5 Days in Freiburg

Start where Freiburg starts its day: the market on Münsterplatz. Up to 130 stalls sell vegetables, bread, cheese, wine and crafts around the cathedral six days a week, and Saturday is when half the town turns up. Order a Lange Rote, "the long red one", a 35 cm pork bratwurst grilled without a casing and served in a roll with fried onions. A baker named Josef Föhrenbach first sold it here in December 1949, boiled in a kettle, and started grilling it two years later.

Look for Stefan's Käsekuchen, the cheesecake stall, and for a tofu version of the sausage if you don't eat meat.

The Freiburg Minster was started around 1200 in Romanesque style and carried on in Gothic, and its 116 m tower is the only Gothic church tower in Germany that was finished in the Middle Ages. The Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt called it the most beautiful spire on earth. It's a Münster and not a cathedral because Freiburg only got a bishop in 1827, long after the church was built.

The 1944 bombs destroyed the buildings around the church but left it largely standing, with only the roof badly damaged; the medieval stained glass had been taken out beforehand. Inside, look for the nave windows donated by the medieval guilds, some in a deep red colored with gold nanoparticles, and in the choir the high altar by Hans Baldung Grien. Then climb the tower: 209 steps to the tower room, 56 more to the platform below the open stone spire, with the Black Forest on one side and the Rhine plain and Vosges on the other.

Walk east into the Schneckenvorstadt and Konviktstraße, the quieter corner of the old town between the Münster and the Schlossberg. Konviktstraße survived the Second World War and used to be home to craftsmen. Now it's a short street of owner-run shops, cafés and pubs, a good place for a small, local lunch.

Look for the Mittagstisch, the weekday lunch menu many places run for around 10-15 EUR, and take the dish of the day or a Wurstsalat (sausage salad). Save the heavy Baden cooking for dinner.

The Augustinermuseum fills a former Augustinian monastery on Augustinerplatz, and its star is something you only saw from far below: the original stone prophets and gargoyles from the Minster, now kept indoors, stand in a hall nearly 12 meters high. You can see them from the gallery at eye level and from above, and they're much bigger than they look from the square.

The rest is medieval to baroque art, with Cranach, Baldung Grien and Grünewald among the names, plus interactive stations on the history of Freiburg and the Black Forest in the former convent building, which reopened in February 2026 after years of building work. Allow a couple of hours.

Water runs along the edges of the old town's streets in narrow stone channels, the Freiburger Bächle. They're first documented in 1220 and may be as old as the town itself. The network is 15.9 km long, of which 6.4 km is underground, and the water comes from the Dreisam river, led through a tunnel under the Schlossberg and let into the old town near the Schwabentor.

They once carried rainwater and waste, watered meadows and fed the fire brigade. Now they cool the air and entertain children. Local legend says that if you step into one by accident, you'll marry a Freiburger. Gerhard Schröder stepped in one in 2001, and the prophecy hasn't come true yet. The channels along Gerberau and Fischerau are some of the prettiest.

End the day at the Hausbrauerei Feierling on Gerberau, a brewery whose tradition goes back to 1877, when Julius Feierling founded the Inselbrauerei here. The beer garden sits under chestnut trees, and the house beers are brewed on site. Food is Baden pub cooking, with cheese snacks, sausages and pretzels.

When the weather holds, the nearby Augustinerplatz fills with students and locals sitting on the stones with a bottle. The other beer you'll see all over the old town is Ganter, the local family brewery.

The University of Freiburg was founded in 1457 by Archduke Albrecht VI of Austria, and Max Weber, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger and Friedrich Hayek all taught here. You don't need to go inside anything. Walk around the Kollegiengebäude I and the Universitätsbibliothek, the library, and watch the students go by on their bikes. On warm summer evenings people dance salsa, tango and lindy hop at the library's Tanzbrunnen, the dancing fountain.

Next to it is the Platz der Alten Synagoge. The synagogue of the Jewish community stood here from 1870 until the night of 9-10 November 1938, when it was set on fire by SS and SA men and the ruins were blown up. The fountain traces the outline of the building, with a memorial plaque set into it. The square was redone in 2017, and a bronze model of the synagogue was added in 2020.

Mid-morning is the right time for a slice of Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, Black Forest cake: chocolate sponge, whipped cream and cherries soaked in kirsch. In Germany it's meant to taste of the brandy, and it has little in common with the sweet version sold abroad. Café Schmidt on Bertoldstraße, next to the university church, is an old-town classic where the owners pick the cherries by hand and preserve them in kirsch.

Where the cake comes from is still argued over. One camp says the confectioner Josef Keller made the first one in 1915 in Bad Godesberg, while Tübingen credits a pastry chef who made it there in 1930. Even the name is disputed: one theory says it echoes the black, white and red costume of the Black Forest.

From the café, follow Kaiser-Joseph-Straße, the main street, to the Martinstor, one of the two medieval gates that survive. It's famous for the McDonald's built into it, whose sign the city made drop the golden arches. Then turn to Rathausplatz, a calm square with the Altes Rathaus (finished in 1559), the Neues Rathaus and the tourist office, where you can pick up a map and the Welcomekarte.

