Baden-Baden For a VACATION-Vacation

If you’re planning a multi-city trip to Europe, and you’ll be anywhere near Germany, consider bookending your trip in the charming city of Baden-Baden. This dreamy, flowered city gives you time and opportunity to refresh, reset, be active (if you wish), and process your “takeaways” from the trip. Have you ever taken a vacation, and afterwards, you feel like you need a vacation from your vacation? I hate that!!! Let it be known that there is a Kur (that’s German for “cure”), and it is a Baden-Baden vacation.

The Cure

Indeed, Germans refer to a stay in Baden-Baden as “taking the Kur (cure).” Doctors literally prescribe it to their patients in need of healing and rejuvenation, and the national healthcare pays for it! Wait. I am getting ahead of myself! Let’s back way, way up.

Let’s start with a little photo slideshow of Baden-Baden. It’s a charming, Belle-Époque-meets-Instagram dreamland. Moreover, it’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe. A Baden-Baden vacation really is something, something! (You’ll find a lot of doubled words in this post, and I can’t decide if I’m sorry, sorry or if I’m sorry, not sorry.)

Photo Slideshow

You can’t tell me it’s not alluring! Read on!

Shameless plug: Saints & Sages has a lovely trip, “Fairytale France & the Black Forest” in June 2024. First, we will journey through the foothills of the Vosges Mountains through charming, Fairytale French villages along the Alsace Wine Route, then travel into the lovely, non-touristy cultural city of Basel, Switzerland. Lastly, we head north through the Black Forest Region of Germany, ending our time with a three-day Baden-Baden vacation.

Spa Culture

Many European countries have a robust spa culture. England has the city of Bath, Belgium has the city of Spa, and there are many, many cities named Baden. Certainly, too many… one in Austria, one in France, one in Switzerland, one in the Ukraine, and a different Baden, also in Germany. Baden-Baden was originally just named Baden (literally “bath” in German).

In my former state, Illinois, if you told someone you were headed to Peru over the weekend, they’d ask you, “PERU Peru?” They want to know if you’re traveling to THE Peru, land of the ancient Incas, or if you’re just going to the town of Peru in LaSalle County. It is the same with Baden. “You’re going to Baden? Are you going to BADEN-Baden?” Baden-Baden… the “most legit” of all Badens. The name was doubled to avoid confusion.*

I’ll do a quick overview of Baden-Baden’s history. Click here to jump past the history bit!

Early, Early History

Indeed, Baden-Baden has been on the map for more than two thousand years. Roman settlement of the area dates back to the time of Roman Emperor Hadrian. Emperor Caracalla found that its thermal springs cured him of his aches and built a bath for himself, his horses, and his soldiers. The town was originally called Aquae (literally “waters”). In fact, the most famous spa in Baden-Baden, a seventeen-step Roman-Irish spa called Friedrichsbad, is built upon these ruins. (Enjoy history? You can visit the original Roman ruins!)

A Brief-Brief Modern History

Undoubtedly, Baden-Baden had its hey-day, if you will, in the late 18^th century, when it became known as the “Summer Capital of Europe.” Luminaries, artists, writers, royalty, they all sought out the healing waters. For example, frequent Baden-Baden vacationers included Queen Victoria, Fyodor Dostoevsky (who wrote The Gambler based on Baden-Baden to pay off his casino debts, and whose house you can visit), Tolstoy (whose journal entry from July 14, 1857 reads, “Roulette until six in the evening. Lost everything”), Brahms, Clara Schumann, Strauss, Richard Wagner, Victor Hugo, Verdi, and many more. That’s a lot, a lot of visitors!

Mark Twain visited in hopes of healing the horrible pain in his shoulder and wrist that were keeping him from writing. In A Tramp Abroad, he states “I had the twinges of rheumatism unceasingly during three years, but the last one departed after a fortnight’s bathing there (in Baden-Baden), and I have never had one since. I fully believe I left my rheumatism in Baden-Baden.” The spa he visited is the aforementioned Friedrichsbad, which you can visit today and follow the same spa regimen as Mark Twain did! (More info below, under the section on Spas and Health Treatments.)

What About Now?

Today’s city of Baden-Baden remains a beautiful city, nestled between the Black Forest and the Rhine Valley, on the banks of the little River Oos. The Germans call it “a green city of short distances.” (It must sound more poetic in the German!) The city is fully walkable, with most locals rarely using a car. You can get to just about anywhere within the city center in a 10-minute walk. The ground is flat, with wide boulevards and pedestrian areas. Because many people come here for health, it’s a great city even for those with mobility or special medical needs (quite unusual for Europe, in my experience).  

