Germany · City break

Freiburg City Guide

At the foot of the Black Forest lies one of Germany's sunniest cities. Through Freiburg's old town ripple the Bächle, little watercourses from the Middle Ages, and above it all rises the minster tower that Jacob Burckhardt declared the most beautiful on earth. A ready-made day route leads from the Martinstor via the market at the minster up to the Schlossberg. And the funicular spares you the climb.

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Our walking tours of Freiburg

Ready-made routes from the station guide you through Freiburg, to the right spots from the very first step, with no planning needed.

Minster, Bächle & Schlossberg

To begin, the quiet memorial on the Platz der Alten Synagoge, whose mirror of water traces the outline of the synagogue destroyed in 1938. From the medieval Martinstor to the Münsterplatz, where the weekday market bustles around Gothic architecture's most beautiful tower, with the bright-red Historical Merchants' Hall opposite. On to the Augustiner Museum for the minster's original gargoyles, then follow the Bächle to the market hall. And finally the funicular up the Schlossberg, where the lookout tower brings old town, Rhine plain and Black Forest together.

Old Synagogue Square. Between the theatre and the university lies a square that carries history. Here stood the synagogue built in 1870 and burned down in the pogrom night of 9–10 November 1938. Since 2017 a shallow mirror of water has traced its outline. A place of remembrance amid everyday life, most striking in the evening when the city lights are reflected in it. The panel at the edge tells the story of Freiburg's Jewish community; take those two minutes before the bustle of the pedestrian zone takes over again.
Martinstor. In the middle of the pedestrian zone stands the older of the two surviving town gates. The Martinstor's beams have been dated to around 1202, and it appears in records in 1238. Its present height is younger, though. In 1901 the gate was substantially raised in the style of the day. The annexe next door has housed a McDonald's since 1977. The city banned the red-and-yellow logo, leaving a sign that counts among the company's most discreet. Photograph the gate from the old-town side and modernity stays behind you.
Minster Square & Minster. The tower of Freiburg Minster was completed around 1330. The only great Gothic church tower in Germany finished in the Middle Ages and still standing today. The art historian Jacob Burckhardt praised it in 1869 as the most beautiful tower on earth; that became the famous phrase about "the most beautiful tower in Christendom". In November 1944 an air raid reduced the surrounding houses to rubble; the minster survived with roof damage. Its medieval stained glass had been moved to safety in time. Climb the 330-odd steps and you see as far as the Kaiserstuhl and the Vosges. Below, the market with its 130 or so stalls bustles on weekdays; the "Lange Rote", Freiburg's bratwurst, is compulsory.
Historical Merchants' Hall. Opposite the minster glows the deep-red merchants' hall with arcades and four corner turrets, begun in 1520 as the city's trading and customs house. Between the windows stand four rulers of the House of Habsburg, Maximilian I, Philip the Handsome, Charles V and Ferdinand I, carved around 1530 by Hans Sixt von Staufen. The bow had its reasons. Freiburg had belonged to the Habsburg lands since 1368, and good relations with the imperial house were the basis of business. Note the gilded canopies above the figures. In sunshine the facade fairly burns.
Augustinermuseum. In a converted monastery on Augustinerplatz hangs the art of the Upper Rhine from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. Cranach, Baldung Grien, Matthias Grünewald. The real coup, though, is the twelve-metre-high sculpture hall. Original figures and gargoyles from the minster stand there at eye level, which outside on the tower you can only make out as silhouettes. The minster's genuine medieval stained-glass windows are installed here too. At the original you see how strong the colours really are. A compact museum, easily done in an hour. Outside, it's worth swinging into the lanes behind. In the Fischerau's mill canal, "Lulu" has lain since 2001, a granite crocodile by the sculptor Ole Meinecke. Long one of the old town's favourite photo motifs.
Bächle & Market Hall. They are Freiburg's trademark, the Bächle, narrow watercourses in the pavement, on record since 1220 and probably as old as the city itself. The network measures almost 16 kilometres, a good third of it underground, fed by the Dreisam, once for livestock and fire protection, today for wet children's feet and little wooden boats on strings. Everyone here knows the legend. Step in by accident and you will marry a Freiburger. Next door, the market hall on Grünwälderstraße is worth it, with some twenty food stalls from Baden cooking to Asian, where a newspaper was still being printed until 1987.
Schlossberg. Freiburg's home mountain begins right behind the old town. From the Stadtgarten the funicular pulls you up the slope in a few minutes, where forest paths, fortress remains and the Kastaniengarten await, a beer garden with the city at its feet. The real highlight is the Schlossberg tower of 2002, built from long tree trunks around a steel staircase. 153 steps lead a good 30 metres up, and suddenly everything lies before you at once, minster tower, Rhine plain, on clear days the Vosges, and the Black Forest at your back. Downhill it is a quarter of an hour's walk to the Schwabentor, the second surviving town gate.

