Beautifully situated in south-western Germany, the Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg remains the most popular German holiday destination. The wooden mountain range with Feldberg, at 4898 feet, as its highest peak, offers a stunning rich mythological landscape with green forests in the north, dense black pine forest in the middle and a mountainous south leading all the way down to the Rhine River.
With outstanding restaurants, quaint villages and cuckoo clocks, Black Forrest is Germany's favourite holiday destination.
In keeping with small villages and small towns, Black Forest accommodation tends towards the intimate, family run, small-scale offering classic, hearty German food. Lean, cosy and flower bedecked guesthouses and small hotels abound, while the larger hotels often feature health spas.
Top Things about Black Forest
Visitors are treated to a great variety of leisure activities with a high feel-good factor, from hiking, mountain biking and Nordic walking to rejuvenating in thermal baths and discovering the surroundings on cultural trips in historic and picturesque nearby villages where local wines and gastronomic specialties are plenty. The Black Forest is home to restaurants with top chefs and Michelin stars. World famous delicacies such as Black Forest Ham and Black Forest Cake originated from this region.
Hardly any other holiday destination in Europe is as diverse as the Black Forest: rich and varied landscapes, a wealth of outdoor activities, a superb selection of spas and wellness resorts, cultural treasures and exquisite local cuisines tempt many visitors to return more than once to the Black Forest region.
The Romans dubbed this area of outstanding natural beauty the Black Forest (Silva Nigra in Latin) for the forbidding dark landscape tucked under the dense pines. The Roman Legions also met their first serious reversals in the steep valleys and the Black Forest continues to have a rather forbidding reputation, involving witches and magic, today despite having such peaceful, stunning sights like the Triberg waterfall. The area is packed with castles and palaces, museums and other places of cultural and historic interest, including reopened thousand-year-old mines.
Black Forest Hotels
Black Forest accommodation is spread throughout the region in the little towns and villages and is generally reasonably priced. Although some small village hotels can be expensive, most places offer good value for money. Look in the larger centres for cheap hotels in the Black Forest, but remember that with the area being so popular with Germans, English may not be spoken in some hotels, shops, restaurants or bars.