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Alternative to Baden Baden

Posted by (Central CA) on

My husband and I are headed to Germany late November to mid December, we have a pretty packed schedule since he is there partially for work. I have us going from Heidelberg to Baden Baden (staying the night in Baden Baden) and the next day traveling from Baden Baden to Rothenburg ODT. The only reason we are going to Baden Baden is for the Friedrichsbad, that's really our kind of thing but I'm wondering if there are other baths just as good to visit in other areas on our journey (Dusseldorf, Heidelberg, Rothenburg ODT, Munich) that will allow us to skip Baden Baden and possibly add another night to Either Heidelberg or Rothenburg ODT. Also if you were to pick either Heidelberg or Rothenburg ODT to spend two nights which would it be?

Thank you!

Posted by
19271 posts

Baden-Baden is at the edge of the Black Forest and too large and commercial a town for my likes. I liked the town of Bad Wildbad, farther back in the Forest. It is a much cuter town and has a beautiful spa, or "Therme", Palais Therme, which was built in a Moorish style as the personal "bath" for a Baron or something years ago. It has all of the services (optional) of Friedrichsbad, it also "textilefrei", but it is completely "coed", so you can't be shy.

Here you can see it on You-Tube.

Posted by
7037 posts

Baden-Baden would be a big detour. Sticking closer to your intended Heidelberg-Rothenburg route, you might look into Bad Mergentheim and the Solymar Therme, which gets 4.5 stars on Tripadvisor after 29 reviews (reviews are mostly in German but include a couple in English) -

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g198542-d7728488-Reviews-Solymar_Therme-Bad_Mergentheim_Baden_Wurttemberg.html

I don't know the Friedrichsbad or the Solymar and have no personal opinion on whether this one is "just as good."

Like Rothenburg, Bad Mergentheim is a town on the Romantic Road, and it's so close to R'burg that you could do your spa time either on the way or as a day trip from R'burg. 2 birds, 1 stone...
http://www.romanticroadgermany.com/bad-mergentheim.php

"Also if you were to pick either Heidelberg or Rothenburg ODT to spend two nights which would it be?"

Heidelberg is bigger and probably takes more time.

But I would probably skip both in favor of the more interesting (IME) city of Wuerzburg, north of Bad Mergentheim on the Romantic Road. H'berg's palace is a set of ruins, Wuerzburg's quite intact and with a [UNESCO World Heritage set of credentials.][1] Wuerzburg has a fetching river setting as well - and [Marienberg Fortress][2], and a nice old town zone.
Wuerzburg sights: http://www.wuerzburg.de/en/visitors/must-sees/index.html

Wuerzburg is within spitting distance of the Main River wine villages of Ochsenfurt and [Marktbreit,][3] and also of [Iphofen.][4] In fact, if you stayed the whole time in Wuerzburg, where there's more to see and do in the evenings than in the small towns at that time of year, you could easily day trip to all these places and to Rothenburg and Bad Mergentheim as well.

Nice restaurants and wine bars in W'burg too: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187321-d1344305-Reviews-Restaurant_Weinhaus_Stachel-Wurzburg_Lower_Franconia_Franconia_Bavaria.html

Posted by
12040 posts

Between Düsseldorf and Heidelberg, you'll pass by Wiesbaden, which although a much bigger city than Baden-Baden, has much of the same kind of facilities.

But the best bathing experience in Germany, in my opinion, is Therme Erding, about a 15 minute drive from Munich's airport.

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