family holiday to Germany and this looks amazing! Is the free transport card available to everyone? I love the idea of that. Will forward this on to my husband to read too! x
Yes the free transport in the Black Forest is for everyone. As far as I know your accommodation has to offer it to you. Even when we stayed in self catering, the tickets were there in the apartment for us to use.
Do pop back if you have any queries.
It looks beautiful here! I don’t know why but I always imagined Germany to be cold so I’ve always overlooked it when looking at city breaks. Now I’ve seen how nice the weather looks, I might be tempted to spend a weekend or two there!
Thanks for linking up to #BloggerClubUK 🙂
Debbie