Freiburg Hints and Recommendations - Lesser Known Offerings and Facilities of Interest

Freiburg Hints and Recommendations - lesser known offerings and facilities of interest to visitors.

Pictures, background info

http://www.badische-zeitung.de/ the local paper

http://www.bilder-von-freiburg.de/freiburg_bilder.html, http://www.freiburg.de

http://www.freiburg.de/servlet/PB/menu/1143623_l2/ sister cities, etc.

http://www.uni-freiburg.de university

http://www.ayf.uni-freiburg.de Junior Year Abroad

Tourist Info in the Altes Rathaus (which looks newer than the Neue Rathaus next door), has the most flyers, maps, and schedules

on just about every possible attraction in the region - glass blowing, wineries, mineral spring spas, Schauinsland Gondola,...

Detailed Map http://www.hot-map.com/freiburg

Webcam from Schlossberg http://regiowebcam.de/index.php?id=1800

Food and drink

The following lists more than a dozen eating and drinking establishments - all offer good to fine meals, often until late at night.

http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/freipubs.htm

Popular beer gardens listed there are Augustiner, Feierling, Martins Brau. Other outside beer gardens are

Gasthof zum Stahl on Karthaeuserstr 99, http://http://www.zum-stahl.de, largest, most original, 2 km east of center, Tram 1 Stadthalle.

Many beergardens allow you to carry in your own food, and every butcher shop can fix you on demand a crunchy sandwich with any cold cut you choose, also at some groceries, Euro 1-2.

The Biergarten on the Schlossberg above the Greiffenegg restaurant and close to the Schwabentor is said to be the most beautiful in Baden.

It and the fancy Greiffenegg restaurant (http://www.greiffenegg.de) with city view is run by Toni Schlegel, a UW MBA and the president of the Freiburg-Madison Gesellschaft.

Brennessel, Eschholzstr. 17, 3 blocks west of the train station, is a noisy, usually packed student restaurant with low prices (Spaghetti Bolognese Euro 3.-), large servings, standard German and a few off-beat offerings, incl. vegetarian, http://www.brennessel-freiburg.de Hours: Mon - Sat 18:00 - 01:00, Sun, public holidays 17:00 - 01:00.

Jacques Weindepots, Kronenmattenstr 6 or Habsburgerstr 4 in Freiburg, taste any of their wines - an oenophile’s haeven. http://www.wine-searcher.com/merchant/5735

The restaurant in the Neue Wiehre Bahnhof has a Boule (Petanque) court.

Accomodations

http://www.booking.com/city/de/freiburg-im-breisgau.de.html - hotels.

http://www.ferienwohnungen.de/europa/deutschland/baden-wuerttemberg/freiburg/ - vacation appartments, about 60 in Freiburg itself, Euro 40+; 1qm=~10 sqf .

A google search on “freiburg ferienwohnung” yields a few other appartments.

http://www.deutsche-pensionen.de/pension-freiburg/verzeichnis-lage.html - pensions, rooms Euro 25+.

Haus St. Benedikt, Riedbergstr 3, 79100 Freiburg-Guenterstal, 0761-1564890 is the guest house of the St Lioba monastery. Quiet, modern, generous rooms in a beautiful setting less than 2 miles from Freiburg’s center. Tram 2 Wiesenweg. $20-33/person w/o breakfast.

Transportation

In city centers travel on foot and public transport is faster and cheaper than rental cars, which can be pricey - best to prebook in the US. Europcar.com lets you add family members as additional drivers w/o charge.

The excellent public transportation can be expensive if you buy single ride tickets, typically Euro 2. In most cities one can now get on and off and transfer going in one direction on one ticket within 1-3 hours from the start of the trip. Explore city/regional day or 24 hr passes called Tageskarte usually at the rate of 2.5 single fares for one person or for groups of up to 5 at a rate of 3-4 single rides. In Germany there seems to be a concerted effort to make public transport flexible and competitive even for families and small groups.

In many bigger cities you just get on the tram or bus, but be prepared to show a valid ticket to the occasional controller. Buy the ticket from a machine at the stop beforehand. In Freiburg on the tram itself including day passes and some regional and group passes. Change is always returned, but Freiburg’s ticket machines accept coins only; one may ask the conductor to make change.

Travel info Europe-wide,charters,tours,etc http://www.reiseauskunft.de .

A very detailed English, London-centric, guide to train and ship travel http://www.seat61.com/ .

An excellent US travel agency specializing in German speaking countries: http://www.gemut.com .

Travel to Freiburg, all options, http://ets07.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/travelpage.html

Airport to Freiburg

The Frankfurt airport (FRA) has 2 train stations, REGIObahnhof for regional, FERNbahnhof for long distance. Every hour a train for Freiburg and beyond (Basel, Zurich) leaves from the FERNbahnhof, either direct or with an easy change in Mannheim. 2:10 hours. Alternatively, take a train to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof(Hbf) or Mainz, where you can change to direct trains to Freiburg. EURO 70 one way.

