Best route from Beuron to Heidelberg
 

Hi,
Thanks for those who will choose to answer my questions.
We will be travelling with a camper home mid July. We will be a family of 6 adults ages between 50 to 20. I still don't know which route to take between Beuron to Heidelgerg. We like to do some walking, visit small towns, go boating on a lake like Schluchsee, see Triberg waterfall and pass through the Black Forest. Obviously we will stop for nights on the way. We have 2 nights. There are so many different routes that I am confused. We like scenery, small villages, castles that can be seen from the road and an easy trail so we can go hiking like The Wutachschlucht gorge.
awaiting your replies.

Mrs Pace

I think you will find that these places are in Europe not Asia. I would ask the editors to move your post there, or just repost in the Europe forum.

Moved to Europe forum

Thanks. Didn't realise it was posted as such. It is my first time here on this blog.
Mrs Pace

As there is no answer yet I will try and give you some tips and my personal opinion concerning your plans. I am a native of this region.
From Beuron I would drive downstream through the beautiful valley of the Danube in the direction of Sigmaringen (if you haven't been there before). Before Sigmaringen there is the village of Inzigkofen on the other side of the river. On the edge of Inzigkofen you can find a large park (fürstlicher Park) where you could go for a stroll for an hour or so with a nice view of the rocks and the Danube.
Then I would drive to Messkirch on B 313 (B=Bundesstraße=federal road). In Messkirch take B 311 to Tuttlingen. After Tuttlingen there is an interesting natural phenomenon. During dry periods you can walk in the bed of the Danube without getting wet. The water of the Danube vanishes in the riverbed just a short distance from that spot. To get there turn left from B 311 near Möhringen and follow the road to Hattingen. Before a railway viaduct there is a small car park on the right-hand side. Watch out for the sign 'Donauversickerung'. Afterwards drive back to B 311 and into the Black Forest.
The Wutachschlucht (Wutach Gorge) is a great destination for hikers. But it isn't easily accessible for people with cars. The best part of it is in the middle. To see it you have to walk there and back again to your car. That takes you several hours. That is why at weekends there is a shuttle bus taking hikers to the 'entrances' of the gorge and picking them up again.
Schluchsee is a good destination with one caveat. It is an artificial lake with a dam at the eastern end. Sometimes they let water out of the lake and the shores look ugly then. At least it is better than the over touristy Titisee not far away. Drive to Hinterzarten via Titisee.
At Hinterzarten take B 500 via Furtwangen to Triberg. In Furtwangen there is the very interesting German Clock Museum (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum).
IMO the Triberg waterfall is hyped up (highest German waterfall) but boring especially if you have seen bigger and higher waterfalls before. In summer there is usually little water in it.
North of Triberg between Hornberg and Hausach on B 33 there is the fine and interesting Vogtsbauernhof open air museum.
At Hausach turn right in the direction of Freudenstadt. Schiltach is a beautiful little Black Forest town with a center full of half timbered houses.
In Freudenstadt take B 500 (Schwarzwaldhochstraße, the German Blue Ridge Parkway) in the direction of Baden-Baden. On the way there is the Black Forest National Park and at several spots you have fine views of the Rhine valley.
In the Black Forest you can find a Wanderparkplatz (car park for hikers) nearly round every corner. Mostly there is a large map with the hiking paths, too.
To get to Heidelberg from Baden-Baden don't drive along the broad and flat Rhine valley. Instead head towards the Neckar valley between Stuttgart and Heilbronn (for instance via Gernsbach, Bad Herrenalb, Pforzheim, Vaihingen an der Enz, Bietigheim, Besigheim [beautiful wine town]) or via A5, A8, A81 (A=Autobahn) if you run out of time.
Follow the Neckar river on B 27. North of Heilbronn you get what you want castlewise (there are only few castles in the Black Forest). Bad Wimpfen, Gundelsheim, Eberbach, Hirschhorn are nice old towns. Schloss Guttenberg, Burg Hornberg, Burg Zwingenberg and a castle in Hirschhorn are nice and interesting.
Following the Neckar river from Heilbronn to Heidelberg you do what Mark Twain did in the 19th century on a raft.

