![]() There are some local myths and tales like any region has. It isn’t especially linked to any fairy tales. The cake was probably not invented in the Black Forest. There is a local Alemannische dialect but that won’t be anything to worry about unless you want to eavesdrop on the locals. Though it might be a bit more hit and miss in the quieter and more remote areas. ![]() Getting by in other languages should be easy enough in the tourist hotspots. But there can still be danger if you are caught out by the weather.Ĭlearly German is the default language. The main problem in winter is the fog, so plan to go to the higher parts (if possible over 1000m) to avoid that.īeing a widely populated and touristy area you are never that far from food and shelter. It can be very snowy in winter, though in recent years this has been drastically reduced. During summer weather is warm and sunny enough to grow wine, but there is also a very high rainfall and there can be cold snaps. It still pays to check ahead and prepare of course. Though most modern buildings are a fairly standard concrete design which keeps the overall aesthetics, but just isn’t the same.īeing mountainous the weather is a little more extreme than the surrounding areas, but only a little (this is not the high Alps). The most interesting sight is the giant wooden farmhouse which are very indicative of the area. Some are pretty, but none are very big and are just a nice place to grab some food or supplies. Towns/villages are best seen as starting points or easy places to reach, rather than the main focus (other than bigger places like Freiburg). It is far enough from most standard European destinations to be more of a “passing-through” spot for people from further away so mass tourism mostly isn’t a problem outside of a few focal points like Triberg. It is very easy to find a quiet bit of woodland or hilltop. But tourism tends to be heavy in some areas and almost non-existent in others. Tourism is a major source of income (originally tourism kicked off due to the spas which are still open). Though oddly it was just a thing in a few protestant villages, but has now been taken to represent the mostly catholic Black Forest as a whole. The other cliché thing is the hat with big red balls, the Bollenhut. These are covered in more detail further down. There are three clichés which are usually beaten to death: Cuckoo clocks, cakes, and ham. you lose track of time in ten minutes and the world in twenty" which is used by apparently everybody who writes about the area. Including the quote about the spas "Here. ![]() Mark Twain wrote about it in “A Tramp Abroad”, which is free to read but that bit is much weaker than his accounts of Switzerland. ![]() I think it works better if you think of it as an outdoor activity area for those from northern/central Europe, rather than as a must-see for someone coming from the USA or Australia. but is still very nice and you do get scenes like this painting. However having been back many times I would say it is not a truly unique place (you can find comparable landscapes all over Germany and central Europe) and it isn’t any more dark or sinister than any other forest. I certainly had such feelings that it was an exotic and exciting place when I went there the first time. Something about it seems to give people romanticised ideas (and many others sell it hard on that), making it sound like a magical location (indeed many people seem to – falsely - think that all the Grimm’s fairy tales originate from here). What the actual area covered by it can be hard to define some definitions go all the way down to the Rhein, others stop with the trees. Generally speaking the northern part tends to be more touristy, and the southern end is the higher (and can offer some good Alpine views in the right weather conditions). It never gets THAT high: at 1493m Feldberg is only just above the local tree-line. The Black Forest is a roughly 60% forested mountain/hill range in south western Germany stretching down from Karlsruhe to the Swiss border. Those should cover just about everything you could want. Each end also has it’s own regional tourism website: the northern Black Forest National Park (Nationalpark Schwarzwald), and the southern High Black Forest (Hochschwarzwald). The official tourist website is very extensive - as is. ![]()
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