Black Forest
in Germany

The reputation leans heavily on fairy tales and gateau, which does the place a disservice. The Schwarzwald is a serious landscape of dense spruce and fir forest, rounded sandstone summits, and river valleys that cut deep enough to hold their own microclimate. The spa town of Baden-Baden has been drawing visitors since the Romans built the first baths here and continues to do so with considerable grace: the Friedrichsbad thermal baths are among the finest in Europe, and the casino, the Brenners Park Hotel, and the Lichtentaler Allee make the case for a certain kind of unhurried elegance that feels increasingly rare. Beyond it, the forest opens into wine villages on the Kaiserstuhl, farm inns serving venison and Flammkuchen, and walking trails that run for days without repeating themselves. The Black Forest rewards those who go deeper than the gift shops.