Walk on towards the Minster to the Historisches Kaufhaus, the old merchants' hall, a red building from the 1520s with oriel windows and statues of four Habsburg rulers on its facade. These days it hosts events, so the outside is the point.

The Alte Wache on Münsterplatz is a small guardhouse from 1733 that now serves as the Haus der Badischen Weine, the house of Baden wines. It has run as a wine bar and shop since 1997, working with partner winemakers from all over Baden, so you can taste your way across the region without leaving the center.

Three of Baden's wine regions meet at Freiburg: the Breisgau, which begins on the Schlossberg, the Markgräflerland to the south, known for its fresh white Gutedel, and the Tuniberg to the west. Start with a Gutedel, then try a Grauburgunder (pinot gris) and a Spätburgunder (pinot noir), the red Baden is proudest of. The house drinks are the chilled Kalte Sofie for summer and the hot Winter Marie for winter.

Walk east along the Bächle to the Schwabentor, the Swabian Gate, the second of the two medieval gates that survive. It guarded the way out towards Swabia, and the Bächle water enters the old town beside it. Inside the tower is a small tin figure museum with historic dioramas, but it's only open from about late May to early October because the rooms aren't heated, so it's likely closed by now.

This is also where the path up the Schlossberg begins. Before you climb, look at Oberlinden, the little square beside the gate, home to one of the best-known inns in town, where you'll eat tonight.

The Schlossberg is Freiburg's hill, 456 m high and right next to the old town. A castle stood here from around 1091, and in 1677-79 the French under Vauban turned it into a fortress. When they withdrew in 1744-45 they blew it up, which is why you find ruins and the Kanonenplatz, on a former bastion, instead of walls. The path from the Schwabentor takes about 15 minutes. The Schlossbergturm, a 33 m lookout tower from 2002 with 153 steps, stands on the hill, and from the platform you see the Black Forest, the Rhine plain, the Kaiserstuhl and the Vosges.

You can also ride the Schlossbergbahn funicular up from the Stadtgarten in three minutes. The Kastaniengarten beer garden by the Greiffenegg Schlössle, a villa from 1805, is pleasant for a drink when it's open, and the Dattler restaurant has been up here since the 1880s.

Walk down to Oberlinden for dinner at Zum Roten Bären, a guesthouse that bills itself as Germany's oldest inn, with foundations said to go back to 1120, the year the town was founded. The first written mention of an innkeeper here dates from 1387, which is still very old. The cooking is what you came for: regional and home-style.

Order Spätzle, the soft egg noodles, served as a side or baked with cheese as Käsespätzle, with a schnitzel or a roast. If it's on the menu, try the Sauerbraten, a pot roast marinated for days in vinegar and spices. Finish with a Kirschwasser, the clear cherry brandy of the region.

The Schauinslandbahn has been running since 1930 and was the first circulating cable car for passengers in the world. It climbs 764 meters over 3,600 meters in about 20 minutes, with the cabins running continuously, and the Rhine plain shrinks behind you. Bring a layer: it's usually well below the temperature in town up top, and the wind picks up.

The summit of Schauinsland is at 1,284 m, and the Eugen-Keidel-Turm, the free tower on top, gives you the Feldberg and the Upper Black Forest on one side and the Rhine plain on the other. On very clear days you can see the Alps. The summit lies within the city limits.

An easy circular route of about an hour goes around the summit, past the tower and the English Monument. For longer, walk on to the Windbuchen, trees bent into shape by the wind. The mountain was mined for silver, lead and zinc for roughly 800 years, and the Museumsbergwerk offers underground tours in the warm season, usually until the end of October or early November.

Lunch up here is the Black Forest at its simplest: a bowl of soup, the dish of the day and a slice of cake. The Bergstation café and restaurant is at the top of the cable car, and the Schniederlihof is a historic farm with an inn on the mountain.

If you're feeling energetic, walk part of the way down instead of riding. It's a long descent and your knees will complain, but the views beat the cabin.

Take tram 4 to the end of the line, Vauban, a district on the site of a French army base that was named after the military engineer Vauban, who fortified Freiburg. The old barracks came down from 1998, and about 5,200 people now live in what the city calls a sustainable model district. The first thing you notice is the quiet. Most streets have no parking, and anyone who owns a car has to buy a space in a garage on the edge of the district.

Walk to Alfred-Döblin-Platz, the heart of the district, and past Haus 037, a community center that residents run in one of the old barracks. Then follow the green strips between the houses, which are playgrounds, gardens and bike paths in one. Vauban is one of the city's districts with the most children, so expect bikes with trailers on every corner.

At the edge of the district, along Merzhauser Straße, the architect Rolf Disch built the Solarsiedlung, the Solar Settlement, 59 residential buildings with solar panels on the roofs. Its Sonnenschiff, the Sun Ship, is the first commercial plus-energy building in the project, which means it produces more energy than it uses. It holds shops, offices and practices, and its 125 m length also shields the houses behind it from the road. Neither is a museum, so walk the public streets and read the information boards.