Planning your visit

One day covers the core. The route from the Bertoldsbrunnen runs just 2.9 kilometres and leads in seven stops from the Martinstor past the minster to the Schlossberg. Because everything sits so close together, there is time to sit down, and that is exactly what the city is made for. With a second day you take the cable car up the Schauinsland and see the Black Forest from above. And mind the Bächle in the pavement, stepping into one is said to bring you a local as a spouse. Four evening tips are ready.

Going out & nightlife

Nightlife quarters

Altstadt & Universitätsviertel. Freiburg has been a university city since 1457 and has the youngest city centre far and wide. Bars are scattered across the old town and the university quarter, all walkable, prices student-friendly. There is no single hotspot. Just follow the voices. Two fixed points there are, though. One is Augustinerplatz, where on mild evenings half of Freiburg sits on the steps. The "Pillar of Tolerance" switches from green to red at 11 pm, gently asking for quiet. The other is Schlappen on Löwenstraße, a pub institution in the "Bermuda Triangle" for over forty years, with a long whisky and absinthe list, open all year, Fridays and Saturdays until 3 am.

Food & restaurants

Hausbrauerei Feierling. Brewing tradition since 1877, revived in 1989 as a brewpub in the Gerberau, with its own unfiltered beer and Baden cooking. And across the lane the big beer garden under chestnut trees, the summer meeting point par excellence. No reservations in the beer garden; coming early works.

Bars & clubs

Bächle Keller. Cellar bar near the city theatre with cheap prices, music and table football. The students' reliable late address once chairs go up elsewhere.

Stage & concerts

Theater Freiburg. The city theatre bundles opera, drama and dance on four stages under one roof, a few steps from the station. Honest note. The theatre bar takes cash only. Get some out beforehand.

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Practical information for Freiburg

Public transport

Operator. VAG Freiburg operates the five tram lines and 26 bus lines within the city. For trips into the surrounding area, the shared RVF fare applies, which joins together VAG and the regional bus companies. A single ticket is valid on both bus and tram alike.

Network. Five tram lines and buses. The old town is pedestrianised.

Modes of transport. Tram · Bus

Operating hours. The regular daytime schedule starts at 5.30 am according to VAG. The exact times of the last service per line on weekdays are not officially published as a single figure, but can only be looked up per line in the timetable information.

Night service. On weekends, VAG offers a combination of reduced bus and tram service, the Anschlusstaxi in surrounding municipalities, and the FrauenNachtTaxi, a special service for women within Freiburg, during the night from 1 am to 4.30 am. From 5.30 am the regular daytime schedule resumes. On weekdays outside the weekend, no separate night network is listed on the official website.

Buying tickets. Tickets are available at vending machines, through the VAG mobil app and the RVF mobil app (both discounted compared to a paper ticket), directly from the bus driver, and as a check-in ticket through the FAIRTIQ app, where you check in when boarding and check out when leaving, with the fare calculated automatically for the distance traveled.

App and payment. The VAG mobil app and the RVF mobil app offer timetable information and ticket purchase at a discount compared to the regular price. For single rides, the FAIRTIQ app also works well as a check-in ticket, which charges by straight-line distance, with a daily cap of 6.91 Euro (up to 10 km) or 13.73 Euro (over 10 km) for adults and a monthly cap of 72 Euro statewide in Baden-Württemberg. Payment is made by PayPal, credit card, or direct debit. Whether contactless card payment is possible directly at the vending machines themselves is not stated on the official pages.

Which ticket. For trips within Freiburg, fare tier 1 applies. The single ticket costs 3.00 Euro at the vending machine or from the driver, 2.70 Euro digitally via the app, valid for one hour. The short-distance ticket (up to three stops) costs 1.90 Euro. The Solo+ day ticket is valid for 1 adult plus up to 4 children up to age 14 in fare tier 1 and costs 7.20 Euro at the regular price or 6.91 Euro digitally, valid from validation until the end of service at 3 am the following day. The verifiable threshold works out as follows. 2 single tickets cost 6.00 Euro (5.40 Euro digitally) and so come in under the price of the day ticket, 3 single tickets cost 9.00 Euro (8.10 Euro digitally) and come in above it. From the third ride of the day, the day ticket is therefore cheaper than individual tickets, regardless of whether you compare paper or app prices. For groups there is also the Duo+ day ticket (2 adults plus up to 4 children) from 10.46 Euro and the Gruppe day ticket (5 people) from 13.73 Euro, both in fare tier 1.

