Biking to Baden-Württemberg? Isn't that like travelling to the tundra to surf? There's the two-metre rule! Contrary to all clichés, our multi-day tour from Baiersbronn in Württemberg to Sasbachwalden in Baden offers trail fun at its best.
3-day MTB tour through the Black Forest
One federal state (Baden-Württemberg), two regions (Baiersbronn and Sasbachwalden), three days of mountain biking fun - 100 per cent legal! The double crossing of the northern Black Forest with 135 kilometres and 4000 metres of altitude appeals to pleasure bikers with a penchant for flowing bike trails and delicious refreshment stops.
Highlights of the Black Forest Cross
The perfectly signposted, legal trails around Baiersbronn, the built routes from the national park down to Sasbachwalden and the exceptionally good snack stops along the way are highlights of this Black Forest tour.
The 3 stages of the MTB tour through the Black Forest
- Stage 1: Baiersbronn - Berghotel Mummelsee | 49.2 km / 1486 m elevation gain / 5:30 h
- Stage 2: Berghotel Mummelsee - Obertal | 62.7 km / 1667 m elevation gain / 6:30 h
- Stage 3: Obertal - Baiersbronn | 40.2 km / 1210 hm / 4:30 h
The GPS data for the 3-stage circular tour from Baiersbronn via Sasbachwalden as a gpx track and the complete Travel report Black Forest Cross from BIKE 09/2021 as PDF you can download in the Download area at the end of this article.
Attention: Since the Darmstädter Hütte no longer offers overnight stays, we have slightly changed the route from BIKE 09/2021!
Stage 1: Baiersbronn - Berghotel Mummelsee (49.2 km / 1486 m elevation gain / 5:30 h)
The start is at Rosenplatz in Baiersbronn (584 m). You can park in the car park at the tourist information office. Without any preliminaries, you set off on the trails, initially on the T 10 with constant ups and downs past Klosterreichenbach to Schwarzenberg. Refreshment tip: the Genusshotel Sackmann directly on the Murg. At the end of the first day, you cycle flat up the Schönmünzach valley before the final ascent up to Mummelsee (1027 m, overnight stay at Berghotel Mummelsee).
Attention: If the Berghotel Mummelsee is fully booked, it is possible to stay overnight in Hinterlangenbach at the Hotel Forsthaus Auerhahn. It is best to clarify this before the tour.
Stage 2: Berghotel Mummelsee - Obertal (62.7 km / 1667 m elevation gain / 6:30 h)
For early-morning exercise, you cycle against the normal course of the T 5 to the Hornisgrinde (1164 m, refreshment stop). A forest track takes you from the Kleine Grinde to the Schwarzwaldhochstraße. Cross the road and speed along the trails of the Sasbachwalden Trail Park (Pfad zwo and Alpirsbacher Schwarzwald-Trail) to Sasbachwalden (257 m). Overnight stay for a two-day tour: Spinnerhof. Via Kappelrodeck and the Achertäler Berg&Tal tour, you return to the main ridge, the 1000-metre trail and the National Park Centre at Ruhestein. In a few minutes you reach the Darmstädter Hütte (unfortunately no longer offering overnight accommodation!). Pass the Wildseeblick viewpoint and follow the T 4 to the Hirschlach Trail. Follow this S2 single trail (T 8) down to Obertal. Stop off at the Wirtshaus zur Sieberei. There are several accommodation options available in Obertal, ranging from inns to 5-star hotels.
Stage 3: Obertal - Baiersbronn (40.2 km / 1210 hm / 4:30 h)
Continue along T 8 via the Kraftenbuckelweg to Buhlbach. From here, it's up again (T 8) to the Walterhütte. Then begins one of the toughest downhill challenges in Baiersbronn, a partly tricky and rocky S3 trail. From the Mitteltal natural swimming pool on the Murg, you roll to Mitteltal. After the , turn south again and ride on the fine trails of the T 8. Then head in the opposite direction to the T 1 towards Baiersbronn. Once you arrive at the Sankenbach game reserve, you head up Baiersbronn's local mountain once again. There are more wonderful trails on the programme here. The route then heads directly to Baiersbronn and Rosenplatz with its ice cream parlour.
