Discover Gutach (Black Forest Railway)

Gutach (Black Forest Railway) combines historical insights with hiking trails and a wide range of leisure activities. This makes the town an interesting choice if you are weighing up culture, exercise and fun experiences for your stay. Simply deciding what you would like to focus on will lead you to very different sides of Gutach.

Getting here and finding your way around

The “Gutach Freilichtmuseum” railway stop provides access via the Ortenau S-Bahn. If you are planning to travel by train, you can take this stop and the service mentioned into account. This also makes it possible to consider Gutach as a holiday destination with the journey in mind before exploring the individual experiences available locally.

Historical ways of life and art

At the Black Forest Open-Air Museum Vogtsbauernhof, six fully furnished farmhouses under one roof, along with numerous outbuildings, show how people lived and worked over the past 400 years. The farmhouses and outbuildings explore different aspects of everyday life in those times. This gives the museum visit a broad cultural and historical focus rather than limiting it to a single building.

The visit also offers practical insights: craft demonstrations take place daily at Vogtsbauernhof, and there are hands-on activities for museum visitors. So, alongside touring the historical farmhouses, you can watch demonstrations and take part in activities. If you are planning to include culture in your stay, you will find several ways here to explore how people lived and worked in the past.

The Hasemann-Liebich Art Museum offers another cultural perspective on Gutach. It is housed in the former “Krämerhaus” in Gutach. Together with the open-air museum, it highlights the distinction between presentations of earlier living and working environments and an art museum in town—two separate points of interest to consider when planning your visit.

Hiking and a range of leisure activities

For outdoor activity, Gutach has well-marked hiking trails, including the “Gutacher Tälersteig” trail. Hiking offers a different focus from a museum visit or a leisure activity. If you enjoy getting around on foot, you can include hiking in your holiday plans.

The Black Forest bob ride combines two specific route details: the Gutach toboggan run is more than 1,150 metres long, and its lift carries riders 300 metres uphill before their descent. Adventure Golf in Gutach offers a different kind of fun, with 18 themed holes.

The circular trail in the Park of All the Senses is another option in its own right: it leads to fragrance pavilions, tactile stations and meditation caves. While the Black Forest bob ride and Adventure Golf focus on their respective rides and games, this trail draws attention to a range of sensory impressions. So the activities differ not only in name, but also in what you can experience during a visit.

Plan your stay and accommodation around your interests

If you are travelling as a family, this selection can be a good starting point for discussing everyone’s different interests. You can then consider the accommodation options based on which locations suit the attractions that matter to you and your plans, rather than treating every activity as equally important.

The wider area: Ortenaukreis

As a broader travel destination, Ortenaukreis lies between the Rhine and the Black Forest. The district has 23 nature reserves covering a total area of around 3,110 hectares, stretching from the Rhine Plain to the higher elevations of the Black Forest.

Discover more destinations

Discover more destinations: Appenweier, Sasbachwalden, Ichenheim, Nordrach, Kehl, Oberkirch, Hausach, Steinach.

View the overview of the wider travel region: Ortenaukreis.