Can anyone advise if Baden Baden is a good base for 3 nights in the Black Forest region? We would like to stay in a small town or village, in that general region, and one that is easy to get in and out of by car. After reading posts on this forum, I think Freiburg is too big, and we would also prefer to be further North for driving back to the UK.
Any other ideas about typical German smaller towns would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

Baden-Baden is overpriced and at the edge of things - and not a small town.

Look into these places:

Schiltach
Hinterzarten
Calw
Gernsbach
Elzach
Löffingen
St. Blasien
Zell im Wiesental
Bad Peterstal

More touristy places:

Titisee
Triberg

Good site for B&B reviews in small villages:

http://www.bensbauernhof.com/accommo...hwarzwald.html

Totally agree with Russ - Baden Baden is too resort-like for my tastes! Typical overpriced spa town. It is pretty but there are definitely more charming places to stay in the area - Russ has mentioned some great ones.

Good luck!

Let me add Gengenbach to Russ's excellent list.

Use the local tourist offices to search for accommodation. Their websites (google "Name of place" + "tourist information&quot will have a complete list of all accomodation in that place, including the private owned B&B's, country inns, farmstays etc.

Exactly. When my husband and I plan for each trip I order free brochures from every TI place even remotely close to the region(s) we are going to well in advance. It is so nice to visualize where you are going - sometimes you even receive coupons and discounts at attractions and such.

I don't buy that BB is "overpriced." It is not at all overpriced, it is fairly priced for what you get. 170€ per night for a deluxe double with private terrace in a 5-star hotel with lovely spa facilities and fitness center? Including breakfast and personally guided walking tours of the town? That is overpriced? 50€ for the best seats to a superb performance at one of Germany's finest concert halls, including a champagne reception with free drinks and food (and free limousine travel between the hotel and the concert hall)? That is overpriced? 15€ for lunch in a pretty cafe, including wine and luscious homemade desserts? That is overpriced? 15€ for three hours in a beautiful spa? Free high quality outdoor concerts? None of this seems "overpriced" to me.
It's an elegant resort town, designed for relaxing and strolling. It's not for someone looking for a quaint, "old worldy" little village.
It's also not cutrate cheap. But we've always been VERY satisfied with what we've gotten for our euros.

Nice that B-B has been a good value for you, BT.

It could be that B-B is a bargain compared to Bath or Karlovy Vary - I really don't know. I suppose I meant that it's overpriced for the average visitor who only wants a base to explore the region from - like this poster - and who isn't really looking for an elegant spa experience.

I just find it odd when people complain that it's too "resort like". It IS a resort (and a very nice one at that). When has it pretended to be anything else?
It also doesn't even try to represent itself as an inexpensive quaint little town, so if someone arrives there with that expectation and is disappointed, the fault is with their trip planning, not the town.

(In an older thread on BB, another Fodorite wrote that they didn't like what they saw of BB when they "blew through" the center of town...this is a very odd observation considering that the main road in Baden-Baden goes through an underground tunnel completely bypassing the pedestrian-oriented center...it's deliberately designed so that you CAN'T just "blow through" at street level...no wonder they didn't like what they saw ;-) )

I can only say that BB is one of the more (most) boring places one could visit. But I'm not into that sort of thing anyway. (If I had to, I feel places like Krynica are far more interesting).

"BB" is, by the way, Böblingen, a town near Stuttgart, since it's their car number plate. No one here will associate "BB" with Baden-Baden.

I notice a case of abbreviationitis.

Quokka, the thread title is Baden-Baden. The town under discussion is Baden-Baden. Nobody here would imagine IN THIS CONTEXT that the use of the abbreviation BB meant anything other than Baden-Baden.

I notice a SEVERE case of splittinghairsitis.

anna asked:

"Can anyone advise if Baden Baden is a good base for 3 nights in the Black Forest region?"

HEY!! The point here is to help anna find a travel base. If you think Baden-Baden or BB or whatever is a good place - or a bad place - for her purposes, or if you have some other suggestions, then you're on topic. Otherwise...

Hi AH,

This past May we visited Gengenbach as part of our drive through the Black Forest.

I have in my notes:

"Gengenbach is very nice, if you are in the vicinity. Zell am Harmersbach looked much nicer".

You can drive from Zell to BB via the Schwarzwalder Hochstrasse (B500) in about 1:30 hr.

A nice daytrip would be a visit to Colmar from Zell. You can take the back roads through Emmendingen (1:45 hr) and return on the highway via Strasbourg (1:20 hr).

You get to cross the Rhine, and see a bit of Alsace.

Enjoy your visit.

My DW is from Bühl, a few kilometers from Baden-Baden, and she thinks that Freudenstadt would be a good choice. It's in the heart of the northern part of the Black Forest and would certainly qualify as being a "typical German smaller town".

btw, one of my favs nearer to Baden-Baden is the village of Sasbach-Walden.

Thanks to everyone for your help and advice. I'm still looking but at least have a shortlist now.

Hopefully I can drive to visit some of the towns that I don't get to stay in.