The best family-friendly hikes and walks around Donaueschingen

Matching the Schützenbrücke, there is the inn with a lot of history since 1724 and today with upscale cuisine. Go inside, it's worth it, as a vacationer I treated myself to a 5-course menu and didn't regret it. I can't describe all the flavors and I didn't know if and how I should combine the different ingredients. Simply a great surprise.

www.suedkurier.de/ In 1724, one could quench their thirst at the Schützen. The members of the Donaueschingen marksmen's guild probably met there for this purpose. In 1731, innkeeper Josef Schönbrodt received permission to expand the beer service to include wine. The Schützen was a large agricultural estate. Gradually, the down-to-earth inn transformed into a hotel and finally into one of the premier establishments in Donaueschingen. Rising guest numbers led to the construction of the Kurhaus Schützen in 1901, in a park-like garden with a tennis court. This was connected to the main building by a covered walkway. The Kurhaus was open from May to October each year. In its heyday, the traditional inn was the leading establishment in town. Ernst-Wilhelm Buri, who had taken over the Schützen from his mother Anna, together with his wife Lore, used the tourism that revived from the mid-1950s onwards to consolidate the hotel business. When he died in 1976, his widow and his son Frieder continued to run the Schützen. Various landlords operated the inn until the summer of 2023, when brothers Marco (kitchen) and Antonio (service) Garofalo brought a breath of fresh air to the establishment, which was carefully modernized. For my taste, the dark walls take some getting used to, so I focused on the food. Since I'm from the Allgäu and will probably never be here again, I treated myself to a 5-course menu with 2 different wines. Go in, it's worth it, preferably more than 2 courses and without beer.

www.schwarzwaelder-bote.de The Schützenbrücke will turn 170 years old on September 12th. However, the bridge was not always as stately as it spans the Brigach today. It was celebrated grandly nonetheless: On September 12, 1841, the festive inauguration and opening of the new "Leopoldsbrücke", as the fine piece was then called, took place. New Leopoldsbrücke? Yes, people had opportunities to cross the Brigach on dry feet here even earlier. The weekly newspaper from 1841 mentions a wooden bridge that had decayed. The construction was a major undertaking and began in 1838 with the removal of the old wooden footbridge and the laying of the foundation for the new bridge. An interim emergency bridge was erected next to it to keep traffic flowing during the construction work. "For a long time, the inhabitants on the lively Danube spring have missed this more stable means of connection between town and country and impatiently awaited the bridge dam, which would tame the course of the often powerful Brigach (...)." During the Second World War, when the French marched into Donaueschingen, the Brigach bridge was blown up. Bridges were blown up here one after another on the afternoon of April 21, 1941 – actually to halt the advance of the French. This did not succeed. On the contrary. The gap in the bridge was filled with rubble and broken stones, and beams laid over them served as the roadway, making it passable again just one day after the French marched in. To this day, the Schützenbrücke is arguably the most frequented crossing over the inner-city Brigach.

A distinctive pedestrian and cycle bridge in Donaueschingen crossing over the water near the sports grounds. A convenient crossing point on the route out of town heading south.

Beautiful barbecue area with a great view.

A collection of large wooden sculptures in the forest near Bräunlingen, carved from local trees. A surprising and creative art installation that adds character to the forest path section of the route.

A distinctive water sculpture themed around brewing, part of the Bräunlingen Beer Culture Trail. An interesting roadside art piece celebrating the town's brewing history.

Beautiful old bridge over the Brigach with a view of the Danube source or the small temple where the Danube flows into the Brigach.