Days out in the Black Forest

Beautiful as the Rechtmurg valley is, one of Obertal's biggest advantages is how much lies within easy reach. Within an hour's drive you find spa towns and glacial lakes, waterfalls and half-timbered villages, bears and baroque squares.

A selection for every kind of weather and every travelling party, for a morning out or a whole day. Ordered by distance, the immediate surroundings first, then the great classics.

Freudenstadt is a quarter of an hour from Obertal, and at its heart lies the largest market square in Germany. The baroque square is so vast that the town comfortably fits markets, festivals and open-air concerts into it. Around the edge, arcades lined with cafés and shops invite you to wander, whatever the weather, because the arches are roofed over.

The Protestant town church is worth a look too. It was built in an L shape, its two wings standing at right angles to each other, an architectural curiosity from the town's founding years around 1600.

The drive up to the Mummelsee takes around twenty minutes. It is the region's best-known glacial lake and sits right beside the Schwarzwaldhochstraße, the Black Forest High Road. The dark water has its own legend, the tale of the Mummelsee king and his water nymphs. These days visitors walk the path around the shore, hire a pedalo or call in at the mountain hotel.

If you want more height, carry on up to the Hornisgrinde, the highest peak in the northern Black Forest. From the lookout tower the view stretches far across the Rhine plain and the Vosges. And the drive along the Schwarzwaldhochstraße is half the outing in itself.

On the western side of the Schwarzwaldhochstraße, the Grindenbach at Allerheiligen plunges through a narrow gorge in a series of cascades. Footbridges and steps let you walk the full length of the falls, bottom to top. At the upper end stand the ruins of the Gothic abbey of Allerheiligen, whose open arches now frame one of the most atmospheric spots in the northern Black Forest.

The waterfall path and the ruins together make an ideal half-day outing, easily combined with a drive along the High Road or a detour into the Rench valley.

For families, the Alternative Wolf and Bear Park Black Forest in Bad Rippoldsau-Schapbach is well worth the trip, just under three quarters of an hour away. Rescued bears and wolves live there in large, near-natural enclosures. Not a zoo but a sanctuary, and one that tells its animals' stories openly.

If you would rather stroll through history, head for the Kinzig valley. In Schiltach, half-timbered houses stand shoulder to shoulder above the river, and in Alpirsbach the monastery brewery has been brewing for generations right next to the Romanesque monastery, tour and tasting included.

And then there is Baden-Baden, about an hour away along the Schwarzwaldhochstraße. The architecture of a grand spa resort, the Lichtentaler Allee, thermal baths, a casino and one of Europe's great concert halls. The spa town is the counterpoint to the quiet valley. Wilderness in the morning, Belle Époque in the afternoon.

What the Festspielhaus, the museums and the racecourse offer through the year is a chapter of its own, and we devote separate articles to it. For a first visit, an afternoon is enough. A stroll, a coffee house and the view over the rooftops from the Neues Schloss.