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The Black Forest Travel Guide

The name conjures up images of a wild, isolated place where time passes slowly. The dense woodland of the Black Forest—Schwarzwald in German—stretches away to the horizon, but this southwest corner of Baden-Württemberg (in the larger region known as Swabia) is neither inaccessible nor dull. Its distinctive characteristics include the cuckoo clock, the women's native costume with big red or black pom-poms on the hat, and the wild, almost pagan way the Carnival season is celebrated. The first travelers checked in here 19 centuries ago, when the Roman emperor Caracalla and his army rested and soothed their battle wounds in the natural-spring waters at what later became Baden-Baden. More »

Getting Oriented
Top Reasons to Go
When to Go
Getting Here & Around
Planning Your Time
Cuckoo for Cuckoo Clocks

Places to Explore

Alpirsbach
Baden-Baden
Baiersbronn
Calw
Ettlingen
Freiburg
Freudenstadt
Gutach
Hinterzarten
Kaiserstuhl
Karlsruhe
Pforzheim
Rust
Staufen
Titisee
Triberg

Photo: Romeo Koitme/Shutterstock

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