Germany Travel

Almost every town in Germany that starts with the word "Bad" has some kind bathing treatment, and many also have a casino (and practically every town in Germany has at least one Spielothek, but that's probably not what you're looking for!). If you're looking for a spa treatment, your route of travel takes you near Bad Kreutznach, Wiesbaden, Bad Homburg, Königstein im Taunus and Bad Dürkheim, which is also known for it's wine. Compared to other spa towns I've visited, Baden-Baden struck me as rather ordinary.

1. Train to Koblenz for 2 nights, pick up car rental. (24th &25th) 2. Two nights in St. Goar. (26th & 27th)
3. One night in Baden Baden. (28th) Koblenz and St. Goar are so close to one another that it's hard to see the point of staying in two places. It's actually hard to see the point of staying in Koblenz, a largish, mostly modern city that's nice enough but not that special. On day 1, I'd just head to St. Goar instead, which makes an ideal base for several days. Bacharach and Oberwesel are just to the south. Koblenz, Boppard and Braubach (on the opposite river bank) are just to the north. Cross the river by ferry from St. Goar to St. Goarshausen to visit Marksburg Castle in Braubach. Because train service in the area is excellent on both sides of the river and up the Mosel River (to places like Cochem and nearby Burg Eltz) as well, because train daypasses here are cheap and comprehensive (even the St. Goar ferry is included) and give you a 20% discount on KD cruise boats, and because the villages are small and easy to cover on foot, I would forego the car here. Get a 3-day VRM mini-group pass for 3 days to travel between Oberwesel and Koblenz and up the Mosel for only 42.40€; a 1-day pass is 21.20€. The 1st link below shows other daypass options too, including the Rheinland-Pfalz ticket, which has broader coverage; the 2nd link has a VRM area coverage map for the VRM passes. Then pick up your car in Koblenz on the evening of the 27th and leave on the 28th for Baden-Baden. DAYPASS INFORMATION VRM map There are better destinations in the Black Forest than Baden-Baden, but I'll assume you're planning to gamble or get a pricey spa treatment.

Thanks Russ! The car rental option in the area sounds great. As for Baden-Baden not really looking for a pricey spa treatment but would like to get a massage at some point...maybe just visiting for dinner and a little gambling. What destinations do you recommend near Stuttgart that are off the beaten path? Thanks,
Jeanette

If you're looking for a smaller, more typical spa town where you could get a massage, Bad Herrenalb might work. I haven't done anything there but pass through town. It's cute. REVIEW IN ENGLISH A drive along the Neckar River from Heidelberg to Hirschhorn Castle-hotel-restaurant (love that dining terrace) to the truly beautiful village of BAD WIMPFEN makes for a pleasant detour: http://www.badwimpfen.de/showpage.php?SiteID=87&lang=2&sn=1 (can't link - copy and paste.) Tübingen, south of Stuttgart, is wonderful. CALW, west of Stuttgart, is too.

Coincidentally enough I was in Koblenz last week seeing some friends. I agree with the poster above that there is not a great deal to warrant 2 whole days. The fortress is a morning or so and offers a great view, the museum for Wehr Technik - is really good if you like experimental armored vehicles, 4 floors!– quite specialist I know. The town has a few nice restaurants and bars but just stay a day. My grandmother lived near Warrendorf, very close to Telgte. It is a very normal town and I really would not drive all that way – it took us 7 hours to drive to Hamburg, about two hours further than Warrendorf. Have a fun trip.

Thank You so much for all the info...Russ...Tom and Annete! This really helps so much! This will be a trip of a lifetime for me and I would hate to loose a day for nothing! Thanks for the Telgte info...I would just have connections there but not that important at this time. One short casino trip and a good massage will work wonders for us. I think the whole trip will be better than any spa could ever offer! In traveling to Switzerland..do I need to leave my rental in Germany and is that safe and where? Also do I take all the insurance that is offered? Jeanette

"In traveling to Switzerland..do I need to leave my rental in Germany" No, but you need to purchase a Swiss vignette sticker for the car's windshield. Petrol stations near the border sell them.

If you like castles at all, there are two good ones to see south of Stuttgart. One is Burg Hohenzollern (home castle of the Imperial rulers) and Lichtenstein Castle (Schloss Lichtenstein -- not to be confused with the country of that name!) is just about the coolest castle in Europe. I recommend both, or whichever one suits your route and schedule best.

