Jersey photographer: a holiday to the Black Forest in Germany
If you live in Jersey, it is easy to take the ferry across to France for holidays. This time we fancied venturing a little further, and so planned a road trip to the Black Forest in Germany at Easter. I’ve had a lot of questions about this holiday which we loved so much, so I thought, why not write a little blog about it! We found the locals friendly, the food great, the scenery spectacular, and the whole region so well thought through for wholesome outdoor activities for kids. And yes, there are lots of cuckoo clocks and wooden chalets too!
As a photographer based in Jersey, I loved photographing the beautifully tall forests with their ethereal lighting, and the deep snowfall that we had during our visit too. I’ve also popped in a few photos from my i-phone so that you can see some of the activities we did.
I hope you find the tips in here useful if you’d like to visit the Black Forest in Germany yourself. We broke up our drive there with a stop in the pretty French region of Alsace.
Alsace, France
Alsace is a region in north-eastern France that borders Switzerland and Germany. It seemed like the perfect stopover on our way to Germany, with it’s half-timbered villages that looked like they have come out of a Grimms fairytale. It took us just under 9 hours to drive there from the ferry at St Malo, and we did this through the night so that the kids slept the whole way. We spent 3 days here, and the whole region exceeded our expectations. Because we had arrived during Easter, all the beautiful villages were adorned with Easter decorations and flowers, and looked like something out of a storybook.
Our favourite village in the area to explore was Eguisheim, for its circular maze of beautiful cobbled streets. Other villages we liked were Riquewihr and Kayersberg. If the weather is rainy, we recommend a little trip to the indoor butterfly farm for the kids at Jardin des Papillons in Hunawihr.
We stayed in a lovely Air BnB, Au Bonheur Tameé’ in walking distance of Eguisheim:
Schwarzwald, Germany
It was only an hour and a half drive to our next stop, which was the Schwarzwald in the Black Forest in Germany.
This region looked like something out of Switzerland, and was so incredibly pretty with its rolling mountains, tumbling streams, and trees laced with blossom. The food was great value, the walks were stunning, we loved the little self-serve cake and coffee huts in the meadows, and there were beautiful wooden playgrounds everywhere for the children. Definitely a location to bring your bikes to, we were spoilt for choice on all the off road paths. The trains were also super clean and run like clockwork.
Here were some of our favourite things to do in this area:
Nationalpark Schwarzwald - a great option for a rainy day, with an excellent museum all about the natural area. The kids were very taken with the robot that served everyone in the cafe!
Mehliskopf bobsleigh run - absolutely brilliant fun for the thrillseekers in the family!
Mummelsee lake - a picturesque lake with a beautiful trail around it, and a cafe that serves excellent Black Forest gateau.
All of the walks that we did in the Ottenhöfen im Schwarzwald were incredibly beautiful. Many had accessible paths, which was amazing for us as one of our children is disabled and in a buggy.
Allerheiligen waterfall - a pretty series of waterfalls with a trail through the forest.
Caracalla Therme - if you can leave the kids with grandparents for a few hours (like we did!), this is an amazing spa to visit. With more saunas than you could ever imagine and wonderful thermal pools. One of the saunas was even designed like a pub that you sat in!
We stayed in the Ottenhöfen im Schwarzwald, in a gorgeous traditional wooden chalet through Air BnB:
The Feldberg, Germany
This region felt like how I had imagined the Black Forest in Germany to be. Towering forests of trees, chocolate-box chalet villages, and unrivalled silence in nature. Because we were at higher altitude here we had extremes of weather and the unpredictability of April, some days with 30 degree heat and sunshine, and other days sub zero with heavy snowfall! We loved all the contrasts.
This was definitely a region for biking and hiking, with absolutely stunning scenery. Our favourite thing about the region was how well thought out everything was for children, for example hiking trails with handmade wooden games throughout the forest for them to play to keep them interested - perfect if you have reluctant little hikers!
Things we loved in this region were:
Naturena - an incredible nature trail for children. Buy your wooden marble at the start of the trail, and follow the beautifully crafted marble run that goes through the whole forest.
Todtnau suspension bridge - for incredible views and those that are not afraid of heights!
Riding the Todtnau Rodelbahn bobsleigh ride - too much fun!
Gondola ride up the Feldberg - to see snow and amazing views. You will definitely feel the altitude.
Simply walking into the forests and experiencing the incredible stillness. The heights of the trees make you feel so small!
We stayed in a beautiful Air BnB house, that had views over the mountains:
I hope this blog has inspired you to look into visiting the Black Forest in Germany - it is a pretty special place!