Come back to the old town for a lighter dinner in a Weinstube, a traditional wine tavern, such as Oberkirch's Weinstuben on Münsterplatz. Share a Flammkuchen, add a plate of sausage salad and pour a glass from the Kaiserstuhl or the Markgräflerland.

In autumn, ask for Federweißer with Zwiebelkuchen, young wine and onion tart, when the new vintage is out. It's a ritual in this part of Germany, with its own season in September and October.

Then end the night with live music. The Jazzhaus on Schnewlinstraße is one of Freiburg's best-known venues, with a program from jazz and folk to rock, and in a university town there's nearly always something on.

The Höllentalbahn opened in 1887 and climbs from 268 m in Freiburg to 885 m at Hinterzarten, through the narrow Höllental gorge past the Hirschsprung. Get off at Hinterzarten and take the signposted loop of around 7 km (two to two and a half hours) through the Ravenna Gorge.

The gorge is about 4 km long, with a 16 m waterfall (the Große Ravenna-Fall) and a smaller one of 6 m, and the trail passes under the railway viaduct, which stands about 37 meters above the valley, and the Großjockenmühle, a mill from 1883. The path uses stairs and rock galleries, which are secured, but wet leaves make them slippery.

From Hinterzarten the train takes a few minutes to Titisee, the best-known lake in the Black Forest. It's a glacial lake of about 1.1 square km, left behind by the glacier that came down from the Feldberg, and its name first appears in records around 1050. The town on its shore only grew once the railway and tourism arrived.

The lakeside promenade is a tourist strip of souvenir shops and cuckoo clocks, busiest on summer weekends, so a stroll is enough. If you want a cuckoo clock, the Black Forest is where they come from, and the price range runs from souvenir models to hand-carved ones.

Have lunch at a Gasthaus away from the souvenir strip and order a Vesper, the Black Forest snack plate: slices of ham, smoked sausage and farm bread, with a beer or a schnapps. Black Forest ham is eaten raw, thinly sliced at room temperature, on dark bread, and the dark rind and smoky flavor come from days of cold-smoking over local conifers. Order it the way locals do and skip the fancy sauces.

From Titisee station, bus 7300 runs to the Feldberg area every hour, or you can stay on the Three Lakes Railway to Feldberg-Bärental and change to the bus there. The Feldberg is the highest mountain in the Black Forest, at about 1,490 m. The easy way to the top area is the Seebuck, a subpeak of about 1,449 m topped by the Feldberg Tower, a former radio tower that is now a lookout and has housed a Black Forest ham museum since 2013.

A gondola, the Feldbergbahn, runs up to the Seebuck; for autumn 2026 the operator has daily rides from 9am to 4:30pm until the end of November, and the tower is open until 4pm. The glacial Feldsee, 33 m deep, lies below to the north-east. The views run over the Black Forest to the Vosges, and on a clear day to the Alps. For something warm, have soup and cake in a mountain café.

Ihringen is one of the warmest places in Germany, with an annual mean of about 12 degrees Celsius, and it sits at the southern end of the Kaiserstuhl, a range of old volcanic hills. The village is first mentioned in 962. Walk up through the village to the Winklerberg, one of the best-known vineyard sites in Baden, and follow the vineyard paths for a couple of hours.

The most planted grapes are Spätburgunder (pinot noir), Grauburgunder (pinot gris) and Weißburgunder (pinot blanc), the Burgundy family of grapes. Early to mid October is harvest time, so expect tractors on the narrow paths and the smell of must in the air. Stay out of the rows and don't pick grapes.

Ihringen has a cooperative cellar, the Kaiserstühler Winzer Ihringen on Winzerstraße, and family estates, and the nearby villages of Oberbergen and Burkheim have more. The cooperative has a Vinothek where you can taste, and it also runs a cellar tour with three wines, but only on Fridays at 10am, so do the tasting first unless it's a Friday. At a tasting expect Weißburgunder, Grauburgunder and Spätburgunder, and ask for a Gutedel (chasselas) if they have one.

Autumn is also the season for a Straußwirtschaft, or Straußi, a seasonal wine tavern where a winegrower serves his own wine and hangs a bunch of twigs outside when he's open. The food is simple: Bibbeliskäs (curd cheese with chives), Brägeli (fried potatoes with bacon) and onion tart, with young, sweet Neuer Süßer.

Take the train the few minutes from Ihringen to Breisach, a small town on the Rhine that sits on a hill and changed hands between the Holy Roman Empire and France several times. The Breisach Münster on top, St. Stephan, is a Romanesque and Gothic church with two different towers at the east end instead of the west. It was heavily damaged in World War II.

Inside are two famous things: a Last Judgement fresco of more than 100 square meters by Martin Schongauer, and a high altar from the workshop of the Master H.L. Across the river is the French town of Neuf-Brisach, a fortress France built after losing Breisach.

Walk down the hill to the Rhine, which forms the border with France here. The river is wide, the vineyards of the Kaiserstuhl rise behind you and the Vosges are on the far side. Have dinner in town before the train, or one last glass of wine. The S-Bahn from Breisach runs back to Freiburg Hauptbahnhof via Gottenheim in about half an hour.