Alternative: Bikepacking & camping in the Black Forest
The authorised trail network for bikers in the Black Forest between Baiersbronn in Württemberg and Sasbachwalden in Baden is now so extensive that you won't want to leave the forest at all. We can recommend this cosy bikepacking tour with a tent to anyone who simply wants to get away from it all for three days and two nights:
3 days in Spätzleland: Travel report Black Forest Cross
Head cinema is fun and sometimes makes life easier. When I think of Baden-Württemberg, for example, Stuttgart 21, Fanta 4 and Daimler immediately make themselves comfortable in my head. But also the word monster "two-metre rule". Which disqualifies Germany's third largest federal state faster than Winfried Kretschmann can say "Mauldäschle". For me, Baden-Württemberg has always been a kind of no-go area between Bavaria, France and Switzerland. But the film in my head doesn't always have to have anything to do with reality. When I first came to Baiersbronn five years ago, I quickly had to throw my prejudices overboard.
"The two-metre rule is too general from a tourism perspective. There are forest areas with many hikers or rare animals where biking should not take place. In many areas, shared paths - regardless of width - would make more sense. We are in favour of targeted visitor guidance where necessary, shared trails and more togetherness instead of competition." Sascha Hotz
Legal single trails in "Spätzleland"? Actually a contradiction in terms. But as in real life, talking to each other helps. Patrick Schreib (46), head of tourism in the northern Black Forest "star village" of Baiersbronn - and a passionate biker himself - thought the same thing. Six years ago, the smart Swabian brought together the state forest, hunters, forest owners, national park authorities, golden snipe conservationists and all the other doubters and achieved the impossible: legal single trails!
"We have over 400 kilometres of official bike trails. Eleven perfectly signposted routes from 13 to 81 kilometres in length and no stress between hikers and bikers," says Patrick.
The regular cleaning of the trails is to the volunteers of the Turnverein 1893 Baiersbronn what sweeping week is to real Swabians. When they tackle an issue in the village, they do so passionately. The three sub-lines of the municipality are called "Hiking Heaven", "Culinary Heaven" and "Mountain Bike Heaven". Eight stars are currently shining in Baiersbronn's culinary heaven. A German record. So it was only natural that the resourceful Swabians should create heaven on earth with the annual Trail & Enjoyment Camp.
Mountain biking during the day, feasting in the evening - even Sascha Hotz gets jealous. The 53-year-old is the head of cycling at Schwarzwald Tourismus GmbH. He lives and cycles deep down in Freiburg. Patrick and Sascha have known each other for 15 years. But they've never been cycling together. I want to change that. On a three-day cross-border tour from Württemberg over to Baden, down almost to the Rhine Valley and back to Baiersbronn.
Elsewhere, trails have euphonious names such as Tornantissima, The Brazilian or Bone Shaker. Our first trail in Baiersbronn is called T 10, but as Swabian-correct as the penultimate of Baiersbronn's eleven trails may sound, it is just as cheerful and carefree. The narrow rollercoaster ride via Klosterreichenbach to Schönmünzach is the perfect introduction to our 135-kilometre Black Forest cross with a good 4000 metres of elevation gain. With that kind of workload, you don't want to burn off your energy on the first morning. So we make our first pit stop in Schwarzenberg. After a quick espresso, we continue towards the border ridge.
"Baiersbronn is like a shining beacon in the sea of two-metre regulations. The Black Forest village has over 400 kilometres of official bike trails, 11 perfectly signposted routes ranging from 13 to 81 kilometres in length - and no stress between hikers and mountain bikers. All the trails around Baiersbronn are there for everyone." Patrick Schreib
The destination of the first stage is the Forsthaus Auerhahn. The name immediately conjures up images in my head: "Sure, such a cosy hipped-roof hut from the Black Forest Association, with a cuckoo clock and all that," I think. But first I have to conquer the tough metres in altitude to get there. My Alpine arrogance, which had ridiculed the Black Forest as a tired low mountain range, gives way to genuine respect on the very first day. What I hadn't realised before: of all the low mountain ranges in the country, the Black Forest is the highest. And the largest in terms of area. There are around 150 kilometres between Pforzheim and Basel. And the Black Forest has been "Hikers Heaven" since 1900. Back then, the Black Forest Association opened the Westweg, the mother of all high-altitude hiking trails in Germany. But this is forbidden fruit for bikers, Sascha admonishes me when he sees the sparkle in my eyes.
