Why this ride
B500 along the Black Forest ridge. From Baden-Baden it runs 36 km to Oppenau; allow about 44 min of riding. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Schwarzwaldhochstrasse
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 36 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 44 min
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Schwarzwaldhochstrasse
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 14 km this is Schwarzwaldhochstrasse, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 14 km
- Named road
- Schwarzwaldhochstrasse
- Pass
- Ruhestein
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Near Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden is where the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse begins its climb, and this stretch just south-east of the spa town is the moment the road leaves the parks and villas behind and starts to work. The B500 rises out of the valley through mixed woods of beech and fir, gaining height steadily in long, well-cambered bends, with the occasional tighter hairpin and glimpses back over the Rhine plain. Within a few kilometres you have gone from a town of colonnades and casinos to the cool, resin-scented air of the northern Black Forest.
Read the complete Near Baden-Baden write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Schwarzwaldhochstrasse point 1 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Schwarzwaldhochstrasse point 2.
2. Near Biberach
This is the high middle of the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse, where the road runs along the crest at more than a thousand metres and the Hornisgrinde, the highest summit of the northern Black Forest, rises just to the north. Right beside the road lies the Mummelsee, a small dark lake of glacial origin set in a hollow of fir trees. It is the stop everyone makes, which is both its charm and its problem: on summer weekends the car park is full, coaches line up, and the lakeside hotel and shop do a roaring trade in Black Forest cake and cuckoo clocks.
Read the complete Near Biberach write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Schwarzwaldhochstrasse point 2 comes up 13 km in. Next is Schwarzwaldhochstrasse point 3.
3. Near Oppenau
South of the Ruhestein the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse runs along the high ground between the Schliffkopf and the Kniebis plateau, and the forest feels wilder here than further north. Much of this ridge lies in the Black Forest National Park, created in 2014, where large areas are being left to grow without forestry. You see the results from the saddle: grey snags of storm-felled trees, dense young growth, open patches of heather and grass on the old high pastures called Grinden, where cattle once grazed. It is not a manicured landscape, and that is the point.
Read the complete Near Oppenau write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
36 km in you reach Schwarzwaldhochstrasse point 3.