Black Forest, Rottweil Germany
February 2, 2024 - by Muriel Dassen
Although the be picturesque town of Rotttweil is not actually IN the Black Forest it is situated just on the edge of the Black Forest and therefor still a very good start to explore the Black Forest as the 2 rides we have in this tour will of course be going into the Black Forest! Ride 1 will take you to the Northern part and ride 2 to the Southern part.
Of course you can download the GPX / ITN files and full e-books of the 2 rides we have in this tour via our roadtrip planner but you can already find the info in this blogpost.
Rotweill is the oldest city in Baden-Württemberg and its medieval town centre still looks exactly as it did in 1600. The city is known for its traditional carnival but maybe it sounds familiar for another reason, which we will share in our tips on 6 things to do in Rotweill, Germany, during your Black Forest motorcycle tour below.
The town has the same name as its breed of dog Rottweiler. And for good reason. As a former Roman army town, Rotweill’s favourable location allowed it to become an important cattle trading centre. To be able to sell cattle at the large cattle trade markets, traders sometimes had to make trips lasting days. This was not harmless for both the cattle and the trader. The dogs that were common around here were excellent as driving and protection dogs and then were called 'rottweilers'. Hanging out with humans and herds explains why the rottweiler is a good family dog.
A great place of interest in Rottweil is the Münster Heiliges Kreuze, an old church from the 1270. The name of the church "Holy Cross" refers to the time of the
Crusades between 1095 and the 13th century. These terrible wars of the Christian nations against the Orient had strategic, religious and economic reasons. During
this time, it was said, a piece (particle) of the cross of Jesus came to Rottweil with the returning crusaders. And although we read that this relic is now shown to the
public in the so-called "Kreuzpartikel / Particle of the Cross" we weren't able to find it. Did you?
The Black Gate, in German “Schwarzes Tor”, is the only intact gate left in the medieval town fortifications. Constructed in the early 13th century, it is one of
Rottweil’s oldest architectural monuments. At that time, it was known as the “Forest Gate” or “Waldtor”. With a thickness of more than 3 metres, the stone
blocks clearly show how the foundation walls were originally laid. The term “Schwarzes Tor” first appears in documents dating 1566, indicating the use of
black paint in the past, when refurbishments were done. The tower keeper and his family lived on the first windowed storey of the gate. Above that, on
the second windowed storey, prison cells were built in. It was the responsibility of the tower keeper and his wife to look after the prisoners and when convicts
passed through the Black Gate, on the way to the place of execution, the “poor sinners’ bell” in the small bell tower began to toll. The Wurttemberg era almost
put an end to the gate, when in May 1869 the “Schwarzwälder Bürgerzeitung” or “Black Forest Citizens’ Newspaper” reported that “the Black Gate would, by
all accounts, … be torn down in the near future. After all, it had neither monumental value nor architectural beauty”. Out of fear about the structural
stability of the adjacent houses, luckily this idea was given up.
Everywhere in town, there are fountains that gush away as they did in times gone by. In the late Middle Ages, this budding town mostly had houses with cistern-like wells that easily went down to 10 metres deep. As the town centre gradually expanded, however, it was necessary to exploit water resources outside the town and to channel this precious water via wooden pipes to the new fountains being built and at the end of the 16th century, there were 26 fountains in the town, 8 in the old town and 14 in open fields. There was a so called “fountain master” who was responsible for keeping the water flowing, preventing the wells and fountains from freezing in winter and making sure they did not get contaminated. In front of Rottweil’s town hall, you’ll find one of the fountains, the Apostelbrunnen with
the apostles Peter, James the Elder and John, symbolizing faith, hope and love.
Behind the “Predigerkirche” and the “Dominikanermuseum” you can enter the picturesque and historic park Bockshof that in summer becomes a open-air stage of the “Zimmertheater”. The Bockshof holds the “Lorenzkapelle”, displaying impressive items featuring Rottweil stonemasonry, and the small “Pulverturm” or “powder tower” which was used to store the gunpowder of the imperial town and was one of the powder warehouses of the “Schwäbischer Kreis”.
And from here you can get a nice view at the “Schwäbische Alb” to the East. You should be able to see five of the ten “thousanders”, mountains higher than 1,000 metres, overlooking the Neckar valley and our next and final stop here in Rottweil.
No matter which direction you are coming from and long before you actually reach Rottweil you will see this prominent object in the landscape: the Thyssen Test Tower with Germany’s highest visitors’ viewing platform at a height of 232 metres /761 feet. The tower reached its full height in just 68 days, growing twice as fast as a bamboo plant under perfect conditions. It is an industrial building in which ThyssenKrupp tests elevator innovations and therefore the interior houses 12 elevator shafts. With a total height of 246 metres, the tower is the highest building in Baden-Wurttemberg, the highest test tower in Europe and the highest building in the world with a textile shell. The glass panorama elevator on the facade takes you to the viewing platform at a speed of 8 metres / 26 ft per second. And up here, with Rottweil at our feet, on a clear day we should be able to see as far as the Alps, of course overlooking the Black Forest and even as far as the city Stuttgart.