Baden-Baden’s slogan is “the good-good life.” It’s beautiful, walkable, and English is widely spoken. It truly has something for everyone. I can hear you asking, “for everyone, everyone?” Yes. For everyone, everyone! From energetic children to seniors, shoppers to golfers, on a Baden-Baden vacation, everyone can do what they like, and easily. What Baden-Baden brings to the table is balance.

Keep reading, or skip to:

Tell me about…

• Gardens
• Art, Culture, and History
• Cuisine
• Active leisure and golf
• Shopping
• Entertainment
• Spas and Health Treatments

Gardens

Two other gardens of note are Florentinerberg with its orange and lemon groves and Paradies, a “beautiful living” project from the early 1920s, combining park and residential areas, and featuring a waterfall that cascades 130 feet and is supplied by an underground spring.

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Art, Culture, and History

Here is a short sampling of a Baden-Baden’s art, history, and culture highlights:

• Europe’s most opulent casino, styled after Versailles
• Four art/design museums (including the Museum Frieder Burda)
• The Fabergé Museum
• A museum of the city in miniature (am I the only “grown up” who loves these??)
• A city-history museum
• Brahms’ house/museum
• Dostoevsky’s house/museum
• Roman Bath Ruins
• A children’s museum
• Four castles/castle ruins (not all of them can be toured)
• A Convent (Kloster Lichtenthal)
• A Byzantine-styled Russian church with a beautiful golden dome
• Swoon-worthy Belle Époque architecture

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Cuisine

Baden-Baden, for only having around 50,000 residents, has three pages of restaurants listed in the online Michelin guide. (Does anybody even buy a hard copy anymore?). There are three 3-star restaurants, one 2-star, nine 1-star, and ten “Bib Gourmand” restaurants!

Not in the mood for fancy-schmancy? There are local restaurants serving regional cuisine, plus beer gardens, traditional coffee houses, trendy bars and cafés, small coffee roasters, hand-crafted ice creameries, you-name-it. Just south of Baden-Baden is the Rebland, a well-known winemaking region with many vineyards to satisfy any oenotourist. (That’s a fancy way of saying “wine tourist.”)

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Active Leisure and Golf

If your idea of vacation includes working up a sweat, the Baden-Baden vacation has you covered. The entire city is encircled by Black Forest walking, hiking, and biking trails. In fact, the city is home to Germany’s most beautiful hiking trail, the Panoramaweg (Panorama Way). Not adventurous enough for you? Try climbing and paragliding!

Today, Baden-Baden is also a haven for golfers. Between the Black Forest and the Vosges mountains, you’ll find one of the finest golfing regions in Germany, comprising six championship courses. What’s more, all six golf clubs of the Baden-Alsace golf region are reachable in less than an hour from the partner hotels in Baden-Baden.

If your preference for fitness leans more towards the gym and group fitness, have no fear! The spa hotels have top-of-the-line activity programs. See the section below on Brenner’s Park Spa Hotel.

For more info, check out this booklet.

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Shopping

Baden-Baden has multiple pedestrian shopping streets, including a large pedestrian zone called the Lange Straße (“long street”), the favored spot for window-shopping. While there is plenty of upscale, luxury shopping, there are also small boutiques and gift shops, fragrance stores, stationary shops, bakeries, chocolatiers, and confectionaries, coffee shops, and purveyors of international tea, and hand-crafted ice cream that you won’t find anywhere else. Other shopping options include the Kurhaus Colonnade shops (built in 1867 and modelled off of Paris), Sophienstraße, Altstadt (Old Town), Bäderviertel, and the shopping center, Shopping Cité.

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Entertainment

No Baden-Baden vacation is complete without time spent at Europe’s most opulent casino, styled after Versailles. There are two ways to see it: you can go on a guided tour during the day, or stop by later in the afternoon and evening to see it in action (hint hint: dress code enforced).

The Kurhaus, a meeting and event facility built between 1821 and 1824, has an open-air stage where the Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra plays. It hosts concerts, dances, plays, and festivals. Click here to see what’s playing.

Last, but certainly not least, Baden-Baden hosts Germany’s largest opera house, the Festspielhaus (Festival Hall). Here, audiences are delighted to opera, ballet, classical music concerts, jazz performances, and other styles of music. You can see the upcoming events here.

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Spas and Health Treatments

The word “spa” is an acronym from the Latin, “sanus per aquam,” which means “health through water.” This healing and rejuvenation through water is what has kept Baden-Baden on the map for 2,000 years. Its twelve thermal springs have restorative and healing properties. If you love spa culture, saunas, treatments, etc., the Baden-Baden vacation becomes bucket-list destination!