Zurich airport (ZRH) to Freiburg is similar, always with a train change in either Zurich Hauptbahnhof, Basel SBB, or Olten.

The smaller Basel-Muhlhouse airport has a frequent shuttle bus to Freiburg for EURO 18, http://www.freiburger-reisedienst.de .

Train tickets and reservations

Information Europe-wide in many languages http://www.bahn.de or http://www.reiseauskunft.bahn.de .

If you register with bahn.de, you can buy your ticket on-line often at up to 50% off; but the discount ties you to the train you reserved(=Zugbindung), the ticket becomes worthless if you miss it. Groups of 6 or more traveling together get discounts of up to 70%.

Eurail single country Flexi passes are valid for 1 month. For about $ 30 you can add Benelux or Denmark (you do not need to travel there) to a German rail pass which spreads your Flexi days over 2 months. European residents and exchange students can buy single country passes at a little less than Eurail prices, http://www.interrail.net/.

In Freiburg the Reise-Center in the Wiehre station is staffed by expert counselors, often with shorter lines than at the Hbf/Main station; excellent for planning European vacation travel.

Reservations, Euro 2-4, are not needed in German speaking countries except Fr&Su afternoon/eve, vacations, holidays. But even then one can usually find a seat by the next stop. In Freiburg specifically 7 AM weekday trains direction Karlsruhe/Frankfurt are filled by commuters most of which get off at Offenburg, the next stop. Local and regional trains may be crowded on some weekends, when, for example, sports fans take advantage of very low group/family rates to out-of-town soccer matches.

Ride boards

on the Internet are much used in Germany, for the young and price conscious.

http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de is best; Deutsche Bahn and Avis advertise on it! It also lists competitive train, bus, and plane connections!

For Mon, 1/28/2013, it offered 20 rides from Frankfurt to Freiburg for EURO 15/trip (3 people max), plus bus and train listings. Note ‘Angebot’=ride offered, ‘Gesuch’=ride wanted.

Public Transport around Freiburg and the Region

Visit the SBG Kunden Center at the Hauptbahnhof/Main station next to the taxi stand for schedules, maps, etc.

(http://www.rvf.de). Examples of unlimited travel passes in the region during any 24 hr period - as of 1/2013:

Regio24 pass for 1 adult + 4 children = Euro 11, 5 adults = Euro 20.

RegioElsassTicket including the Colmar region in France = Euro 12, 5 adults = Euro 22.

Exploring the Freiburg Region with a Regio pass

Freiburg has 6 public indoor pools, admission=Euro 4 and 2 outdoor pools; plus gravelpit lakes and ponds, like Opfinger See west of Freiburg. For diving board, etc. try

the outdoor pool close to the Jugendherberge (youth hostel) or the Haslach-Bad in town. The Keidel-Bad does not have a slide or diving boards, but its water is from the on-site hot mineral spring flowing into a few small whirlpool-sized units. If mineral springs appeal, you may also want to go to the giant indoor/outdoor pools south of Freiburg in the towns of Bad Krozingen and Badenweiler—both reachable with your Regiokarte. They are famous spas though not as grand as Baden-Baden to the north. Badenweiler has an amazing archeological site of the ancient Roman baths right next to the modern pool.

Titisee high up in the Black Forest is a very worthwhile daytrip by train. It has a gigantic new pool called Badeparadies, easily reachable by foot from the train station (like everything else in this little town). It’s remarkable for the 150 or so palm trees they have. There are boat trips and rentals on the Titisee itself. This is the place to shop for cuckoo clocks because of the overwhelming selection, although they are also available at many shops in Freiburg itself, including the big department stores Karstadt and Kaufhof.

The town Breisach on the Rhine is pretty and there are hourly boat trips on the Rhine worth doing. But don’t expect the grandeur of the standard Rhine boat trip between Bonn and Mainz with all the castle ruins. Down by Freiburg, the Rhine is very tame, and the boat trip is almost entirely along little side canals built for commercial purposes.

You can use the Regiokarte to visit several little towns in the vicinity of Freiburg, such as Staufen and the aforementioned Badenweiler and Bad Krozingen, and the little wine-growing towns on the Kaiserstuhl mountain to the northwest of Freiburg; for example Ihringen, which has a wine festival every summer. And Endingen and Kenzingen a few miles north of Freiburg are quaint yet not maintained for tourists’ sake.

Look for Strauss-, Straussen-wirtschaft, Winzerschenke, which are wineries and cellars where the farmer/vintener offers seasonally his own wines by the glass or bottle together with a limited food menu. They are informal, often bucolic, with low prices and found mainly outside of towns. Free printed guides updated annually can be found at gas stations, supermarkets and on the web at http://http://www.straussen-kalender.de/.

