Plan a trip to the Black Forest

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Hi all,

please help me plan our summer holiday to the Black Forest! We are a family of 4 - 2 adults and 2 younger teens. Our plan is to drive & ferry, so we have our car and can explore more. We definitely want to spend some time at the Black Forest and enjoy all the activities there, how long do you think we need? 5 days, a week?

We would then like to explore, I was thinking of driving to France, would this be a good idea and worthwhile to do? Or are there other areas you would recommend exploring?

All ideas and recommendations grwatfully received. thank you 🙏

We loved Gengenbach. It's really pretty.
The world's largest cuckoo clock is so bad that it's good, and you can visit Germany's highest waterfall but we found it to be pretty unimpressive in winter. It might be nicer for walks in summer.
Strasbourg was worth a visit, and the food was excellent.

I know plenty of people like the Black Forest but I wasn't the most impressed one.
Full disclosure - I am German and think there are nicer areas.

It has plenty of hiking opportunities and the Titisee is pretty and has opportunities for watersport. If I remember it correctly there is a climbing forest there as well.
Freiburg is a lovely city, not big but pretty.

You have plenty of open air pools/lidos and the Badeparadies Schwarzwald, a really amazing indoor pool with sauna and spa. Some parts are 16+ unless on weekends.

I would recommend spending some time in Alsace, Strassbourg, Colmar, the Chateau Haut-Koenigsburg are all great places to visit. If you drive you could add a stop for 2-3 days there before or after the Black Forest.

You need at least a week and could easily fill two weeks. I'd advise making it into a road trip and spending as many days as you can. If you live north of the Thames, consider travelling overnight on one of the ferries to the Hook of Holland/Rotterdam and gaining a day in each direction.

As well as the Black Forect area in Germany you could travel over the border into France (Strassbourg, Colmar etc). In Germany you are close enough to Stuttgart to spend a few days. It is not particularly pretty but which has two fabulous car museums - Porsche and Mercedes Benz - if there are family members who are into cars. If you plan your route to take in some sightseeing or an overnight stop, you could also visit Trier or Luxembourg.

I’m doing the same OP and struggling to work out where to stay as there are so many choices!
We are going to Stuttgart, Strasbourg, europa park, visiting Triberg and some waterfalls, Titisee is meant to be good and the Black Forest highway has lots to see. I’m just trying to get the right mix of nature and tourism for the family! I’m good at planning trips but the amount of options feel overwhelming!

We were there last year in our campervan and loved Staufen which is a small town near Frieburg. Frieburg has a brilliant market, it's on every day but I think Fridays is the biggest one. Titisee is a pretty lake but not much there and the village is pretty much a faux shopping experience.. but there are great walks around. Id definitely recommend if you can going further down to Bodensee/ Lake Constance. Lots do do and see there.
One thing the motorway from Calais to Strasbourg is really expensive! We went this time through Belgium and Luxembourg ( which is worth a detour in itself and has the cheapest fuel in the EU do fill up!). But French A roads are generally good we avoided the motorway on the way back .
We absolutely loved Trier and would recommend.. but that's Mosel area so maybe on your way there or back .

Slightly cheekily jumping in @reluctantbrit . Where would you recommend that's better? We are planning another trip..

@Laska2Meryls Frankonia if you want walks, hikes, outdoor plus towns like Nuernberg.

Baltic coast for seaside, easy to link with a couple of day in Hamburg

Spreewald, a unique area south of Berlin