Best in 3 to 5 Days

Best in 3 to 5 Days

Start at Triberg, site of Germany's highest waterfall and the lore of the cuckoo clock. Spend the night in Triberg and on the next day go north to look at the farmhouses at the Open-Air Museum Vogtsbauernhof, near Gutach, before driving along the Schwarzwald-Hochstrasse (Black Forest Highway) from Mummelsee (with a stop at the lake) to Baden-Baden, to try the mineral waters and perhaps spend a special evening out. On the third day continue directly south of Triberg to Furtwangen to survey Germany's largest clock museum. The Titisee, the jewel of the Black Forest lakes, is a good place to spend the third night.

If You Have 5 Days

Follow the three-day itinerary, and after taking some time to enjoy the Titisee's water, head up the winding road northwest through the Höllental. End your day in Freiburg; its Münster (cathedral) has the most perfect spire of any German Gothic church. On the last day take time to visit the town of Staufen, where the legendary Dr. Faustus made his pact with the devil; the vineyards on the slopes of the Kaiserstuhl; and Germany's biggest amusement park, Europa Park.