Beyond the reach of the Regio24 pass:

Strasbourg is very worthwhile, as is Colmar - smaller and quainter. Fairy-tale charming are the Alsatian wine villages across the Rhine: Riquewihr and Ribeauville are the most touristy ones. http://www.ribeauville-riquewihr.com/en/ Since they suffered little damage during the war they are cuter than the corresponding wine towns on the German side of the Rhine. The Alsatian towns are nearby but very hard to reach by public transportation, so try a bus tour (Steiert?), or rent a car for a day. They are small enough so one can do three to five in a day. You do not need to know French over there. They are strongly oriented toward foreign tourists and typically speak English and German.

If you are into roller coasters etc., you can visit the Europa Park about 25 miles north of Freiburg. It has three excellent metal roller coasters (locally manufactured, which is a matter of great pride) and a brand new wooden roller coaster built by an American firm. There are plenty of other attractions for the older crowd as well. Approaching Rust by road you are offered the weird view of a Coloseum rising over cornfields.

http://www.europapark.com/lang-en/Home/c1174.html?langchange=true

Bike Rental

Mobile, Wentzingerstr 15, across the tracks southwest of the Hbf/main train station, http://www.mobile-Freiburg.de.

Freiburg Aktiv, Wentzingerstr 15, , http://www.freiburg-aktiv.de, phone 0761-2023426 organizes

bike tours and many other activities.

Telephone - calling the US from Germany

Dialing 001 areacode local# connects you via Deutsche Telecom, the former monopoly supplier at 0.045 Euro/min landline to landline.

However, you may call the US for as little as 0.01 Euro/min via competitor’s lines, which you access with a 5 or 6 digit code before the country code. This works from any landline except pay phones, because by German law DT must bill the phone you are using on behalf of these competitors. Examples of these pre-dial codes with rates per minute in Euro cents: 01077 - 1.4, 01081 - 1.8, 01086 - 1, 01052 - 1.6 this last rate applies also to calls to a US cell phone. These rates often vary a little, one can find them on www.tele-fon.de/liste/auslandstarife.htlm, or ask your host for the pre-dial (=Vorwahl) they recommend.

To dial the Madison # ‘123.4567’ on the cheap from Germany dial ‘01086 001 608 123 4567’.

Telephone numbers in Europe are often quoted with a + sign. This means you must put a zero or country code in front of it.

For example it might say ‘+761 12345’; in Germany you would dial from outside Freiburg ‘0761 12345’, and when in Freiburg just ‘12345’, where the city code would be redundant. To dial this Freiburg # from the US use ‘011 49 761 12345’.

For calling within Germany many people have unlimited national calls, check with your host family.

Not so obvious things to do

Musik: Zeltmusik Festival June-July, classic to pop, http://www.zmf.de .

Madison Connection: Carl-Schurz-Haus, Eisenbahnstr. 58, 3rd floor, a few steps from the Hbf/main station, offers an extensive German-American cultural program, http://www.carl-schurz-haus.de .

Rathausplatz has mosaic crests of all Freiburg Sister cities incl Madison

Madisonallee wraps around the Messe Freiburg area.

Museums:The Wentzingerhaus Stadtmuseum has detailed models of how the Muenster church was built, and other curiosities.

Learn about wine growing in the Colombi Park vineyard smack in the center of town across from the Carl-Schurz-Haus.

Try this

Climb the tower of the Muenster cathedral via narrow inside circular stairs.

Food and drink: Curry-wurst/sausage and Doenner Kebab fast foods; Wildschwein/wild boar venison entre; Bionade, Rivella soft drinks.

Guess the age of the Schwabentor and Martinstor.

Walk up to the Greiffenegg, or take its elevators, from the Schwabentorplatz for a close-up view of Freiburg.

Take a bike on the train to Hinterzarten or Titisee, then ride back to Freiburg, or rent one-way; info: Mobile and Wiehre Bahnhof Reise Center.

The major highway B31 is extremely busy and without a shoulder. Follow instead the hiking/biking signs, unfortunately all with some initial uphills:

Hinterzarten station - Breitenau (a long, slow rise) - Thurner - Falkenhof - Buchenbach ~ Freiburg; or

Hinterzarten station - Alpersbach (part of 3-Seen-Radwanderweg/3-Lakes Bikepath) - Rinken - Zastler (long, steep descent) - Oberried ~Freiburg; or

Titisee or Baerental stations - Feuerwehrheim - Loeffelschmiede - Raimatishof - Rinken - Zastler - Oberried ~ Freiburg.

Lovely towns nearby and reachable by train: Kenzingen, Staufen, Villingen, Rottweil, the latter two with little WWII damage,

Para- and Hanggliding, http://www.skytec.de has half-day familiarity lessons/Schnuppertag in the nearby Glottertal..

Enter any local government office where the hallways are often decorated with historical pictures, stories and maps of Freiburg.

Hiking trips around Freiburg and in the Black Forest- Links in German http://madisonfreiburg.org/freiburghiking.htm

Environment/Umwelt

Technisches Rathaus provides services and info locally, google ‘Technisches Rathaus Freiburg’.

Fraunhofer Institut für Solare Energiesysteme ISE, http://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/.

Villingen Lufbild http://www.neckarkiesel.de/img/vs-luftbild.jpg