UKC

We're planning on heading to the Black Forest for our family holiday this summer.  Kids are 10 and 12.  Couple of questions:

• Todtnauer Klettergarten sounds like a good bet for combination of easier sports routes and a via ferrata, although I'm a little wary of the mention of loose rock.  Any comments on it as a family destination?
• Any thoughts on a good base in the area?  I was looking at Titisee/Schluchsee for easy access to swimming, but pretty open minded on this
• Our usual family holidays are very active, but youngest daughter has hurt her ankle.  Any recommendations on interesting towns/sites that we can visit if she needs an easy day?

Thanks

We stopped in the forest for a couple of nights on our way to Bavaria a few years ago- Our daughter must have been about 4 or 5.  We went around the Grube Wenzel silver mine, that was interesting for me as we have similar metal mines here. https://grube-wenzel.de/  The tour was only in German though.  We stayed in this place, it was good https://www.vogtadeshof.de/ Also went round Rottweil.  It wasn't terribly exciting, but was a typical pretty German town. Can't really help any more as it was only a stopover.

I visited the Black Forest about 15/20 years ago so not very up to date I’m afraid. I did visit the crag you mention, I think it’s the only one in the forest. I was waiting for a shoulder operation so climbing was a bit limited as I only had one functioning arm but we did a few easy routes. The via ferrata was very popular with a constant stream of people but we found a few routes to the sides which I recall being ok and not affected by the masses clipped in above! A helmet would be a good idea though, worth a day of you’re in the area.
We did quite a lot of mountain biking on the forest tracks often finding small lakes to swim in. We were around the Feldberg area I think (winter ski resort) but also remember cuckoo clock museums and somewhere which had a massive town hall cuckoo clock which was a major display! All the villages were classic chocolate box with plenty to see and do but I can’t remember any specific names, Freundastadt? was much bigger and again worth a visit.

We had intended to camp but pretty much everywhere was fully booked - luckily we were in a van so were ok, the odd campsite that did have space tucked us into a corner and every night seemed to be oompah band and bier drinking - which being injured was spot on!

Interesting area, not sure I’d go back, certainly not a climbing area but ok for a few days if climbings not on the agenda.

The Cuckoo clock museums are in Triberg, there is also a waterfall there which is worth a look at.

Thanks for the suggestions.  It will probably only be one day of climbing and it sounds like the crag will be fine for that.  We're going to try and take bikes as well, hoping daughters ankle will be up to some short rides.  I've also got the water park in Titisee (no jokes please) on the to-do list.

Watch out for midges, ticks or whatever bites in Baden-Württemberg, possibly in the forests around Fruedenstadt.

I got some huge blotches rather than the usual little itchy spots. When I got back one developed a classic bullseye pattern of Lyme disease so I had to get antibiotics and a test later (not very definitive, lots of false negatives?). Not all Lyme disease bites produce the bullseye.

So despite that, Freudenstadt was nice place to wander about. Very hilly, I noticed the OAPs had e-bikes, lower gears for the daughter with a dodgy ankle?

Presumably you know the Schwarzwaldkuchen/Schwarzwaldtorte but do you know the ice cream version Schwarzwaldbecher? I do like the Kirsch alcohol content in the cake or ice cream. 

Looks like you’ve done your homework. The via ferrata is short but with an easier and harder variant so we loop it a couple of times when in the area. The kids will like the little rope bridge thing. Todtnau has a waterfall, a high hanging bridge, a lookout tower and bob run so you can easily spend a family friendly day there once you’ve done the via ferrata. 
Titisee is nice enough, the water park is fun. If you need an easy day you could go into Feldberg or head the other way and take a boat trip to see the Rhein Falls. Both about an hour away. 

Rhein falls at Schaffhausen are definitely worth a visit, as is Freiburg im Breisgau if you happen to be going thst way.