Bavaria/Black Forest(Austria border
 

Hi fellow travelers! I am planning a trip through Bavaria this spring and I would love some advice about the following itinerary:

-Fly from BCN (where I live) to Munich for two days
-Then go out to Berchesgaden for hiking, and maybe a quick trip to Salzburg
-Back to Munich for a night or two
-Then to Nuremberg for 2 days

From here, I would either like to go to Heidelberg or to the Black Forest (Baden Baden) but I will not have a car. I will be relying on public transportation and I have read that this can be difficult throughout the Black Forest. Any recommendations about easy-to-access areas in the Black Forest? I would like to visit small towns and maybe squeeze in some hiking if possible Also I will need a flight out of this area (maybe Zurich?) back to Barcelona at the end of the trip.

Thanks again for all your help!

I live in the High Black Forest and had a wonderful day with skiing down the Feldberg today. We have many beautiful hikes in our area, landscape, lakes, wooden farmhouses, regional food and much more.

However, Baden-Baden is not in the Black Forest (who told you that?). It is a spa and casino town in the plains, full of elderly people and Russians.

You can easily visit the High Black Forest by train.

From Nürnberg, you take the IC to Karlsruhe. There you change into the ICE to Freiburg and from there in the RB through the Höllental ("hell's canyon") into the High Black Forest.

Titisee is a picturesque little town with a lake which is, however, quite touristy with many souvenir shops and crowds of Chinese and Arabian tourists.

Bärental is the next train station, but it is just a hamlet at the crossing of two busy roads. From Bärental or Titisee, you can take the bus 7300 to the Feldberg. In the Feldbeg area, you find many accomodation of all kinds.

There are many hiking options in the area, depending on how many kilometers you will hike and what elevetion you want to climb.

Here just a few suggestions:

- There is the Feldberg summit. You can even take the cablecar to the summit and hike a bit through tundra-like landscape on the rather flat summit. http://www.hochschwarzwald.de/Feldberg

- From the Feldberg, a beautiful hike is down to the Feldsee, a very scenic circular glacier lake with an impressive moraine and a rustic farmhouse, serving regional fare. You will find yourself in a lovely valley with wooden farmhouses, grazing cattle and little streams. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feldsee

- Another option is hiking up to the Herzogenhorn, the second highest mountain, where you find some steep and rocky trails like in the Alps. You can walk down into the lovely valley of Menzenschwand and regenerate in the fantastic thermal spa and sauna Radon-Vital Bad (http://www.radonrevitalbad.de/) before you climb up again to the Caritashaus (bus stop). There is also a glacier valley with beautiful moraines.

. I will be relying on public transportation and I have read that this can be difficult throughout the Black Forest. Any recommendations about easy-to-access areas in the Black Forest?>

I've taken trains to Seeburg and Titisee (spellings?) - you can get off at many places but the Titisee lake is a popular easy hiking place- direct trains from Freiburg.

For lots on German trains check www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.seat61.com.

Check into Lander (regional or state) Passes for Bavaria -includes Nurnberg and Salzburg and another one for the Freiburg area.

Limited trains in Black Forest but some key ones to neat places.

was posting at same time traveller1959 - who living there has a great detail of info, of course, so take his/her advice very very seriously.

To fly back to BCN you should also check flights from Basel.
Could be easier to get there than to Zurich.

Baden-Baden is a sweet sweet spa town with a lush setting but is not really much to do with the Black Forest - on main train lines though the train station is a few kms from the actual town with buses connecting.

Heidelberg to me is one of Germany's nicest towns and one of the few large ones not to have been blitzed to bits in WW2 (some say because the American Army wanted to use it as their post-war HQs which they did!) The castle of your dreams poking out of the town center and famous centuries-old 'student pubs' are fun at night. Again on a main train route. Could easily day trip to Baden-Baden from it or vice versa.

"Any recommendations about easy-to-access areas in the Black Forest? I would like to visit small towns and maybe squeeze in some hiking if possible"

Find yourself a place to stay in Hausach. Hausach is a train hub for two important Black Forest train routes - the Schwarzwaldbahn and the Kinzigtalbahn (or Kinzig Valley Railway.)

The Schwarzwaldbahn runs from Offenburg to Donaueschingen and beyond - see map:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinzig...zigtalbahn.png

The Kinzigtalbahn heads east from Hausach on the Sachwarzwaldbahn Hausach toward Freudenstadt:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...28Baden%29.png

Attractive towns and sights to visit from Hausach that you can reach by train in 45 minutes or less:

Villingen
Haslach
Gengenbach (beautiful old walled town)
Vogtsbauernhof in Gutach
Triberg
Wolfach
Alpirsbach
Freudenstadt

If you want to travel further you can take the train to Donaueschingen and ride the rails along the "Hells Valley" Railway to Titisee, Hinterzarten and Freiburg (see first map.)

Here's a detailed map of the Hell's Valley Railway:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ntalbahn_2.png

These are such helpful suggestions. Thank you all!

Yes you got in tr1959 and fussg two absolute experts on Germany in general and the Black Forest in particular.