Alsace and Black Forest - where to base, trains
 

I’m in the beginning phases of next August’s two week vacation, which will probably be Alsace and the Black Forest for four to five days, then to Switzerland (thinking Lucerne (2 nights), Wengen (4 nights), and Vevey (3 nights), before flying home from Geneva. We would fly LAX- CDG, then train on the Air France ticket to Strasbourg (and collapse). :)

We’re most interested in seeing Strasburg, Colmar, and, in the Black Forest, the Black Forest Open-Air Museum in Gutach, the BF Museum in Triberg, and maybe Baden-Baden, if we have time (not into the spas, particularly, more the town itself). I don’t know a lot about Freiburg, though it looks like it has a nice cathedral. We will be using trains the whole trip - don’t want to rent a car at all on this trip.

My question is where to base ourselves. My original idea was to spend two nights in Strasbourg (since we’re landing there, see that city and Colmar), then move over to Freiburg for three nights. However, if we can avoid moving around, we’d prefer to stay in one place..

In looking at the train routes, it looks like there are easier, more direct trains from Strasbourg to the BF places I’ve listed than from Freiburg. Is that correct? Will we be missing a lot - considering that we’re following up with mountains and hikes in Switzerland - not basing ourselves in the BF?

Also, if we’re using the trains a lot, is there some sort of pass for our short haul trips in France and Germany (we’ll look into the Swiss Pass when we go there)? After having to wait to purchase from the booths in Toulouse (no chip-and-pin credit card), we’d like to avoid all the hassle.

Thanks very much!

Ah another person verbing a noun :-)

What are your interests in Alsace, the wine,walking, the castles, WW1, WW2, Strasbourg's architecture? This affects where you should base yourself.

I guess similar questions about the Black forest, normally walking, breweries, wineries?

Oh dear, I verbed a noun? Which noun, and was it painful? (Just trying to be succinct on the title).

Anyway, the things we are interested in Alsace would include gardens, architecture and historical buildings/chateaux. We are not interested in the Wine Road, which would probably be more difficult to see without a car, anyway. In the Black Forest, this would would be the places I mentioned above (under “Alsace” and also in my introductory paragraph), walking in the forest (not strenuous hiking), and relaxing in charming surroundings.

And good food.

Thanks!

Gengenbach

I used the half-timbered town of Gengenbach as a base for this region a few years ago. Nice cobblestone town square, small museum of Fastnacht costumes, check out the medieval Engelgasse. Worth investigating. Plenty of restaurant choices.
Love the town. You'll have to generally change trains in Offenburg a transport hub...might be worth investigating IT.
Gengenbach-->Strasbourg 1 hr 19
Geng-->Colmar 2 he 4
Geng-->Triberg 37-53 min
Geng-->Gutach Open air Museum 1 hr 9 min
Geng-->Freiburg 1 hr
I used to post under another name, can't remember it to give my TR!

These are areas that we love and frankly I think not renting a car is a big mistake - much easier to get to the smaller places and off the beaten track with a car.

We stay in Strasbourg for Alsace and at a gasthaus in the countryside for the Black Forest. But then we love exploring and serendipity - both more difficult by train.

Thank you for your replies; I have been reading about Gengenbach and it is definitely one of the places we’re considering if we stay in the Black Forest - it looks lovely, and thank you for the train connection information.

It depends on how many days we have to allot in the area, and how many moves we want to make. Usually on a two week trip we like to limit it to four places, and stay a minimum of three night nights - it’s just much more relaxing to do that. We are already limiting Lucerne to two nights in order to have more in the Berner Oberland.

We need to stay in the city where we “land” at least one to two nights. If we move from Strasbourg to Gengenbach, that’s 2 nights/3 nights; if we stay in Strasbourg, it might be OK to do four nights there (I figure that you lose at least a half day each time you move).

nytraveler, we have driven before in Europe, many times, but really don’t want to do it this time. The villages are small, and my husband does not wish to try to drive and park there - and I want to reduce stress, so I’m looking for places that we can see by train.

mokka, I’ll do a search for TRs and see if I can find yours.

Are you aware of some kind of pass in the area in France and Germany? I know about the KONUS pass, but not any other passes. That will help make the decision…and if our credit card gets chip-and-pin by then (we have Capital One, and they’re in the process of changing over).

I have plenty of time to figure it out, just starting to get information and hear your experiences. Because it’s August, we’re looking for someplace cooler, and this area seems like it would be perfect. Thank you very much!

If you ARE in the Freiburg area, consider a few hours in nearby village of Staufen. Castle ruin above (just a few walls), Schladerer schnapps outlet, quaint town square with ? Faust house and a few wine-tasting cafes. About 30 minutes from Freiburg im Breisgau.