A New Side of the Black Forest-From Designer Cuckoo Clocks to Revitalized Bathhouses

"In the popular imagination the Black Forest is a place of extraordinary natural beauty and the wooded realm of sinister fairy tales. But many contemporary German city dwellers often consider the 23,000-acre region an antiquated and provincial backwater, a place where oma and opa (granny and grandpa) go on their holidays to hike the marked trails, which run for about 15,000 miles."

"A drive around the Hochschwarzwald, or High Black Forest-literally the highest part of the area-fulfills every cliché: remote houses with drooping roofs that seem to almost touch the ground; medieval towns like St. Blasien; crisp mountain lakes such as Schluchsee; and the constant baaing of sheep. This is the Germany of the Heimatfilm escapist movies produced in the 1950s, the period of Germany's postwar travails, which sentimentalized the country's rural idylls (and were criticized for their avoidance of the recent Nazi past)."

Romans named the forest silva nigra two thousand years ago for its moody glades of deciduous trees and firs. The Schwarzwald often appears bright rather than dark, with undulating green slopes. Contemporary German city dwellers sometimes view the 23,000-acre region as antiquated and provincial. The area offers about 15,000 miles of marked trails, including the Westweg, a 125-year-old route from Pforzheim to Basel that takes 48 hours on foot, and the Geniesserpfade through Baden wine country with traditional inns. The Hochschwarzwald features drooping-roof houses, medieval towns such as St. Blasien, lakes like Schluchsee and the constant baaing of sheep. The region inspired 1950s Heimatfilm movies that sentimentalized rural idylls and faced criticism for avoiding recent Nazi history.

Read at Conde Nast Traveler