The Black Forest, a hilly region in southern Germany that starts 80 mi/130 km south of Frankfurt and runs to the border with Switzerland, has patches of beautiful dark forest, green meadows and small lakes—it looks more manicured than wild. The landscape rises to about 4,000 ft/1,200 m and drops steeply into valleys. This is the area where cuckoo clocks are made and where wood is carved the old-world way. The Black Forest is also popular with hikers, cross-country skiers and ski jumpers.
Areas of interest include Lake Titisee, Triberg (Germany's highest waterfall and a museum displaying local crafts), Gutach (visit the Vogtsbauernhof, The Black Forest Open Air Museum, with local furnished farmhouses dating back centuries), the Feldberg (the Black Forest's tallest peak, at 4,898 ft/1,493 m), Todtnau (waterfalls), St. Blasien (church with a huge dome) and Furtwangen (clock museum).
Schiltach is a lovely town with old half-timbered houses around a market square, a town hall with a nice painted facade and narrow medieval alleys.
Don't miss Kloster Maulbronn, just northeast of the Black Forest, in a protected nature park. Maulbronn is the most perfectly preserved medieval abbey north of the Alps.
The Black Forest is also noteworthy for a fine selection of upmarket country hotels and fine restaurants. Try the two-Michelin star Brenners Park-Restaurant, in Baden-Baden; the three-starred Hotel Bareiss and Traube Tonbach, both in Baiersbronn; Le Pavillion, in Bad Peterstal-Griesbach; the Merkle's Rebstock, in Endingen am Kaiserstuhl, on the edge of the Black Forest at Endingen am Kaiserstuhl; or the Hotel Colombi in Freiburg.
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