Freiburg im Breisgau is a common base for trips into the Black Forest (Schwarzwald in German). It's the largest city in the area and quite easily accessible from both air and land with its location near the French border. Most people visiting the city do so very briefly as a starting, or ending, point of that road trip into the Black Forest. The city itself can often be overlooked, it's not the main attraction in the area and you only sleep there for a night before starting your trip for real. Which brings us to the point of this article; If you don't have the time or desire to do a longer trip into the woods but still are passing through the area, does the city offer enough sights to warrant a visit?

Freiburg has a very unique sight which is quite small yet still nice. The Freiburg Bächle is a system of small canals that runs along most streets in the Old Town. They're just a decimeter or so wide, and less than that deep. The background image for this post features the Bächle on Kaiser-Joseph-Straße, which is the main street in Old Town.

Freiburg has preserved two former city gates from medieval times. The older, Martinstor, is located on the Main Street (Kaiser-Joseph-Straße) in Old Town and you will undoubtedly find it on your walks through town. The second gate is also located in Old Town, but slightly less central. It's called Schwabentor and was built in the 13th century. Martinstor has had some controversy over the years. The tower was originally built in the early 13th century but it was completely redesigned and changed in the early 1900s. The tower was raised from 22 meters to 60 meters and got a new architectural design. Martinstor is also partially occupied by a McDonald's restaurant and therefore a large sign for the restaurant is hanging on the exterior of the base of the gate.

One sight that I never did was going up to Schlossberg and get the views of the city and the Black Forest from there. It's one of the drawbacks of traveling at a fast pace with only one or two days at each destination, you sometimes miss the sights that take a little more time. If you only stop in Freiburg for a few hours, which this blog post is about, then you more or less have to decide about going up to Schlossberg or visiting all the other sights of the city. I personally preferred to see the city, rather than the skyline.

I'd rather recommend going to see the Freiburg Münster and Münsterplatz which is right in the center of Old Town. The 116-meter tall 13th-century Cathedral is the only German church tower in Gothic style from the Middle Ages that survived the wars in the 20th century.

Freiburg is a University town. The Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg) is one of the oldest Universities in the world and the fifth oldest in Germany. As often is the case with University towns there's a wide variety of restaurants and bars available. During my stay, I visited three very different types of establishments. A traditional German pub in the Old Town, Martinsbräu on Martinsgässle near Martinstor. A simpler, but still good, restaurant called Tacheles on Grünwälderstraße where the outside dining area consisted of plastic chairs in a courtyard. And finally a small kebab shop near Karlstadt Galleria by the name Sultan. They were all good in their own ways, but if I were to return to one of them it would be the Martinsbräu.

So, in conclusion, I would say that Freiburg does have enough to offer that you shouldn't just drive by if you're in the vicinity. If you're in Strasbourg, Basel, or nearby in Baden-Württemberg you should consider to at least take a few hours and stop in Freiburg for some sightseeing. The Bächle is a unique enough sight on its own, and so is also the beautiful Freiburg Münster.

Apart from the distinct sights I've already mentioned in the text, Freiburg also has many old buildings to look at while just aimlessly strolling up and down the streets of Old Town. The Old Town is well-defined, safe, and of good size for a day of sightseeing.