Baden-Baden
Twelve hot springs under a spa town on the edge of the Black Forest, two grand hotels newly restored, race weeks at Iffezheim, and a former Canadian air base seventeen kilometres away.
- Arrival
- Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden · FKB
- To the town
- About 25 minutes (17 km) by road
- Private jets
- General aviation terminal at FKB
- Best time
- May to September
The city
Thermal water and a long green avenue.
Water at up to 68 °C rises from twelve springs beneath the town, and people still come for it, to the modern Caracalla Spa or the old Friedrichsbad. Above the Oos, the Lichtentaler Allee runs as a ribbon of lawns and flowerbeds, a few steps from the Kurpark and the casino. Brenners has received guests beside it since 1872.
Two of the grand houses came back in 2025: the Europäischer Hof in August after more than a decade shut, Brenners in October after a two-year restoration. The racing year at Iffezheim brings a spring meeting, the Great Week from late August into September, and sales in October; the Christmas market follows from late November.
Arriving
An old air base in the Rhine plain.
Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport was a Canadian military airfield at Söllingen from 1953 to 1993 and took its first passenger jet in 1997. It lies about seventeen kilometres from the centre, some twenty-five minutes by car.
- Paris 55 min
- Amsterdam 1 h 00
- Baku 4 h 45
- Bahrain 6 h 00
- Mumbai 8 h 50 long-range jet
When to go
May to September.
Mild for Germany but wet, as the Black Forest catches the rain: around 100 mm falls in most months. May to September brings afternoons of 20 to 25 °C, the spring and summer race meetings, and long evenings on the avenue. Winter is grey and cool.
- 6° J 107
- 7° F 99
- 11° M 106
- 16° A 79
- 20° M 119
- 23° J 104
- 25° J 117
- 25° A 103
- 21° S 91
- 15° O 109
- 10° N 113
- 6° D 122
What to see and do
Days in and around Baden-Baden.
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Landmark
Friedrichsbad
The historic bathhouse of the thermal town, with the Caracalla Spa as its modern counterpart.
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Landmark
Lichtentaler Allee
The park avenue along the Oos, flowers and running water from the Kurhaus to the hotels.
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Landmark
Iffezheim racecourse
Three meetings a year: spring racing in May and June, the Great Week from late August into early September, and a sales festival in October.
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Opera & music
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden
Opened in 1998 behind the 1904 railway station, Germany's largest concert house stages opera and concerts, with an Easter festival and winter festival each year.
Official site -
Culture
Museum Frieder Burda
Richard Meier's white building on the Lichtentaler Allee has shown the Burda collection since 2004, from Picasso and Beckmann to Pollock, Rothko and Gerhard Richter.
Official site -
Nature
Merkur and the Merkurbergbahn
First opened in 1913, the funicular climbs 370 metres on gradients up to 54% to the 668 m summit, start of an 8.5 km circuit past the Teufelskanzel.
Official site -
Culture
Altes Schloss Hohenbaden
Margrave Herman II built this castle on the flank of the Battert around 1100; burnt in 1599, its ruin is a walk from town past the Battert rocks.
Official site -
Golf
Golf Club Baden-Baden
Founded in 1901, the club plays an 18-hole, tree-lined parkland course on the Fremersberg, laid out by Peter Gannon, and takes visitors who book ahead.
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Food & wine
Weingut Schloss Neuweier
In the Rebland vineyards, this VDP estate around a twelfth-century castle grows Riesling on terraced dry-stone slopes and may still bottle it in the Bocksbeutel, as in 1785.
Official site
Where to stay
Grand hotels in town, and two valleys of stars.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
- Hotel Bareiss Built up over three generations into a resort of pools and saunas, with Claus-Peter Lumpp at the stove of the three-star restaurant since 1992.
- Hotel Traube Tonbach A modernist country lodge of 153 rooms with three pools, home of the three-star Schwarzwaldstube and of 1789.
- Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa In parkland by the Oos since 1872, owned by the Oetker family, and back with Two Keys after a restoration finished in October 2025.
- Steigenberger Icon Europäischer Hof Open since 1840 beside the Kurhaus, closed in 2014 and reopened in August 2025, with a rooftop bar looking to the forest.
- Maison Messmer Founded in 1834 and favoured by Kaiser Wilhelm I and Augusta, now with an 800 m² spa by the Kurpark.
- Hotel Engel Obertal A self-contained resort in the forest valley, with freestanding chalets that each have a sauna and a terrace.
Where to dine
Two kitchens with three stars, a valley away.
From the MICHELIN Guide 2026, shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these restaurants.
- Schwarzwaldstube Three Michelin stars Classic French €€€€ Traube Tonbach, Baiersbronn
- Restaurant Bareiss Three Michelin stars Classic French €€€€ Hotel Bareiss, Baiersbronn
- sein Two Michelin stars Modern €€€€ Scheffelstraße, Karlsruhe
- Le Jardin de France im Stahlbad One Michelin star Classic French €€€€ Augustaplatz
- Maltes hidden kitchen One Michelin star Modern, creative €€€€ Gernsbacher Straße
- Schlossberg One Michelin star Creative €€€€ Murg valley, Baiersbronn
- 1789 One Michelin star Modern, Asian influences €€€€ Traube Tonbach, Baiersbronn
Elsewhere in Germany
More reasons to come.
- Berlin The Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island and a capital still remaking itself.
- Munich The opera, the beer halls, and the Alps an hour to the south.
- Hamburg The port, the Elbphilharmonie and the Alster lakes.
- Frankfurt The banking capital, with one of the busiest airports in Europe.
- Sylt A North Sea island of dunes and thatched houses, with an airport of its own.
- Garmisch-Partenkirchen Under the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany.
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