Road Trip Through the Black Forest

We spent just over a week galivanting around the Black Forest Region of Germany. It is an absolute gem of a place and there is just so much to do. It’s also a great place for kids and very family friendly. Here’s a day by day guide of what we got up to whilst we were there.

Day 1 – Bad Wildbad and Baumwipfelpfad

Our first town in the Black Forest. We had highlighted this place as it looked quite picturesque and you have to admit, the name sounds pretty cool too. Motorhome parking is pretty limited here, but we did find a place up on the hill within easy walking distance to the centre. It was supposed to cost us 10 euros a night with payment made at the tourist office but being a Saturday afternoon, it was closed by the time we arrived. So, we got away with a free night stay, bonus! We headed straight for Baumwipfelpfad, an awesome tree top trail that meanders through the forest leading you to the main attraction; a 40 metre high swirly whirly viewing platform with spectacular views of the Black Forest.

Day 2 – Wasserfalle Allerheiligen and Nagoldtalsperre Lake

From Bad Wildbad we took the Tourist route to Wasserfalle Allerheiligen and enjoyed a lovely nature walk down to view it. It’s free too, just as waterfalls should be, so it made a nice little morning activity for us all. There were more than 250 steps to walk down, so Pippy had to work hard on this walk, but Jack got off lightly as he was in his carrier.

We backtracked a little to stay at Nagoldtalsperre Lake, which has free motorhome parking just alongside it. After a couple of hours there, we noticed that the neighbouring motorhome had departed to another pitch, which we can only assume was because of all the noise the kids were making. Oops! We do try to keep the volume down, but when you have a 2 and 3-year-old, that isn’t always the easiest task.

Day 3 – Schiltach

Known as the ‘Half-Timbered Town in the Black Forest’, we had pinpointed this place to have a look around. There is a free motorhome parking spot in the centre, but we stayed next door at a paid campsite, so we could get through a ton of laundry that desperately needed doing. It wasn’t the best campsite we stayed at and the language barrier did make things a bit tricky as the owners didn’t speak any English, but we got our jobs done and explored the town. There are four museums in Schiltach, but being the budget travellers, we are, we only visited one and that was the one with free entry; the Museum Am Markt which even had English audio descriptions to help us along.

Day 4 – Urenkopf Tower

Providing 360 panoramic views over the Black Forest, this viewpoint sits on the Urenkopf, Haslach’s highest mountain. From the car park, we had a pretty steep walk through the forest which was quite a challenge for Pippy’s little legs. But once we reached the tower, there was no stopping her from climbing the 183 steps to the top and the views made it all worth it.

As a little reward for her hard work, Richard promised her a bag of sweeties, so we headed to our motorhome parking spot and set out on foot to find a little shop.

Day 5 – Hausach Castle and Park for All the Senses

From our motorhome parking spot, Richard had spied a castle high up on the hill and in true Richard style he wanted us to go check it out. Rightly so as after the short steep climb to the top, we found ourselves on a kids adventure trail through the forest, with fun activities dotted along the way.

After heading back for lunch, we set off in the motorhome again to the Park for all the Senses.

This was a really fun place to get back to basics and experiences nature through all the senses; sight, sound, touch and even smell! It costs 6 euros each for adults, and kids under 6 were free, so we were lucky there. You walk barefoot around the entire thing, which the kids found super fun. Jack was so engrossed in this walk, that he barely asked to be picked up at all, which was a novelty as he is usually quite lazy. He may have been in his complete element splashing in the muddy puddles, but Piper wasn’t quite as thrilled and needed a little convincing. It was quite a unique attraction and we all really enjoyed it. ‘Taste’ was the only sense missing, so it was only right that we treated ourselves to an ice cream on our way out.

Day 6 – Triberg Waterfalls

We found a free motorhome parking spot in Triberg through our Campercontact App. One user had commented that it was a stone’s throw away from Triberg Waterfalls, so we thought “ah, that will be alright”. We got the bicycles out and set off through the forest and I can tell you now that it was definitely not a stone’s throw away, making for quite possibly the hardest bike ride I’ve ever done, although Richard tells me he found it easy, there were several points I was shouting “I can’t do it”, much to his amusement! Once we reached the main stretch of Triberg, it was off the bikes to push them up the hill and then time to explore the waterfalls by foot which were of course on another steep gradient. They are the highest waterfalls in Germany, so it was a must for us to tick them off the list, although definitely nowhere near as impressive as the waterfalls of Norway!

After all that physical effort, we treated ourselves to some Black Forest Cake before the cycle ride back!

Day 7 – Badeparadies Schwarzwald

With the temperature having dropped to a measly 12 degrees, our moods also took a downward turn and we decided that we needed cheering up. So what did we do? We headed to a tropical swimming paradise of course! We spent the whole day at Badeparadies Scharzwald, an indoor waterpark with a separate relaxation area for adults (and under 3’s), meaning we got entry into both parts. We finally dragged ourselves out of the pool at around 6.30pm and headed back to the motorhome in the car park, where we stayed for the night!

Day 8 – Lake Schluchsee

A little further down the road, this time we paid for a pitch close to the lake and once again Richard has spied a tower amongst the trees in the high forest and said “let’s go”. So off we went to find the tower. It was a longer walk than expected, but once again we had found another amazing view to marvel at!