The northern Black Forest. In terms of height, the region cannot compete with Feldberg (1493 m) and Belchen (1414 m), the giants of the Upper Black Forest. The Hornisgrinde, however, stretches 1164 metres into the sky. At 700 metres, the difference in altitude between the Murg valley and the summit is no child's play. Even for alpine freaks like me. Only masochists tear off the 4,000 metres of altitude difference in two days, pushing on to Sasbachwalden in one go and back again the next day. True connoisseurs - and they fit the northern Black Forest like Harry fits Sally - prefer to take three days. After a good 40 kilometres and 1200 metres in altitude, we set up camp for the night at the very back of the Langenbach valley. In the Forsthaus Auerhahn that Patrick had mentioned. Not a cosy hipped-roof hut! This is a state-of-the-art four-star wellness hotel. How even names can deceive you!
Next day: Today, the queen stage awaits with a good 50 kilometres and a hefty 1900 metres in altitude. This is both the topographical and scenic highlight of the tour. The Hornisgrinde is the highest peak in the northern Black Forest. Wonderful trails wind along its flanks, leading down to Sasbachwalden. And finally, a real national park awaits us bikers. Where, please, is there such a thing?
But first things first! Once you have mastered the 500 metres of altitude gain in the morning, the flat summit plateau reveals a bizarre ensemble of 111-year-old Hornisgrindeturm tower, 206-metre-high SWR antenna, 8-metre Bismarck tower and relics from the Cold War. Despite all the buildings, the high moorland summit inaudibly breathes its very own magic. We are standing on the Dreifürstenstein, the border between the municipalities of Sasbachwalden and Baiersbronn - and therefore between Baden and Württemberg. From the Bismarck tower, you can see the Vosges mountains, the Swabian Alb and even as far as the Alps and Strasbourg when the weather is fine. But I only have eyes for the abyss. In just eight kilometres, the Black Forest drops over 1000 vertical metres into the Rhine Valley. We have to get down there! And not somehow, but with style.
And the lively bike community in Sasbachwalden makes sure of that. Half-timbered houses, flowers, trail park: this triad succinctly describes the small village of 2500 souls. We meet Martin Schumacher, the caretaker of the Sasbachwalden trail park, at Mummelsee just below the summit.
"Our Alpirsbach Black Forest trail is one of the longest trails built in Germany," says the carpenter and trail builder: "And on trail two further up, you can take on 12 berms and 16 jumps in just 80 metres." We meet a couple of boys who are constantly riding down, pushing up, riding down and pushing up again. No way, the youngsters are just sitting on the sofa! For us touring uncles, the 400 metres of descent on both trails are pure pleasure. A bit of airtime and a rollercoaster feeling at the top, then after the transfer with a few metres uphill, fun berms and small ramps await from the paraglider launch site. It's impressive what the people of Sasbachwalden have managed to create. Together with the nature trails over in Baiersbronn, a shining beacon in the sea of two-metre regulations. Chapeau!
But we have to get out of the Rhine Valley and back up to the main ridge. So we say goodbye to trail builder Martin and set off again on the Achertäler Berg&Tal tour on the long, arduous journey towards the national park. Baden-Württemberg's first national park was just seven years old on 3 May. Patrick proudly guides us through the brand new national park centre at Ruhestein like a dad whose offspring is now a schoolchild. A futuristic, 35 million euro building complex that looks as if someone has shaken oversized wooden building blocks into the forest.
Less than two kilometres to the north-east, at the 95-year-old Darmstädter Hütte, there are hipped roofs and cuckoo clocks again. It's the second overnight stay of the tour. We are back in Patrick's neighbourhood. You can tell from the fun-free nomenclature of the trails: T 9, T 4 and T 8.
The next day, we experience just how much fun the abbreviations mean in practice: in the face of mystical cirque lakes, we whizz down to Obertal and continue on good-natured flow trails to a stop at Forellenhof Buhlbach. After the "Mittagsveschber", a few really tough S3 sections await after the Walterhütte before the circle closes again at Rosenplatz in Baiersbronn.
Three days of legal trails! Who would have thought it? The only place where Patrick's Baiersbronner could still get their Swabian brains together is in the naming. T 4 sounds like a rusty Wolfsburg family bus to me. Sascha's Freiburgers are more creative. The trails there have fancy names like Baden to the Bone or Borderline. I'll have a look at them next year. Sascha certainly knows a legal trail from Freiburg over to Württemberg and back again. After all, the film that is now constantly running in my head cinema is called: Spätzleland is single trail country!
