A summer city trip to Freiburg im Breisgau: Freiburg tips for discovery tours, quiet corners and fantastic views.
Freiburg in summer: ideal for a city trip
Freiburg is one of the warmest cities in Germany, boasting a whopping 1700 hours of sunshine per year. Of course, Freiburg is worth a visit at any time of the year, but especially in summer the university city unfolds its charm, which has so far won everyone over. For several reasons: Freiburg celebrated its city anniversary last year and became 900 years young . Freiburg is home to over 230.000 inhabitants a big city, but it doesn't feel like one. And Freiburg is so wonderfully green, on every possible level. My tips for a relaxing summer day for Freiburg im Breisgau – with tips for refreshing and cooling off!
1. A stroll through the old town along the "Bachle
The historic old town in Freiburg is ideal for a long stroll. The cobblestone streets and alleys in the historic core are mostly car-free and here you get to see the most important sights like the Freiburg Cathedral and the Adelhauser Neukloster. I always try to avoid using a specific adjective to describe a place, but here I can't help it: the old town of Freiburg, with its "Gassle" and "Bachle," with its little stores and quaint inns, is very, very picturesque.
The Bachle naturally tempts you to put your foot in it…but be careful: If you step into the Bachle, you will have to marry a Freiburg citizen. Or let us rather say! What belongs instead rather in's Bachle, is the It-Piece in Freiburg par excellence: The Bachle boat. You can get the original at the Munstermarkt, for example.
2. Cool off and relax at the Dreisam river
The Dreisam is not particularly long – it stretches more than 30 kilometers from the Black Forest to the mouth of the Elz near Riegel in the Kaiserstuhl region. For Freiburg, however, the Dreisam is of immense importance: its water feeds the famous Bachle and it provides the people of Freiburg with a place of recreation. If you are in Freiburg on a hot summer day, you should follow the locals' example and dip your feet into the cool waters of the Dreisam.
3. Resting under old trees in the freiburg city garden
Freiburg is known as a "green city" and is a pioneer in ecological living, environmental protection and traffic change. But of course, Freiburg is also green in the most literal sense of the word. On the one hand because of its location in the Breisgau and Black Forest, and on the other hand because of the green spaces and the forest close to the city and the Rieselfeld nature reserve in the west of Freiburg.
One of the most popular green areas in Freiburg is the city garden. Once you walk from the old town over the pedestrian bridge called Karlssteg and you are already in the green lung of the city. Large, old trees, a rose garden and sunbathing lawns for resting, reading, being together. The Stadtgarten is also home to Cafe Marcel: a former kiosk where you can now get the very best coffee – one of the few places in Freiburg, by the way, where you can get Flat White, and even iced on request. As an environmentally friendly alternative to the usual paper cups, coffee is available in the reusable "Freiburg Cup" for a one euro deposit.
There is also art in the city garden, including the sculpture of a drake, which, according to legend, once protected the citizens of Freiburg from a bombing raid in the 2nd World War with its loud gene chatter. The city was warned by the. But also real water birds have chosen the city garden as their refuge, besides ducks you can even see some gray herons looking for fish here from time to time.
4. Hiking up the Schlossberg and looking at Freiburg from above
No visit to Freiburg is complete without a walk up the Schlossberg hill. Or you can make it easy for yourself if you are in the Stadtgarten anyway – because here you will find the valley station of the Schlossbergbahn, whose inclined elevator takes you up to the mountain station at the Dattler restaurant within three minutes. A few meters further, from Kanonenplatz, you have a fantastic view of Freiburg and the surrounding Black Forest. If possible, you should take the fifteen minute climb to the top of the Schlossberg, because from the tower there you have an even better view: a panoramic view over the Breisgau and even into the French Vosges.
5. Bathing and strolling in the lake park
If you have a little more time in Freiburg, it's worth taking a short streetcar or bike ride to Seepark. On the 35 hectare area of the former regional garden show you will find, among other things, the artificial Fluckiger lake, the lake park tower and a Japanese garden. By the way, you can not only go pedal boating on the lake, but also swim in it – which I did on the hot summer day I was in Freiburg.
6. Taste Freiburg delicacies at the cathedral market
The cathedral market is a real institution in Freiburg. Every day – except Sundays – a weekly market takes place here from 7:30 in the morning until the early afternoon hours with food and regional delicacies to take away or to eat on site. Here you can get the famous "Lange Rote", a red grilled sausage of no less than 35 cm in length. If you don't eat meat, there's also a stand with vegan bratwurst a few steps away.
Very famous and popular is also Stefan's cheesecake – a whole stand just with different variations of the cake. In addition to the classics, there are also seasonal specials: you can only get the cheesecake with blueberries or rhubarb in the summer, so be sure to get your hands on it!
And if you are in Freiburg in late summer or autumn, you can get the delicious apple and pear cider at many stands – fermented with alcohol or non-alcoholic as sweet cider.
7. Eat ice cream in Freiburg's best ice cream parlor
In Berlin I am quite spoiled by the Berlin ice cream parlors, so my expectations for ice cream are quite high. Fortunately, I was not disappointed in Freiburg: The ice cream from Forster Max in the pretty district of Wiere tastes fantastic. Here they have even, according to their own information, decoded the DNA of Ed von Schleck and the ice cream of the same name is a revelation.
Also delicious: ice cream from the Black Forest organic ice cream maker "Bolleschlotzer," which you can get at Kaffee Kiste in Wiere or Cafe Marcel in Stadtgarten, for example.
8. Picnicking among the vines in the vineyards
From my accommodation, the Green City Hotel Vauban, it was only a stone's throw to the vineyards. During an evening walk through the vines, I admired the smart people who made themselves comfortable there with a bottle of wine and a picnic basket to drink, eat and have one of the most beautiful sunset views over Freiburg. Next time I will definitely do the same.
9. Freiburg like a local: Sunset on the Wiwili Bridge
Speaking of sunset: A very popular spot to ring in the evening is the Wiwili Bridge, known as the "blue bridge", which connects the old town with the Stuhlinger district of Freiburg. This is where people meet at the end of the day, with a cold drink in hand – it reminds me of the Modersohnbrucke in Berlin-Friedrichshain.
10. Staying in the Green City
Freiburg's "Green City" is the partially traffic-calmed district of Vauban, a model quarter in terms of ecological housing construction. Here is the Green City Hotel Vauban, a very special hotel that has the motto "integrative-social-connecting" written on the flags. It's nice and cool and relaxing here, even in the hot Freiburg summer – you can see the facade from afar with the climbing plants that provide shade and cool rooms. The "green city" of Vauban is a bit out of the way, but still close to the city center – and right outside the door at Paula-Modersohn-Platz is the stop for the streetcar that takes you downtown within a good quarter of an hour.
Summer in the (green) City: Off to Freiburg in summer!
There's so much more you can do in Freiburg in summer and fall. On the Visit website.Freiburg you will find everything you need for your Freiburg city trip.
Transparency: This post was created in cooperation with Visit.Freiburg. Thanks for the invitation!
