Baden-Baden, Germany

Today we traveled to the spa and casino town of Baden-Baden.  After arriving in Baden-Baden, we started with a group tour of the Casino.  This is not your typical-Vegas casino; this place is stunning.  I’m not much of a gambler, but thought it would have been fun to come back in the evening to see the Casino in action.  However, instead, I decided to go the spa route.

After we finished the Casino tour, Fabian led us through the town of Baden-Baden giving us an orientation to where everything is in relation to our hotel for the night - Hotel Heliopark Bad zum Hirsch.  We were then on our own for the rest of the day/night – and we only had one night here.  My first step was to book a massage at the hotel for later in the afternoon, and then headed to lunch with a few of the folks in the group.  The massage was wonderful!

The top sights in Baden-Baden, however, are the baths.  There are two – Friedrichsbad, the Roman-Irish Bath, is more traditional…and requires you to be naked (so, of course, we all referred to it as the “naked baths”), and the other one is the Baths of Caracalla, which you can wear a swimsuit.  I opted to go wayyyyyy outside my comfort zone, and try the Roman-Irish Bath.  It was definitely worth the experience. 

I will say that, thankfully, we were there on one of the days in the week where the sexes are segregated in every space, except for one.  So that helped me to be more comfortable.  There are actually 17 (!) steps you go through – starting with a shower, and then going from warm space to warmer space, until you reach what is essentially a hot tub.  Then things get colder and colder…until you do a quick dunk in a very cold tub.  And you end it all being swaddled in warm towels and a blanket and take a nice little nap.  For obvious reasons, I do not have any pictures of the baths, but their website has some great photos – the mixed-gender pool is under the most gorgeous dome…you really should try this experience just so you can see it!

After the baths, the few of us who finished at the same time enjoyed a nice dinner before heading to a very restful sleep.  I had a gorgeous room with a balcony overlooking one of the town squares.  I was sad to leave after only one night!