Freiburg

Awarded Top 10 city to travel to in 2022

About Best In Travel 2022

Sitting plump at the foot of the Black Forest’s wooded slopes and vineyards, Freiburg is a sunny, cheerful university town, its medieval Altstadt a story-book tableau of gabled townhouses, cobblestone lanes and cafe-rimmed plazas. Party-loving students spice up the local nightlife.

Blessed with 2000 hours of annual sunshine, this is Germany’s warmest city. Indeed, while neighbouring hilltop villages are still shovelling snow, the trees in Freiburg are clouds of white blossom, and locals are already imbibing in canal-side beer gardens. This eco-trailblazer has shrewdly tapped into that natural energy to generate nearly as much solar power as the whole of Britain, making it one of the country’s greenest cities.

Freiburg: Voted Top 10 City as Best in Travel 2022

Harnessing the expertise of our collective of travel aficionados we present a list of must-see destinations, places, and immeasurable experiences to inspire the traveler within. Here’s how we choose the winners.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Freiburg.

Cathedral
Freiburger Münster
With its lacy spires, cheeky gargoyles and intricate entrance portal, Freiburg’s 11th-century minster cuts an impressive figure above the central market square. It has dazzling kaleidoscopic stained-glass windows that were mostly financed by medieval guilds and a high altar with a masterful triptych by Dürer protégé Hans Baldung Grien. Square at the base, the tower becomes an octagon higher up and is crowned by a filigreed 116m-high spire. On clear days you can spy the Vosges Mountains in France.
Museum
Augustinermuseum
Dip into the past as represented by artists working from the Middle Ages to the 19th century at this superb museum in a sensitively modernised monastery. The Sculpture Hall on the ground floor is especially impressive for its fine medieval sculptures and masterpieces by Renaissance artists Hans Baldung Grien and Lucas Cranach the Elder. Head upstairs for eye-level views of mounted gargoyles.
Viewpoint
Schlossberg
The forested Schlossberg dominates Freiburg. Take the footpath opposite the Schwabentor, leading up through sun-dappled woods, or hitch a ride on the recently restored Schlossbergbahn cable car. For serious hikers, several trails begin here including those to St Peter (17km) and Kandel (25km).
Square
Rathausplatz
Join locals relaxing in a cafe by the fountain in chestnut-shaded Rathausplatz, Freiburg's prettiest square. Pull out your camera to snap pictures of the square's ox-blood-red 16th-century Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) that houses the tourist office; the step-gabled 19th-century Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall); and the medieval Martinskirche church with its modern interior.
Museum
Museum für Stadtgeschichte
The sculptor Christian Wentzinger’s baroque townhouse, east of the Historisches Kaufhaus, now shelters this museum, spelling out in artefacts Freiburg’s eventful past. Inside, a wrought-iron staircase guides the eye to an elaborate ceiling fresco.
Museum
Archäologisches Museum
This archaeology-focused museum is inside the neo-Gothic Colombischlössle. From the skylit marble entrance, a cast-iron staircase ascends to a stash of finds from Celtic grave offerings to Roman artefacts and Stone Age statuettes.
Notable Building
Colombischlössle
In a sculpture-dotted park sits the neo-Gothic Colombischlössle. Built for the Countess of Colombi in 1859, the whimsical red-sandstone villa now houses the Archäologisches Museum.
Gate
Schwabentor
The 13th-century Schwabentor, on the Schwabenring, is a massive city gate with a mural of St George slaying the dragon, and tram tracks running under its arches. It's one of two intact medieval gates in Freiburg.
Gallery
Museum für Neue Kunst
Across the Gewerbekanal from the Altstadt, this gallery highlights 20th-century Expressionist and abstract art, including emotive works by Oskar Kokoschka and Otto Dix.