Alsace and the Black Forest

Garmisch is also a home to every year’s BMW Motorrad days, a great experience for any motorcyclist. We’ll begin encountering some gentle sweepers riding toward Austria, connecting to the famous German “Alpine Road” all the way to Füssen. This city is the southernmost point of the famous "Romantic Road" and is the perfect place from which to visit the royal palace of Neuschweinstein, the model for Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

We will take a guided tour before continuing our scenic and exhilarating ride through the rolling landscape to Lake Constance on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps. Known as Bodensee in German, this largest lake in Central Europe is situated at the intersection of Switzerland/Germany/Austria. Our stay for the night is on the historic island of Lindau, surrounded by a luscious green environment and snow-covered mountains.

 With a width of 150 meters, the Rhine drops (coming from Lake Constance) over the rocks from a height of 23 meters. In search for the smoothest roads, we’ll be leaving Switzerland, heading to the Southern Black Forest, riding undulating, sweeping and often spectacular roads in this part of the Germany. In the second half of the day we ride past Freiburg, crossing to France, partially connecting to the Alsace Wine Route with its picturesque villages like Ribeauville and Colmar, into the impressive Vosges Mountains, covering a large area of the Alsacian territory.

The region boasts a remarkable architectural legacy. Timber-framed houses, generally characterized by flat clay tiles and half-timbered building fronts, are found in both the cities and the countryside. We will get to indulge ourselves by tasting famous Alsatian wines that are not produced anywhere else in France and fabulous cuisine. The most eager riders can tackle another adventure, riding an exciting loop on twisty, hilly roads to Vosges Regional Natural Park. 

This is a spectacular ride, exploring the rich and verdant countryside, dotted with pretty villages, the highest of Germany’s waterfalls in the city of Triberg and its Black Forest Museum, well known for the famous cuckoo clocks. Passing the spa town of Baden-Baden we will end the day in northern Black Forest.

The name of this east to west route speaks for itself, lined castle to castle through romantic medieval towns for almost 1200 km. The scenic ride will follow the Neckar River through beautiful countryside. We will enjoy medieval masterpieces and a variety of period costume performances at festivals amid authentic surroundings and medieval markets. These vivid experiences will end in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany's best-preserved walled town in the Franconian heartland.

We’ll be passing Ingolstadt, known for its Audi Automobile Museum, devoted to the history of Audi and its predecessors and the focal point of the Audi Forum Ingolstadt. By late afternoon, Munich will greet us once more. That evening, we'll meet for our farewell dinner.

If you have an afternoon flight planned, you can walk the Old Town and enjoy the local sites once more before returning home filled with great memories.