Road Trip in Southwest Germany, the Black Forest, Bath Towns

Have you ever thought about taking a road trip in Southwest Germany? And not just to drive on the autobahn! 

We wanted to explore the nature in Germany so we decided to make our way by car from Munich to Bad Liebenzell stopping in Ludwigshafen, Karlsruhe, Mannheim & Heildberg along the way before back to Munich. Here is the six day itinerary for a road trip in Southwest Germany! 

Day 1:

Driving from Munich to Ludwigshafen we encountered a lot of traffic and didn’t get to fully test our selves on the autobahn! We arrived in the late afternoon and stayed at the Moxy in Ludwigshafen to take advantage of the Marriot points! We took scooters over the river to explore Mannheim and we really enjoyed this part of town. It was very “hipster” and there were lots of cool places to eat and drink. We ended up trying Nabati for dinner and the falafels were amazing. This is a must eat if visiting the area. We also tried Cheesecake from Franky’s Farm Cheesecake – which was one of our favorite desserts so far! 

Day 2: 

We drove the car to Hieldberg and parked a little outside the center to walk and explore the area. We got in a LOT of steps this day by hiking to the view point – Philosopher's Way and then hiking down to explore the old town. We walked across the Old Bridge, which is a perfect photo spot! We had lunch at Mahmound’s (another great middle eastern restaurant)  before taking the big hike up to the castle. You can take a funicular, but we did not feel like waiting in line. It was definitely a strenuous hike to the top, but exploring the castle and grounds were worth it. You do not need a ticket to explore the outside grounds, but you will need a ticket to go explore into the castle. We took the car back to our hotel and used public transport to go back to Mannheim to try some Indian food recommended to us. We clocked in at 25K steps that day! It was very tasty, but unfortunately I got sick that night (not sure if it was the food, heat, etc). 

Day 3:

Day 3 we checked out late as I was sick in the night and drove to our next hotel in Karlsruhe, most of the day was shot but we did have some soup in the evening and explore a little of the town. 

Day 4:

Feeling better, we got up early and headed to Bad Liebenzell. Bad Liebenzell is a bath town (meaning Thermal Waters, check out on our post) in the black forest and put us right into the nature we were craving. The first day we did a hike in the Monbachschluct area – to a cool waterfall. The entire hike we “ohhed” and “ahhed” over the lucious green of the entire forest, everything was covered in a beautiful green moss and the sunlight peaked through the trees. Adding in the flowing river sounds and the waterfall  - it was a perfect hike. After the hike we headed to check into our Air B&B while exploring the picture perfect German town. 

After a hike, it was great to check out the local thermal bath. We wrote about this experience in our post here.

Day 5:

The next day we ventured to explore more of the black forest. We drove through green pastures, rolling hills and beautiful forest areas to go to Nationalpark Schwarzwald and complete the Allerheiligen Wasserfalle (All Saints Waterfall) hike. There are a few different hikes in this area, so we took the loop up to Oppenau and came back around the other side to our car. The first part of the hike goes along a river that has multiple waterfalls – big and small, beautiful flowers and a good amount of stairs. At the top you go along a flat path passing by some of the most beautiful long haired goats I’d ever seen! They were so majestic. After the goats, you come across a small town with old houses and a shop where you can get something to eat. That is definitely one of the highlights of hiking in Europe, there is always somewhere to grab a coffee, treat, beer or even full meal on the trail. 

After finishing this hike, we decided to give one more adventure a try. We heard about a barefoot hiking trail – so we made our way there. We’ve heard of the benefits of grounding, but actually having a trail designed to do barefoot was new to us. The trail is called Barfußpfad Schömberg (click for a link on google maps) and was a really fun experience! 

We wrapped up the day with some Italian food at Bei Francesco, which we were pleasantly surprised of the quality and price point! 

Day 5 finalized our road trip and we took off early on day 6 for a LONG drive through the rain before dropping the car back in Munich.