Travel: Adventures in the Black Forest, Germany

My travel journal from a wonderful family holiday to the Black Forest in Germany in June/July 2018. 

Friday

Arrived in France for our long drive to Metz. Being frequent travellers in France, we have a liberte toll tag to speed up the process at the motorway tolls, however this decided to stop working about a third of the way into our journey (in hindsight, think the battery needed replacing). 

None of the allegedly beautiful city of Metz was seen as our hotel was located in the Technopole region (a sprawling, but clean, mass of out of town shopping, commercial and university) and we were too hot and too tired to travel even one kilometre further. However, the hotel restaurant was wonderful.

Saturday

A shorter drive from Metz to the Black Forest, via Colmar, which is a very Germanic town in France, and stopping in Freiburg briefly for lunch (Mandelkuchen and San Pellegrino). 

The chalet, which was our home for the next week was located without difficulty (although the roads are bloody steep and narrow). The owner, Ernst, a local baker was very friendly and plied us with delicious cakes and bread. Beautiful location and very peaceful.

Sunday

After doing a short local walk in the morning, we drove to Triberg, our nearest town in the afternoon to spot some red squirrels at the waterfalls. They are relatively tame and the kiosks near the waterfalls sell nuts. Entrance was free for us with a Guest Card that Ernst gave us. The waterfalls are more of a series of cascades than a big drop, but are exceptionally pretty and there are lots of walks around the area, many of which criss-cross over the falls.

Triberg itself is very pretty and an obvious tourist honey pot with plenty of shops selling cuckoo clocks and lederhosen!

Monday

The Black Forest Open Air Museum at Vogtsbaurnhof was an absolute treasure with various buildings that had been transported to the museum (there is a great place in Wales called St Fagans, that has something similar). 

I took many, many photos here and the great thing was that you could literally roam free throughout these buildings. My favourite was the schlosse which held lots of 1950s paraphenalia. It might have had something to do with the sewing box which I had a rummage through. 

At just 28 Euros for a family, this was a really good day out.

Tuesday

We returned to Freiburg in the rain. The old town was really lovely to wander around. Sadly the cathedral was being worked on and could not really been seen. There were many restaurants around the cathedral square, but it was really busy and raining hard. By luck we discovered Le Buffet in a department store which was a real gem (though clearly not as picturesque as eating outside). It was a grand serve-yourself buffet with elements cooked while you waited (currywurst anyone)?

As the rain cleared up we headed to nearby Schauinsland to take a cable car (the longest loop cable car in Germany!) to the top. The trip takes 20 minutes one way to 1284 metres above sea level. This was really well worth it despite the fact that the weather wasn't the best. We spotted some chamois in the forest from the cable car.

At the top, a short walk (1km) through the forest is a lookout tower - the views were fantastic. Before heading back down, we had to sample the schwarzwalderkirschtorte mit sahne (Black Forest gateau with cream)! This is the one phrase I remember from studying German at school.

Wednesday

A drive to Konstanz, which is a beautiful town on Lake Konstanz that borders Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Austria. Very pretty harbour and lakeside, where you can walk from Germany to Switzerland (bizarrely there is even a customs notice)! The town is also very picturesque and I would love to return. 

Thursday
We caught the train from Triberg to Offenburg completely free of charge with our guest card. Offenburg seemed a bit of an odd place. We had lunch in a little square where Fred ordered a Strassburger wurst salad thinking it was a burger (it wasn't - it was a disappointing mound of chopped pink sausage in some kind of vinaigrette). We thought it was hilarious - he didn't!

The only really good thing about Offenburg was the Rittermuseum which has recently been modernised, and only 6 euros for the four of us.

Friday
So much fun on the summer toboggan ride (Rodelbahn) near Gutach - we all had a go. One was enough for me, as I don't really like to relinquish control and felt I needed to keep putting my brakes on! The boys kept trying to get better kph! 

We followed this up with a session of mini-golf at Adventure Golf, Gutach - a really good course.

The whole Black Forest region is very pretty and I loved just returning to our chalet in the evening and taking in the forest atmosphere - here is a sample for you:

Holiday Details

We took the overnight ferry crossings with Brittany Ferries: Portsmouth - Le Havre and drove through France to Metz, stopping overnight at the Best Western Metz Technopole and travelling on to Germany the following day. The continental drive from Normandy to the Black Forest takes between 7-8 hours.Our holiday home in Gremmelsbach was booked through Bellevilla.

If you are travelling on motorways in France, it is well worth exploring the toll tag (link above) as it does speed up the queuing. You also now need to get a Crit Air Vignette sticker if you are driving around or through certain cities, which can take a couple of weeks to arrive.

Love Mrs Jones x

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