Fare zones. For trips within Freiburg, fare tier 1 applies throughout the RVF's three-zone system, so tourists within the city do not need a higher fare tier.

Tip. The Schauinslandbahn is Germany's longest gondola lift and starts on the edge of town.

Getting there

Main station

Location. West of the old town, five minutes on foot across the pedestrian bridge.

Long-distance trains. Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf sits right on the Rheintalbahn and thus on one of the most important north-south routes in Europe. Heading north, ICE trains run hourly via Karlsruhe and Mannheim to Frankfurt, continuing to Cologne, Dortmund, Hamburg, and Berlin. Heading south, service is just as frequent to Basel and onward from there to Zurich, Interlaken Ost, Chur, and Brig. The service is rounded out by direct connections abroad. TGV 9530 runs in the morning via Strasbourg to Paris Est, the ECE reaches Milan, an EC runs in the evening via Dresden to Prague, and an ICE runs via Ulm to Munich. At night several Nightjets stop here, including services to Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, and Zurich. Long-distance trains heading north mostly use platform 1, those heading south platform 3.

Opening hours. The first long-distance train departs on weekdays at 5.55 am, an ICE to Hamburg. Until around 10.30 pm there is then roughly hourly service. After that the Nightjets take over, at 11 pm to Hamburg and at 12.07 am to Amsterdam.

Airports

BSL/MLH

Into the city. Airport bus with no transfer to the bus station next to the main train station, around 55 minutes. Alternatively bus 50 to Basel SBB and onward by train.

Frequency. 13 trips per direction, daily. From Freiburg 3.15 am to 7 pm, from the airport 8 am to 12.30 am.

FRA

Into the city. ICE with no transfer from the long-distance station at Terminal 1, 2 hours 12 minutes.

Frequency. Seven direct ICE trains a day at two-hour intervals, with hourly service and one transfer in between.

ZRH

Into the city. Train station directly beneath the terminal. Via Zurich HB or Basel to Freiburg, a good 2 to 2.5 hours.

Frequency. At least hourly, departures roughly from 5.40 am to 8.15 pm.

STR

Into the city. No direct train. S-Bahn S2 to Stuttgart main station in 27 minutes, then onward via Karlsruhe. A total of just under 3 hours with two transfers.

Frequency. S-Bahn every 15 minutes, direct connections to Freiburg roughly hourly.

FKB

Into the city. No rail connection at the terminal. Bus 215 to Baden-Baden station, then ICE to Freiburg, 1 hour 20 minutes combined.

Frequency. Several connections per hour, the fastest option via Baden-Baden roughly every four hours.

Local quirks

Don't underestimate the Bächle. The little water channels are shallow, but it's easy to step right into one. Legend has it that if you do, you'll marry a Freiburger.
The day ticket isn't valid only until midnight. The Solo+ day ticket is valid from validation until the end of service at 3 am the following day, not just until midnight. A late purchase in the evening therefore also covers the trip home after a long dinner out.
The short-distance ticket as a cheaper alternative. For trips of up to three stops there is a dedicated short-distance ticket for 1.90 Euro, cheaper than the regular single ticket at 3.00 Euro.

Good to know

Currency: EUR €
Emergency number: 112
Plug type: C · F
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Driving: right

Speed limits. built-up areas 50 km/h, outside towns 100 km/h, motorway no general speed limit (advisory speed of 130 km/h, not subject to fines)

Many motorway sections have no fixed maximum speed, which surprises drivers from almost every other country. By law, the 100 km/h rural limit explicitly does not apply on the motorway. Signposted limits at roadworks, curves, or in built-up areas, however, are strictly enforced with speed cameras and section control.

Tipping. Five to ten percent, said when paying rather than left on the table.

Tolls. No tolls for cars. The Warnow tunnel in Rostock and the Herren tunnel in Lübeck charge a fee.

Access restrictions. Many city centres are environmental zones open only to vehicles with a green sticker, foreign vehicles included. The sticker is available at test centres and garages.