Once upon a time, the states of Baden, Württemberg-Hohenzollern, and Württemberg-Baden were all independent. When the Federal Republic was founded in 1951, the Allies combined the states into Baden-Württemberg. However, the Badeners and the Swabians (never “Württembergers”) still proudly proclaim their distinct regional identities. Today, two powerful German stereotypes—the brooding romantic of the Brothers Grimm and the modern homo economicus exemplified by Mercedes-Benz—battle it out in Baden-Württemberg. Pretzels, cuckoo clocks, and cars were all pioneered here, and the region is as diverse as its exports. Rural customs live on in the bucolic hinterlands of the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) and the Schwäbische Alb, while the modern capital city of Stuttgart celebrates the ascendancy of the German industrial machine. The province also plays home to the ritzy resort of Baden-Baden, the Bodensee (Lake Constance, a.k.a. Germany’s Riviera), and the historic university towns of Freiburg, Tübingen, and Heidelberg, each with a distinctive youthful flair.
More in the Bodensee (Lake Constance) than on it, the tiny island of Lindau (pop. 24,000) embodies everything that this region has to offer, and does so to the extreme. The Alps loom large across the waters ...more
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For 52 years, we have published the world’s favorite budget travel guides, written entirely by students and updated every year. With pen and notebook in hand and a few changes of underwear stuffed in our backpacks, we spend months roaming the globe in search of travel bargains.
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