Black Forest, Alsace and Vosges

I went there in 2019.... very disappointed - towns busy, staff in restaurants miserable - landscape hampered by industry along rivers, too many tourists.

And the fact so many places would not accept cards... wanted cash only was a faff...

Much prefer the Pyrenees.... will not be going back....

I went there in 2018. Towns quiet, few tourists, plenty of room in campsites. Great reception in cafes and shops. Great roads, lovely lakes and forest walks. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was June.
 
Done a few of the roads in map areas 5, 6, 7 and 8.
My favourite by far was the Vosges (7), I found it was something nice, simple and relaxing about riding along the hill tops with fine views. :rob

Same here ref area 7, Vosges. I had a few days there in 2019 and is at the top of my list for a return visit.
 
Thank you.

Where the report falls down (and where so many of the German magazines win) is that it has no maps and / or no GPS track of the jaunts. Good quality mapping is now easy and links to GPS tracks even more so.

One could, with a bit of work and a bit of imsginaion, work out which roads the bod rode but that’s just extra work.
 
Thanks Wapping, that's very helpful. I have a week trip to the Black Forest booked for late May next year - and a hotel more of less directly between the routes of Tour 5 and Tour 6, so there are some good ideas there to steal! That, plus my copy of "Bike's Europe" and I should be able to plan a few rather nice days riding.
 
Thank you Richard, spent last week wandering around Germany and a bit of France and we mostly used the tracks you shared here.
I wanted to do the 1000 lakes you posted in another thread too, but will be for the next time.

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Quick note: some of the tracks do wander a lot within towns (traffic, low speed) and beware of the deviation to the centre of some towns (you'll see the waypoint) if you don't want to stop :)
Just have quick check before starting.

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I'll post later a couple of (short, I promise) videos and a couple of very nice hotels/restaurant where we've been. As it might be helpful to other planning.
 
I uploaded the .gpx track from my Zumo (complete with stops and bits where we might have gotten lost) here.

It was the first time for me leaving in the evening after work and stopping just after Calais. I am generally an early starter when traveling :)
I spent the night at the excellent Hotel Bal.
https://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/bal.en-gb.html

Cheap, super clean, and super nice staff.
I arrived at about 10/10:30 in the evening, the reception closes early but they left me the keys by the check-in desk.
Will definitely use again.

First time using the Garmin Adventurous Routing function as I didn't have time to plan the first leg to Baden Baden. It worked pretty much ok (well, it is France...) and the B roads from after Reims to Baden Baden were pretty fast flowing and enjoyable to ride.

The rest of the route is a mix and match of the routes proposed by Wapping in this thread + some very nice detours in Alsace, still from the routes posted here.

Just 60 seconds video, I promise. :)
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We spent a night, and a very nice meal, in Hotel Lamm in Bad Herrenalb: https://lamm-rotensol.de/en/

Again here too: https://www.booking.com/hotel/de/dorer.en-gb.html
 
Thank you, er-minio. I’m glad the opening post gave you some ideas on where to go. Despite living within easy access of the Chunnel / Kent coast, I find going over the night before to be a real benefit. I have also taken up staying an extra night in France, returning on a train the next morning or around midday.

Are the suggestions, cut from various magazines, perfect? No, but I guess on the whole they are not bad.
 


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