Dear Swabian,

Thanks a lot for your detailed answer. I will see your detailed route. It seems the best route I encountered till now. I liked your places of interest as they are the kind of things that interest my family. Thanks once again.

Mrs Pace

I will just add do not rely on Google for navigation. In Germany it does not see the difference between a road and an unpaved forest road.
We are in our camper now and it was a bit of a nightmare yesterday with unexpected road closures and Google sending us on tracks.
Why didn't we have a paper map? Because DH said let's go to the Vosges and then changed his mind and wanted to see the Felsenmeer again after 40 odd years. So French maps in the camper, German maps at home.
Ours is only a 2 person 6metre van so we could cope with most of what Google threw our way but anything bigger would get stuck.

Google
 

Thanks again for your help. Ours is a 6 berth motor home so it would not have fared well in your position.We will take with us a set of AAA maps then.
Thanks again. Hope the weather is fine as for next week there are a lot of thunderstorms expected.

Mrs Pace

As hetismij wrote, some of the smaller roads in the Black Forest would not be exactly fun to drive with a larger motor home.
Just as a rule of thumb: As long as you stick to numbered federal highways (B-roads, black number on yellow background), you should be fine.
State and local roads don't have any numbers (well, they do, but they don't show up on signage).
If you see this road sign, it means "No trucks". Even when your vehicle weighs less than necessary for being regarded as a truck, you should proceed with caution (or look for an alternative route). Road sign 253

The picture below shows a pretty usual situation at a rural intersection. The main road (B 415) will take you to the town of Lahr and also to the motorway (white on blue Autobahn icon). The road to the left is a local road (no number), but you can expect that at least the bit to the signposted village of Seelbach should be "RV-friendly" as the little white icon left to "Seelbach" indicates that there is a campground,

If your motor home has a max weight of more than 3.5 metric tonnes (and less than 7.5t), you will have to follow the road regulations for light trucks.
The major difference would be that you are not allowed to drive on "No trucks" roads (unless the tonnage exempts your vehicle). But as said above "No trucks" roads are usually narrow and at least not really suitable for a larger motor home. In addition, as a "light truck" you have a speed limit 80kph on regular highways, and 100kph on motorways (if you find a sticker with that number on the backside of your motor home).

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...7d2022233f.jpg

Driving a camper home in Germany
 

Thanks Cowboy 1968. This is useful information because although my husband has driven motor homes before we usually use the motorways as we usually skip form a city to city. This time in Germany we are going more for scenic roads and we are going to avoid to use motorways. Last year we were going to rent a camper home in Ireland and as we were advised that there the roads are narrow we rented a 7 seater Ford Galaxy and opted for B&Bs. In Germany I did not encounter anyone saying that the roads are narrow so we again rented a Camper home. Hope we are not going to find problems navigating the scenic roads which we planned. They are listed as B and a number.
Thanks again for your help.

Mrs Pace

One thing I will add is that if you know the model of camper you are renting you look up online what the payload is.
For instance the Weinsberg Carahome 6berth has a maximum weight of 3.5 metric tons and a payload of something like 650kg. That includes the weight of the passengers, luggage, food, gas bottles, anything over half a tank of water, any add ons like a bike rack and table and chairs for sitting outside and all the cooking gear etc.
You could be weighed and if over you have to dump stuff until you are under weight and pay a fine. The chance is small in Germany, unlike in Austria and Switzerland but it does exist. If you have an accident the weight will be calculated and you could get the blame.
Having said all that Germany is very camper friendly and certainly in the Black Forest campsites give you a free ticket for public transport. Of course you can also use the many Stellplatzen in Germany.
Have a look at campercontact.com, or download their app to help you find a place for the night. The prices quoted are for 2 people so you may pay more.