Black Forest To Do
 

My family and I are Americans temporarily (2-3 years) living near Bonn. We'd like to drive down to the Black Forest on September 1st. We have two young children (ages 1 and 2). Can anyone provide any recommendations? What to see, where to stay, what area food to eat, where to shop, etc.?

Thank you much!
Sarah

ttt

Sarah,

Titisee is very beautiful. see http://www.germany-tourism.de/e/lake...ck_forest.html

Depending on the time you're visiting, this could be a wonderful place to stay.

We also enjoyed Freiburg, which is probably the most popular destination by the black forest. It has a great cathedral and decent shops and food.

Hiking & Biking is probably the most popular activity there, but that may be difficult with a 1- and 2-year old!

srice:
How long will you have?
Titisee is a touristy town set on a beautiful lake. Rowboats and paddle boats available. lots of carved cuckoo clock stores.
Schluchsee is also a pretty, less-touristed town on a big lake, same water activities, including one-hour RT boat cruises and swimming beaches + a water park.
Triberg has a tall-for-Germany waterfall with 7 cascades and lots of squirrels to feed. Again, cuckoo clock crazy.
Gutach has an "open-air museum" of old houses and craft demonstrations set amid many acres of forest, nice picnic opportunities. Nearby Wolfach has a stream running through it, glass-blowing demonstrations/museum, small Christmas village for buying glass
tree bulbs.
Gengenbach is a larger town of half-timbered houses, towers and nice cafe-restaurants. Two museums-one of rafters, the other of "Carneval" costumes through the ages.

Oh yes!
I forgot Staufen im Breisgau, about 15 minutes beyond the big city of Freiburg.
This is a quaint, walkable town with nice shops and a schnapps distillery outlet. In early September the Baechle should still be open--this is a network of underfoot "gutters" (for lack of the right word), which drain cool, clean mountain stream water through town. Tourists can often be seen splashing their feet! Decent hikes from one town to the next in the BF can start here--not too strenuous, often on paved paths.

Schlusee is fun for swimming and nature, but there's not much else to do. Titisee is definitely more entertaining, but also revolves around swimming/nature activities. Both are great areas for families and children.

I don't know how far south you want to go, but you could also go to Zürich (about an hour and 45 minutes from Freiburg)which is my favorite city, or Basel (about an hour from Freiburg). I know you mentioned you have small children and the movies are tough with little ones, but Switzerland shows all movies in their original language with German and French subtitles.

The Steinwasen Park is also another great place for families. It's a nature park with animals (deer, wild boar, rabits...etc) and some breath taking views - Great place for a picnic. They also have a few rides, but nothing spectacular except the ski-lift which takes you to the top of the park, where you can either "sled" down or ride the lift back down. We had a great time there!

Hope this helped! Have fun!