It's been a while since i updated the blog! Sorry if you've been waiting for the Germany posts. If you've missed the first one, here's our 10-day self-drive itinerary from Frankfurt to Munich. Now here's going a little more in depth on the highlights of the Black Forest.

The Black Forest region covers a number of cities and we stopped by a few of these cities when we drove through the Black Forest High Road (Schwarzwaldhochstrasse). This is a scenic route which runs from Baden-Baden to Freudenstadt through some gorgeous ridges and valleys, climbing through Bühlerhöhe, to finally arrive at the Hornisgrinde summit. There at its base, you could also visit the glacier lake Mummelsee. On a good day, i would think that the pedal boat would be fun for an all around view of the lake. This was closed when we visited because the lake was semi-frozen. 

Here are some of the cities we visited and reviews of them.

Baden-Baden is a high-end German spa town, with some casinos on site. We were looking forward to the Thermal Spa, which we thought would be kind of like the onsen towns of Japan (we couldn't be more wrong). We headed to the well-reviewed Caracalla Thermal Spa but it turned out to be more of a giant indoor public swimming pool with slightly heated water (boy was it cold). No pics here because we had to keep our stuff in the locker. Also, remember to bring your towels. There's another thermal bath- the Friedrichsbad, that was not open when we visited so you could check that out if you wish. As it was the off-peak season and we were kinda late for dinner, we just settled for some beer garden food at Löwenbräu. 

We didn't do much in Baden-Baden except to stroll along Lichtentaler Allee. Definitely have a giant slice of Blackforest cake (how could you not)! I highly recommend chilling in the pretty salon of Café König. The Germans are super generous with their slice and we love how light the layers of sponge and spiked cream were! I was never a fan of Blackforest cake because the SG ones are so dense but this is on a diff level. 

IF you have more time, take a short "hike" up to Hohenbaden Castle for a sweeping view of Baden -Baden. 

Mummelsee Lake

The Mummelsee is the largest of the several Karst lakes (formed by the collapse of underground caves) in the Black Forest region and was formed in the Ice Age. Surrounding the lake are tall forests and there's a trail that you can take around and up. For serious hikers, there are other trails leading up to the other peaks in the area. Also fun story, according to a legend, the Mummelsee inhabited by a Nix and the underwater king of the Mummelsee (who would kidnap women to his underwater kingdom). For us, this was just a stop because we wanted to experience the scenic drive through the Black Forest. 

If you're following me on IG (@msskinnyfat), you'd know that Jr and I recently travelled to Germany on the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) on a whim. Before i get down to sharing more details of our trip and the highlights, here's a quick overview of our self-drive trip. This plan was put together and finalized in -drumrolls- 3 nights. We wavered between taking the train and driving and thus our itinerary actually changed 3 times. Anyhow, we eventually decided on driving, which gave us more flexibility in terms of our schedule and Autumn is a good time to enjoy the great German autobahns and scenery. 

Day 1

Flight to Frankfurt, Germany

Stay- Niu Charly near the Frankfurt Main train station (the breakfast spread was surprisingly good)

Day 2

Pick up car

Heidelberg

Baden Baden

Stay- Holiday Inn Express Baden Baden

Day 3

Baden Baden

Drive through Schwarzwaldhochstrasse Motorway for the Black Forest experience

Mummelsee Lake

Strasbourg, France

Freiburg

Stay- Freiburg, Busses Guesthouse

Day 4

Freiburg

Triberg Waterfalls (Go to the waterfalls only if you have time for a 1 hour hike if not it's a waste of time). 

Füssen

Stay- Hotel Sonne Füssen (highly recommended!) 

Day 5

Füssen- Hohenschwangau Castle and Neuschwanstein Castle (this will practically take the whole day). 

Oberammergau- We wanted to do the Alpine Coaster but we missed the season by 1 day. This is not available during winter. Ettal Abbey for their liquor distillery (we skipped this as we were tired from the day of touring the castles).

Stay- Quartier, GaPa

Day 6

GaPa- Partnachklamm hike (failed because it's closed for works). We did half a loop from the top of Eckbauer and almost killed ourselves on the steep icy paths. It would be best to ski down if there were snow. This took us about 1.5h. 

Mittenwald (can skip)

Stay- Quartier, GaPa

Day 7

Lake Eibsee- this is a 2h walk around and fyi there is no food around. You could take the cable car up to Zugspitz (Germany highest peak) but it's probably not worth it. We would if we were skiing.

Munich

Stay- Schwan Locke, Theresienwiese

Day 8

Took a BMW M2 and drove out of Munich for the day.

Ingolstadt Village- outlet shopping and Laduree

Nuremberg- Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds

Stay- Schwan Locke, Theresienwiese

Day 9

Took pre-departure ART test. 21dx.de near the Residence has short queues and was very fast.

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site (English tours are at 11am and 1pm and is at least 2.5h. It was really cold when we went and it would be colder in winter. 

Stay- Schwan Locke, Theresienwiese

Day 10

Explore Munich

Flight to SG

More details on recommendations in a fuller post hopefully soon but this should give you an idea on the key stops if you were to drive from Frankfurt to Munich!

XOXO,

Travelerintransit