Black Forest Rail Discovery

Meet with your fellow travellers and HF Holidays Tour Manager at London St Pancras International railway station where we’ll check in for our Eurostar train to Paris. Your HF Holidays Tour Manager will be on hand throughout the journey. Once we reach Paris, there’s a short walk to Gare de l’Est (about 800 metres) where we’ll catch the high-speed TGV train to Karlsruhe in Germany. We’ll change trains to Freiburg and change again for a train to Hinterzarten, our final destination in the heart of the Black Forest. Our hotel is just across from the train station. Enjoy a welcome drink before dinner.

We’ll travel to Freiburg by train to discover this postcard-pretty medieval city on a guided walking tour. Find out about the city’s history as we make our way through the old town, visiting the Freiburg Minster and Munsterplatz (main square). The afternoon’s yours to explore as you wish – grab a bite to eat from one of the many pavement-side cafés and soak up this enchanting fairytale-like city.

We’ll use public transport to travel to St Peter, travelling first to Kirchzarten by train then on to St Peter by bus. This small, charming village has one major draw, its historic 11th-century abbey. There’s a guided tour of the library before some free time for lunch. In the afternoon we will take a bus to the charming village of St Märgen.  We’ll stroll from the village to the historic monastery and church, soaking in the peaceful atmosphere of this site.  From there our path continues through open meadows with sweeping views of the Black Forest (2.2km). If you don’t fancy the walk, you can head back to Hinterzarten with your HF Holidays Tour Manager while the local leader guides the walk.

Today we’ll take the train to Freiburg, on part of the Höllentalbahn (“Hell Valley Railway”) which passes through the dramatic Dreisam River valley. Once we arrive, we’ll catch the tram and bus to Schauinslandbahn Valley station where a cable car (the longest in Germany) will take you to the summit. At the top, there’s plenty to admire, from viewpoints and hiking trails to a tower with wow-worthy views. Afterwards, we’ll travel back to Hinterzarten.

Enjoy Hinterzarten and the surrounding area on your free day. You’ll be given a card that entitles you to free public transport so you can easily explore the Black Forest.

You could take a short train ride to Schluchsee to walk along the lake to Aha or walk in the Ravenna Gorge. See more of what’s on the Höllentalbahn to the east of Hinterzarten, visit the Black Forest Ski Museum, or even travel further afield to the spa town of Baden Baden.

An hour’s private transfer will take us to Triberg where we’ll begin our day delving into history and culture at the Black Forest Museum. There is free time after the museum to sightsee as you wish. Make sure you check out the local crafts – cuckoo clocks are the town’s speciality. In the afternoon we visit the cascading Triberg Waterfalls.

A train and bus will take us to Feldberg, the highest peak in the Black Forest, where a cable car will lift us straight up to the summit. As you climb, panoramic views over dense forest, charming villages, and rolling hills will grab your attention. You can then walk back down (1.5km) or take the cable car.

Afterwards, we’ll board a local bus to Titisee for a relaxing boat trip across the lake before exploring the village.

After breakfast, we’ll board the train to Freiburg, changing again at Karlsruhe for the TGV back to Paris. From here there's a short walk to Gare du Nord (about 800 metres) where we'll get the Eurostar to St Pancras International.