Thermal waters, a modern medical treatment?

Every day, more than 200,000 gallons of thermal water bubble up from the ground in Baden-Baden with temperatures of up to 150 °F. On its way up from a depth of over a mile beneath the earth’s surface, the springs bring minerals with it: sodium, chloride, fluorine, lithium, silicic acid and boron. These substances are the source of its healing effect. Whether heart and circulation problems, metabolic disorders or respiratory diseases, the healing power of the springs is said to promote well-being and recovery. In addition, the thermal water, due to its warmth and ingredients, improves blood circulation to your muscles, joints and skin.

This is not as strange as it sounds; it’s even part of mainstream medicine in the US. Many of us are advised by our doctors to take baths with mineral salts to alleviate swelling and reduce pain. It does help! In fact, when Wayne Rooney was injured before the 2006 World Cup, his British doctors sent him here.

Indeed, local doctors even recommend drinking the mineral water, though not too, too much of it! Specifically, you should to limit yourself to 400ml/day, maximum… however much that is! (Just kidding… it’s about 13.5 ounces—just over a cup and a half.) Because the taste is kind of salty, you won’t want to fill your 54-ounce Stanley Cup with it anyway!

Check out this link, to get a great overview of the integrative health and medical care available.

Finishing up the three-hour experience, you’ll take a swim, next a cold plunge, and finally. a cocoon wrap in warm sheets in a silent room so you can nod off into a little nap. Lastly, you head to a reading room where you sit and radically accept that you’ll be returning to the normal world soon. (INFO: The Germans emphatically believe that saunas are unsanitary when people wear their swimsuits in them. To soften this shock for our puritan American sensibilities, you can go to the spa on a day that has gender-segregated bathing and/or you can keep yourself wrapped in a towel.)

“After 10 minutes you forget time, after 20 minutes you forget the world.”

-Mark Twain, said of the Friedrichsbad Spa

Saunas at Caracalla include the Spectaculum, which integrates unique lighting and sound, a Vitality Sauna with rotating aroma infusions, a dedicated aroma sauna, a meditation-sauna that integrates the calming sound of the sea and other nature sounds, the Sanarium (sounds rather like a Victorian insane asylum, but is a moderate temperature and moderate humidity sauna, including color therapy), steam room, fire sauna (a Finnish sauna experience), and a rustic forest sauna that includes intensive sauna infusions and water/stone illumination.

Relaxation rooms include the “Blue Space,” with illuminated cocooning beds, promising “a whole-body experience of hearing, feeling gentle warmth and watching watery moire patterns on the ceiling.” A second relaxation room, the Green Room, is silent, featuring natural elements and a gorgeous view of Baden-Baden.

Available Treatments

If you like spa treatments and relaxation, there’s really no need to ever leave the hotel complex. Brenner’s has spa treatments and medical treatments you’ve never heard of. (Osteokos anyone? Orthomolecular therapy?) Activity and nutrition programs are abundant, and the rooms at Villa Stéphanie even include a “digital detox” switch so that with the press of a button on your bedside table, you can completely disconnect your room from its electronics and Wi-Fi. Click here to see their therapies for spinal and joint pain. Pretty comprehensive!

Smart Luxury

At Saints & Sages, we are firm believers in “smart luxury;” a values-based luxury. We all have our splurges, right? Those of us with the means to travel internationally (expensive hobby!) got where we are by being smart with our money. Some of us won’t bat an eye at throwing down $200/bottle for aged whisky or a bottle of wine; others buy Barefoot wine on the regular. Our curated, small group trips offer upgrades that are pinnacle experiences if you are a person who is passionate about that experience. Villa Stéphanie at Brenner’s Park Hotel and Spa is an indulgence add-on for our Fairytale France & the Black Forest trip and totally worth it for the spa connoisseur. If spa time isn’t your jam (do people say this anymore?), you’ll still be in a gorgeous hotel, but will save yourself a chunk of change for that imported Italian automatic espresso machine or new horse you’ve been eyeing. You do you!

Conclusion

Well, loves, I didn’t expect this post to turn into a dissertation.

Have you been on a Baden-Baden vacation? What activities sound most interesting to you?

*Nerd note: this doubling of words is known in English as “contrastive focus reduplication.” Simply put, the structure is used to mean THE prototypical thing, not one of the slightly non-prototypical things one might otherwise have called by this name. There’s a well-known linguistic article called, “The Salad-Salad Paper.”  The example given is this: “I’ll bring the tuna salad, and you bring the SALAD salad.” Certainly, any native English speaker will understand that salad-salad refers to a green, tossed salad; a salad that is more truly a salad than a tuna salad is.