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The Black Forest in Germany is famous for its gateaux, cuckoo clocks and rustic farmhouses. We wanted to visit the picture postcard scenes for ourselves, and the region certainly lived up to our expectations.

The Black Forest is a popular holiday destination for Germans with children and it’s easy to see why! You can have a fantastic family holiday here enjoying themed walking trails for children, boating on sparkling lakes, sampling the gateaux and bratwurst in pretty towns, whizzing down mountains on toboggans, seeing the biggest cuckoo clock in the world – not to mention that Europaland (the second most popular theme park in Europe, after Disneyland) is located here.

But no trip to the Black Forest is complete without a visit to the Black Forest Open Air Museum, a living history museum that children will love.

On site there is a huge adventure play ground, a waterplay area, two coffee shops, a picnic area and a gift shop.

The museum itself consists of 19 buildings from around the Black Forest that have been disassembled, transported and reassembled onto the site, creating a village of traditional farm buildings of mills, cottages, chapels and even a manor house, some of which date back to the 1600s. Each of the buildings can be explored. Some are exhibitions, some have furniture and household items intact, one has cow bells for children to play music with and another has an indoor play area!  Many of the buildings have quaint gardens, with over 150 medicinal plants in them.

Children will love petting the farm animals on site – our 3-year-old was especially delighted to follow the free range hens and cockerels around! 

While we were there, we saw live demonstrations of traditional spinning, weaving and apple juice making and even got to sample some of the juice – delicious! We also took part, with the children, in an English guided tour to learn more about the history. I wasn’t sure how well our 8-, 6- and 3-year-olds would listen to the tour guide (and I did slip them the occasional sweet to keep them quiet) but they all genuinely enjoyed it. Even my husband who is no history buff was gripped and asking the guide all his burning questions. Anyone who is interested in social history, engineering, architecture, gardening or farming would absolutely love it and should definitely visit the museum while in the area.

Prices

Adults €10

Children and young persons (6 – 17 years)  €5.50

Children under 5 years      Free

There are also family tickets available:

Family ticket 1

(2 Adults + 1 Child 6 to 17 Years)            €23.00

Family ticket 2

(2 Adults + 2 Children 6 to 17 Years)      €28.00

Family ticket 3

(2 Adults + 3 and more Children 6 to 17 Years)  €32.00

We spent the whole day at the Black Forest Museum and then went tobogganing afterwards, at Sommerrodelbahn, a 1190 metre toboggan track which is just next door to the museum. Small children (over 3 years old) can ride with an adult and bigger children can ride by themselves. It is very affordable, with prices starting from €2.80 for a child and €3.80 for an adult to ride it.