Titisee/Berlin, September 15th, 2020. Update: August 11th, 2026 (The Berlin Spectator) — Germany’s Black Forest offers some of the most stunning sights in Germany and even in the world. It has 85 lakes many of which are crystal clear. One of those is Titisee, a true beauty located 780 kilometers (485 miles) south-west of Berlin or 301 kilometers (187 miles) south of Frankfurt am Main, close to the French and Swiss borders.
Giant Aquarium
Clean, cleaner, Titisee. This lake with an average depth of 20 meters (65 feet) looks like a giant aquarium. It is also populated like one, with twenty kinds of fish, including pikeperches, regular perches and brown trouts. The fish which do not get caught and eaten must have a good life in this kind of water.
Of course the Germans would not be Germans if they did not check the water quality every five minutes. In Titisee, which is 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) long and 900 meters (half a mile) wide, the result is always the same, meaning the quality has always been excellent. The lake is actually a giant drinking water reservoir.
From Glacier to Lake
Since nobody will ever drink 795 million cubic feet of water, no matter how clean it is or how thirsty they are, there will always be enough of it left. Besides, Titisee is constantly being fed by the Seebach river. Some 10,000 years ago, a glacier led to the formation of Titisee lake.
A great countryside and a clean, beautiful lake attract people. A town on its northern bank was first mentioned in documents written some 900 years ago. In 1750, it got the name of the lake, namely Titisee. Then, in 1971, it became part of the town of Neustadt.
Channeled and Satisfied
The lake looks beautiful from above, for instance from the Hochfirst hill, but also from the two chronically crowded camping grounds on its southern end, or from the promenade. Because of the clean water and all the beauty, tourists show up all the time. Thousands of them.
Usually, tourists spend about 600,000 nights per year in Titisee. Plus there are around 2 million tourists who show up for a day, without sleeping there. All of these travelers, who generate a turnaround of around 30 million Euro per year (34.6 million U.S. Dollars or 25.6 million Pounds Sterling), need to be channeled and satisfied somehow.
Cuckoo Clock ‘Exhibition’
Titisee was careful not to spoil its beauty. Therefore, the town has a huge parking lot and a train station half a mile away from the promenade. A gazillion shops are located on the way to the lake. Only a few businesses can be found right there, at the lake.
They include the ‘Lake View’ (‘Seeblick’), the ‘Lake Terrace’ (‘Seeterrasse’) and the ‘Four Valleys’ (‘Vier Täler’) restaurants, one ice cream café and one large souvenir shop. The owner is a rather grumpy old man who does not seem to like to answer questions about the cuckoo clocks in what he calls his “exhibition”. He also offers excellent raw Black Forest Ham.
Grey Beards
Most tourists hit the lake in boats once they are done licking their ice cream cones. While some jump on tourist boats steered by real live captains with grey beards, others prefer to rent rowing boats, pedal boats or electric boats. Sailing and windsurfing are options too. The view from the lake is priceless.
Those who do not manage to conquer a place for their camper at any of the two camping grounds, and tourists who just come here for a few hours, might want to eat somewhere else, in one of the many country inns the Black Forest provides, because it is often crowded in Titisee, and due to the ‘special’ prices down here. On the other hand, a great view is worth a ‘great’ price.
Every few years, Titisee freezes. When it does, and if the ice layer on the lake is thicker than 16 centimeters (6 inches), the local authorities open parts of it for ice skating. Strolling around along the promenade is always the right thing to do, in all seasons.
