9 Best Sights in The Black Forest, Germany

Covering 160 acres, Europa Park is the continent's largest and busiest amusement park and one of Germany's best-loved attractions. It has a quaint walk-through replica of European villages as well as roller coasters and rides, like the Eurosat CanCan Coaster, a virtual journey inside the Moulin Rouge, and the Silver Star, one of Europe's highest roller coasters. Try the Swiss Bob Run or the Poseidon Water Roller Coaster for even more thrills for the entire family.

The Hornberg–Triberg–St. Georgen segment of the Schwarzwaldbahn is one of Germany's most scenic train rides. The 149-km (93-mile) Schwarzwaldbahn, built from 1866 to 1873, runs from Offenburg to Lake Constance via Triberg. It has no fewer than 39 tunnels, and at one point climbs almost 2,000 feet in just 11 km (6½ miles). It's part of the German Railway, and you can make inquiries at any station.

In the center of Furtwangen, 16 km (10 miles) south of Triberg, drop in on the Uhrenmuseum, the largest such museum in Germany. It charts the development of Black Forest clocks and exhibits all types of timepieces—from cuckoo clocks, church clock mechanisms, kinetic wristwatches, and old decorative desktop clocks to punch clocks and digital blinking objects.

The little town of Maulbronn, 45 km (28 miles) due east of Karlsruhe, is home to the best-preserved medieval monastery north of the Alps; its entire complex of 30 buildings is on UNESCO's World Heritage list. The name Maulbronn (Mule Fountain) derives from a legend. Monks seeking a suitably watered site for their monastery considered it a sign from God when one of their mules discovered and drank at a spring. The Kloster is also known for inventing the Maultasche, a kind of large ravioli. The monks thought that by coloring the meat filling green by adding parsley and wrapping it inside a pasta pocket, they could hide it from God on fasting days. Today the Maultasche is the cornerstone of Swabian cuisine. An audio guide in English is available.

The road to Gernsbach, a couple of miles east of Baden-Baden, skirts this 2,000-foot-high mountain peak, named after a monument to the god Mercury that dates from Roman times and still stands just below the mountain summit. You can take the Merkur Funicular Railway to the summit, but it's not a trip for the fainthearted—the incline (54 degrees) is one of Europe's steepest.

Five kilometers (3 miles) south of Rastatt, in Förch, Ludwig the Turk's Bohemian-born wife, Sibylle Augusta, constructed her own charming little summer palace after his death. Inside, in an exotic, imaginative baroque interior of mirrors, tiles, and marble, her collection of miniatures, mosaics, and porcelain is strikingly displayed. One of the only original palaces left unscathed by the war, the opulent interior includes a one-of-a-kind, 18th-century Florentine cabinet with 758 colorful panels.

Near Gutach, this is one of the most appealing museums in the Black Forest. Farmhouses and other rural buildings from all parts of the region have been transported here and reassembled, complete with traditional furniture, to create a living-history museum of Black Forest architecture through the centuries. Demonstrations ranging from traditional dances to woodworking capture life as it was in centuries past; be sure to check the website for daily shows.

Triberg's famous Schwarzwaldmuseum is a treasure trove of the region's traditional arts: wood carving, costumes, and handicrafts. The Schwarzwaldbahn is described, with historical displays and a working model. The Black Forest was also a center of mechanical music, and, among many other things, the museum has an "Orchestrion"—a cabinet full of mechanical instruments playing like an orchestra.

In a former munitions factory, the vast Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, or simply ZKM, houses a top-notch collection of media art, in all genres from painting to video and audio—about 9,000 pieces in all—starting from the end of the 20th century. It's an all-day adventure where you can watch movies, listen to music, try out video games, flirt with a virtual partner, or sit on a real bicycle and pedal through a virtual New York City.