6 Best Sights in The Black Forest, Germany

A visit to Freiburg's cathedral is not really complete without also exploring the Augustinermuseum, in the former Augustinian cloister. Original sculpture from the cathedral is on display, as well as gold and silver reliquaries. The collection of stained-glass windows, dating from the Middle Ages to today, is one of the most important in Germany.

Housed in the Schloss Karlsruhe, this museum has a large number of Greek and Roman antiquities and trophies that Ludwig the Turk brought back from campaigns in Turkey in the 17th century. Most of the other exhibits are devoted to local history.

The museum recounts the life of the Nobel Prize–winning writer Hermann Hesse, author of Steppenwolf and Siddharta, who rebelled against his middle-class German upbringing to become a pacifist and the darling of the Beat Generation. The museum tells the story of his life in personal belongings, photographs, manuscripts, and other documents. The museum is closed for renovations until spring 2023.

The former home of painter, sculptor, and architect Johann Christian Wentzinger (1710–97) houses the City History Museum, which contains fascinating exhibits, including the poignant remains of a typewriter recovered from a bombed-out bank. The ceiling fresco in the stairway, painted by Wentzinger himself, is the museum's pride and joy.

Regional traditional costumes can be seen at this museum in a former monastery in the village of Haslach, 10 km (6 miles) northwest of Gutach. The village is quaint, with a fine collection of half-timber houses. Pom-pom-topped straw hats, bejeweled headdresses, embroidered velvet vests, and Fasnet (Carnival) regalia of all parts of the forest are on display.

Rottweil, 26 km (16 miles) east of Triberg, has the best of the Black Forest's Fasnet (Carnival) celebrations, which here are pagan, fierce, and steeped in tradition. In the days just before Ash Wednesday, usually in February, "witches" and "devils" roam the streets wearing ugly wooden masks and making fantastic gyrations as they crack whips and ring bells. If you can't make it to Rottweil during the Carnival season, you can still catch the spirit of Fasnet. There's an exhibit on it at the Stadtmuseum, and tours are organized to the shops where they carve the masks and make the costumes and bells—just be aware that the museum is only open Tuesday through Sunday, from 2 to 4. The name Rottweil may be more familiar as the name for a breed of dog. The area used to be a center of meat production, and locals bred the Rottweiler to herd the cattle.