When you stay in German resorts you often find a small local tourist tax added to your bill and are given a visitors card which gets you odd discounts on local facilities such as the swimming pool and town museum. In the Black Forest you could get something much more useful - free travel on regional trains, buses (and Freiburg trams) over the whole region, not just the town you're staying in. Actually it's not free - the tax includes a charge of 30 cents a night to cover this and everyone pays it even if they don't use it. The scheme goes by the name of Konus and you should be given a Gästekarte with the Konus logo on it. Note that not all towns in the region have joined but that only affects where the card is issued and not where it can be used.

The wonderfulness (is that a word?) of the offer is matched by the awfulness of the advertising so virtually no-one knows it exists! In my case the hotel receptionist told me that the card entitled me to free use of the bus to the town centre 2km away but didn't know I could get all the way to Offenburg (156km) on regional express trains. The only info in English I've been able to find is here. The very important thing to note is that it does not cover the high speed long distance trains shown as IC, EC or ICE in timetables. The holder details should be the carbon copy of the official registration form and must not be filled in directly (this means they will normally be illegible but I don't make the rules!) and you must produce a valid passport/ID card showing the same name if asked.

There is a map of the area covered here but it's a bit blurred. Two important points which do not come out clearly are that the bottom right corner including the railway from Donaueschingen to Singen and then back west to Erzingen is NOT covered but the railway into Basel IS covered all the way to SBB station (where the airport buses and Paris TGVs call). Local tourist information offices have leaflets with a clear version of this map.

For those who speak German more comprehensive info can be found here. Even if you don't speak German it shows an example of what the card looks like and if you click that it will list the towns which are currently part of the scheme. I understand that in 2008 the Freudenstadt area (shown as outside the region on the above map) will be joining.

If you are going for a ride on the main railway from Offenburg to Villingen (which is worth seeing in it's own right) the card is valid on the modern double deck Regional Express trains which form the basic hourly pattern but be aware that 2 or 3 of these are replaced by Intercity services which are excluded. On the Offenburg - Freiburg - Basel line many of the trains are Intercity or better and are excluded but you should still find at least one an hour you can use.

Small local trains operated by companies such as Breisgau S-bahn are covered as well as the DB Regio network. Most of the bus network comes under SBG (Südbaden Bus). Timetable info is at http://www.efa-bw.de