Baden-Württemberg rewards travelers who go beyond Stuttgart and Heidelberg. The region's real pleasures are outdoors: hiking and cycling through the Black Forest, taking the waters at thermal spas, sailing on Lake Constance, and wandering the medieval streets of smaller towns like Tübingen and Schiltach.
Hiking the Black Forest
The Schwarzwald has more than 23,000 km of marked trails, ranging from gentle valley walks to multi-day ridge routes. The Westweg, running 285 km from Pforzheim to Basel, is the classic long-distance trail. Day hikers can base themselves in Freiburg and reach good trailheads within 30 minutes by bus.
Thermal spas
Baden-Baden has been famous for its hot springs since Roman times. The Caracalla Terme and the historic Friedrichsbad offer very different experiences — the first modern and family-friendly, the second a formal 17-stage bathing ritual that requires you to leave your clothes and your phone at the door.
The Cannstatter Volksfest
Held each autumn in Stuttgart's Cannstatter Wasen, this is Germany's second-largest folk festival after Munich's Oktoberfest, and considerably less overrun by tourists. Two weeks of beer tents, fairground rides, and traditional Swabian food. A smaller spring edition runs in April or May.
Christmas markets
Baden-Württemberg's Christmas markets are among Germany's finest. Stuttgart's Weihnachtsmarkt, one of the oldest in the country, runs for four weeks before Christmas around the Schlossplatz and Schillerplatz. Esslingen goes further with a medieval market complete with craftspeople in period costume.
Lake Constance
Lake Constance (the Bodensee) sits at the corners of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In summer it's ideal for cycling — a flat 260 km circuit rings the whole lake — and for swimming from the many public beaches. The island town of Konstanz and the monastery island of Reichenau (UNESCO-listed) are the highlights on the German shore.
Open-Air Museum Vogtsbauernhof
Near Gutach in the central Black Forest, this is one of Germany's best open-air museums: actual farmhouses dismantled from their original locations and rebuilt on site, staffed by demonstrators showing traditional crafts. It gives a vivid sense of what Black Forest rural life looked like before electricity.