family travel with teenagers

I am planning on making a trip in the summer with two teenagers. Was considering one of the parks featured in the hoseasons brochure for the black forest. Anyone have any suggestions for places to visit and suitable accommodation bearing in mind I have one young teenage daughter and one older teenage son? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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Although not actually in the Black Forest but nearby on the Schwaebische Alb, the fairy tale-like castles of Hohenzollern (Hechingen) and Lichtenstein should not be missed. By Lichtenstein are the state stables at Marbach which can be visited. You can actually enter the stables with the stalls. The high spirited very large horses are impressive and actually scary close up. I%26#39;m sure that all your family would enjoy these places. Fairly close to there but a little further north is the wonderful old college town of Tuebingen and the nearby well preserved ancient Bebenhausen monastery. Freiburg is also worth visiting. Europa Park amusement park is by Rust if that would interest you.

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We went to Germany last summer with our two teens (boy and girl). They liked the less touristy parts best. They liked Baden Baden and Meersburg the best. Both are a great combination of locals and tourists (mostly German). In Meersburg you can rent bikes and ride along the lake stopping at even smaller villages. We stopped at one local fair in which we had to be the only Americans there. Loved eating the food from the booths and drinking the beer. You can also take lake ferries all over the Bodensee area and into Switzerland. The kids favorate place of all was the little crepe shop in Meersburg. I think they ended up eating 3 meals a day there. If anyone else has spent time in Meersburg, they know the place. In short, my teens really likes the less travelled parts of Germany rather than the more known international tourist spots. They alos preferred the %26quot;ruins%26quot; of castles along side the road that you can climb around with nobody else there as compared to the more famous castles. We also stopped in Ulm to look at the Cathedral. There was a local festival in the square with local entertainment on a big grandstand. It was great too.

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Freiburg im Breisgau makes a good base for exploring the Black Forest. Many excellent day trips can be made from there. It has a beautiful old city and pedestrian zone, and an amazing cathedral. It is high on my list of best places to visit in Germany. Other than that, easy day trips to Basel (in Switzerland) and Strasbourg (in France) are possible and worthwhile. Have a look at some of the accommodations options listed on this site. I stayed at the Hotel Schwarzwalder Hof when I was last there a year and a half ago and it was quite nice. It is an older style of inn in the old city. Breakfast is included with the room and is excellent. When in Freiburg, it is worth taking some of the local buses up into the mountains (say, to St. Margen or St. Peter): very dramatic with switchback, etc. I have also mountain biked on the Feldberg and hiked in the area. All is easily possible and worth doing.