Recommended hotels:
Rating on Booking.com: Fabulous 8.7
With private parking on site – reservation needed and fee applicable
In city centre of Rottweil
Rating on Booking.com: Fabulous 8.7
With private parking at night
With restaurant
In city centre of Rottweil
With free private parking on site ánd garage
Coffee/teamaker on rooms
5 minute walk into city centre of Rottweil
With free private on site - not covered - parking
20 to 25 minute walk in to city centre of Rottweil
With free private parking ánd garage for motorbikes!
Very biker friendly
With restaurant
3 km / 2 miles outside city centre of Rottweil
With free private on site - not covered - parking
20 to 25 minute walk in to city centre of Rottweil
Rating on booking.com: Very good 8.1
With free on site - not covered - parking
4 km / 2.5 miles outside city centre of Rottweil
Ride 1
Measuring 160 km / 100 miles from top to bottom, the Black Forest is a lovely expanse of hills, lakes and forest, topping out at the 1.493m / 4.898 ft Feldberg. It reaches from the spa town of Baden-Baden to the Swiss border, and from the Rhine almost to Lake Constance. And they say that this corner of the country is made for slow touring on one of the many twisty roads with sensational views. I don’t know if a motorcycle tour counts as "slow touring", but our ride 1 is around 210 km / 130 miles discovering the Northern part of the Black Forest.
We have added a first stop in Schiltach as we thought it is time for a coffeestop. Schiltach is supposed to be a charming town with half timbered houses, craftsmen and tanners and even called a gem at the top of the Kinzig Valley which we are entering here. And we added a parking near the Marktplatz with its half timbered houses as you can easily park your bike here and you will find some terraces close.
Gengenbach is describes as a fairytale village in the Black Forest that you should definitely visit, so that’s why we added Gengenbach to have lunch. It is surrounded by forests and vineyards and despite being largely destroyed in the war with France, the old centre is still well preserved. We might come across old city gates, the tower and again traditional halftimbered houses. So definitely worth for a little stretch of the legs in search for something to your liking for lunch.
Eble Uhren Park - WORLD'S LARGEST CUCKOO'S CLOCK
The Black Forest is, besides this beautiful area to enjoy motorcycle rides in, the birthplace of the cuckoo clock in 1730, a pendulum clock, which indicates the hours by imitating the sound of a cuckoo. Originally, the clock was intended as an alarm clock, but the sound of a rooster is difficult to make mechanically. And for the sound a cuckoo’s clock has two organ pipes activated via a rod system instead of the normal gong beat or bell. And our last stop is at the Eble Uhren Park where you can find the WORLD'S LARGEST CUCKOO CLOCK. When we stopped here for the first time years ago during one of our first Roadtrips, we almost pissed our pants laughing when we saw this…….. This Cuckoo clock is magnified 60 times! More claim to be the largest, but this is according to the World Guiness the largest cuckoos clock in Schonachbach close to Triberg. Of course you will have to wait for the full or half our to see it in action. But in the meantime you can visit the shop with the regular size clocks. We think it’s a fun last stop in this ride. Of course you can also decide to skip this and just have a stop in Triberg, but we will be going there in our second ride of our Black Forest tour for another highlight in Triberg.
Ride 2
With this ride we will be exploring the more Southern part of the Black Forest and we have a very promising ride of almost 230 km / 143 miles, so enough nice riding to do. Of course we also have some stops to stretch our legs and for drinks and food, so this should be a full day with biker fun!
Donauquelle
We have parked our bikes in Donauschingen, which parking is of course in the GPX / ITN file, because this is the place where you can find the source of the Donau river.
The Donau is the longest river within the European Union and the second longest in Europe after the Volga. It is a so called rain-fed river and arises here in the Black Forest. The Donau flows eastwards through central and south-eastern Europe, emptying into the Black Sea after 2.829 km / 1.757 miles in the border region of Romania and Ukraine via the Danube Delta. The cities of Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade are located on the river and no river in the world has as many capital cities. And this Donauquelle is right in the middle of Donauschingen, so perfect if you want to have a coffeestop as well or instead.
For our lunchstop we are going to Titisee-Neustadt. It is a unique town, located at the foot of the Feldberg, the highest mountain in the Black Forest. The town lies on the actual Titisee, a beautiful lake and therefore a favourite destination for tourists. There is a long waterfront promenade where you should be able to find several restaurants, but if the weather is good, this might also be a good spot for a picnic!
In Titisee-Neustadt they are strict with parking, so please use the bike parking that we added to the GPX / ITN file to avoid tickets and problems.
Triberger Wasserfalle - GERMANY'S HIGHEST WATERFALL
In our ride 1 we have a stop just North of Triberg at the world’s largest Cuckoos clock. In this ride we added a stop in the GPX / ITN file at this motorbike parking to visit Germany's highest waterfalls, which is quite a unique nature experience, to be reached on foot easily and within a 10 minute walk.
The foaming and thundering waters of the Gutach plunge 163 m /534 ft in 7 stages down into the valley.
WOW, what a ride. The Black Forest should really be on your BIKE IT list if you haven’t been here already. And you can use our rides and GO or just use them as inspiration. But GO
riding here!
Go on your own QUAZY RIDE
You can download the GPX / ITN files of the rides and the full e-books via our roadtrip planner and then we hope you will enjoy the rides you will be doing in this Quazy Rides Black Forest tour and your stay in Rottweil.
If you are posting on social media, don't forget to tag Quazy Rides or use the #QuazyRides, because we LOVE to see you having fun with our rides.
