Triberg Waterfalls

The Gutach leaves the plateau above Triberg and comes down in seven steps through a granite gorge lined with moss, ferns and spruce. The total drop is about 163 metres, which puts it among the highest falls in Germany, though no single leap is enormous and the appeal is the sequence rather than one drop. Stairs and boardwalks climb beside the water from five entrances, one right in the town, and the walk up is short but consistently steep. Squirrels work the railings for food. The falls are floodlit after dark in season, and in a hard winter the spray freezes onto the rock. Triberg itself lives on cuckoo clocks and a long-running claim to the Black Forest cake.

History

The falls were opened up with safe paths in 1805, under the district official Theodor Huber. From the middle of the 19th century new transport, above all the Black Forest Railway, brought so many visitors that waterfall tourism outgrew Triberg's traditional pilgrimages to the Virgin Mary. The water also powered a first: in 1884 Triberg became the first town in Germany to install electric street lighting, and the drop above and below the main falls is still used for hydroelectric power. Today about 500,000 people a year come to see them (German Wikipedia, Triberger Wasserfälle).

Highlights

• The seven cascades - about 163 metres of drop through a mossy granite gorge.
• The boardwalks - stairs and platforms beside the water, reached from five entrances.
• Winter ice - spray freezing onto the rock, with the falls lit after dark in season.
• The town - cuckoo clock workshops and a standing claim to Black Forest cake.

When to go

April to June carries the most water, with snowmelt and spring rain behind it. A dry late summer can reduce the falls considerably. Autumn adds colour to the gorge, and the winter lighting period is worth an evening if the ice has formed. Early morning avoids both the coach groups and the harsh midday contrast between spray and shade.

What to expect

You pay to enter a waterfall, which many visitors resent, and parking in town is charged on top. The centre of Triberg is a dense run of souvenir shops built around exactly this traffic. The steps are wet, worn and slippery, and there is no level route. Water volume swings a lot with the season, and in a dry spell the falls are a fraction of the photographs.

Nearby

The Black Forest railway, the open-air museum at Gutach and the town of Schiltach.

Key facts