Freiburg im Breisgau is, with approximately 220,000 inhabitants (including over 33,000 students), the fourth largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim, and Karlsruhe, the southernmost major city in Germany, and the capital of the Black Forest.
Freiburg is known not only for its Minster and its beautiful Old Town, but also for its sunny and warm climate. The city is located on the border between the Black Forest and the Upper Rhine Plain, only a few kilometers from France and Switzerland.
The Black Forest mountains (Schauinsland, Feldberg, Belchen), quickly accessible from the city center, are popular ski destinations in winter, while their hiking trails, lakes, forests, and landscapes attract numerous tourists in summer.
Freiburg is the city with the youngest population in Germany. Life is so strongly influenced by the internationally recognized university, colleges, and research institutes that the designation “student city” fits Freiburg best. The Old Town is a large and lively pedestrian zone, connected to all districts by trams, buses, and trains.
The quintessential characteristic of Freiburg is, without a doubt: the bicycle. Thanks to one of Europe’s best-organized cycle path networks, you can not only reach every corner of the city by bike but also make excursions outside the city limits, for example, to the impressive wine villages of the “Kaiserstuhl” in the west, all the way to Breisach am Rhein, and across the Rhine to France (26 km from the city center). For your leisure, Freiburg offers beautiful city gardens and parks with lakes, providing an ideal place for playing, strolling, and, not least, barbecuing.
From Wednesday to Sunday, Freiburg’s nightlife pulsates. Cocktail bars, restaurants, discotheques, pubs, as well as theaters, cinemas, and cultural centers offer a varied entertainment program, from the alternative scene to the most fashionable trends. Every summer, the Tent Music Festival hosts world-renowned musicians and international rock and pop stars.
To learn German, but also to experience Germany, Freiburg is simply the ideal city.
Get to know Freiburg in a video.