Also very close to Burg Hohenzollern... Kornbühl. It shows up on a lot of postcards and calendars: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kornb%C3%BChl Worth at least a drive-by if you're in the area.

if any of you are planning a trip, take the time to ask questions first even before you book your travel...This is the best info that you could get anywhere..its a hands on experience...I wish I would of waited to make my flight reservations. I am glad I have not made any other definite plans yet!
You guys are the best!

Stuttgart has the second-largest mineral springs in Europe outside of Budapest. The entire state of Baden-Wurttemberg (which contains the Black Forest, the Swabian Jura south of Stuttgart as well) is full of "Bad" towns. So I'd also reconsider Baden-Baden because it's just not that interesting a town to me either. Stuttgart's 4 main baths/spas are all fairly different. They all offer massage treatements. Schwaben-Quellen is the most "spa-like" to an American traveler, but the enforced nudity rule in the amazing bathing areas may put you off. And they don't technically use mineral spring water. The other 3 are all very close together, Mineralbad Canstatt is the one I would recommend for a (bathing suit on) experience in the baths followed by a massage. Das Leuze is quite nice but a little more family oriented. Mineralbad Berg is more traditional with quite chilly bathing, don't even know if they do massages. Tubingen is quite nice, although I prefer Esslingen and it's a lot easier to get to from Stuttgart. There are many interesting old towns within a stone's throw from Stuttgart, however - Herrenberg and Reutlingen are on the way to Tubingen, towards the Black Forest you have Weil der Stadt and Calw. Near Stuttgart is the German Wine Route, which goes near the awesome monestary at Maulbronn. And as other's have mentioned, the Neckar River Valley area, between Heidelberg and Heilbronn, is lovely and full of charming towns, the most famous of which is Bad Wimpfen. (There's a Bad again!) If you have any questions about Stuttgart proper or want more deets on what's around here please don't hesitate to ask!

Good info, Sarah!! What's special about the bathing area at Schwaben-Quellen? And you say they use city water? I would have thought that with <<Quellen>> in the name it would be a spring? What do you like about Esslingen? What's there?

I was not at all impressed with Baden-Baden when I was there, but then I don't gamble. There are a lot of spas in Germany, but the one in B-B might be the best for an American. Every one I have been in (3) was coed and "Textile frei" (clothing not required, and, in fact, frowned on). If that is not a problem for you, there is a particularly nice one ( Palais Therme), in Bad Wildbad, near Calw.

Actually, Lee, in my experience, the actual bathing areas (i.e. swimming pool) areas of most baths are actually swimsuit required except for special days/times for Textile-Frei bathing. It is the sauna/steam room areas that are textile-frei universially as far as I know, as Germans consider it quite gross and unhygenic and defeating the purpose to sweat in a wet swimsuit. In Stuttgart, Schwaben-Quellen is the outlier because the saunas and steamrooms are integrated into the swimming/bathing areas, so the entire thing is entirely textile-frei except for one day a month where they do require bathing suits (I am guessing to attract the Americans, there is a base just a few blocks away and many Americans stay at the hotels on the property) Nigel, as to what makes Schwaben-Quellen special, well it's kind of like a Disneyland for bathing. There's a gazillion different themed saunas and steam rooms. The main pool is in a lush atrium with waterfalls, tropical plants, parrots, the works. There's also a restaurant and bar, and in the summer and outdoor bar/terrace for sunbathing, as well as lots of spa treatments, sunbeds, a snow room (?!? for after the sauna I guess). It's just crazy over the top in terms of themeing. I think it's really nice. It's quite far away from the mineral springs source, so I am pretty sure the water they use is treated (sailinated I think?) city water, however the city water in Stuttgart does draw from the springs, so there is some mineral content, it's just not on the direct source like Stuttgart's other three baths which are all naturally clustered in the same area, on the actual springs (a stones throw across the river from the Canstatter Wasen where the Volksfest is held)

As far as Esslingen goes, I think it's special because it's one of the loviest preserved old towns I've seen that happens to be SO close to Stuttgart. A 10 minute ride from the Hauptbahnhof is all it takes to get there (whereas Tubingen, equally lovely, is nearly an hour away by train). Even as far as Germany goes, Esslingen is old, way older than many surrouding towns. It was granted market rights in 866, but it was first mentioned in 770 when an monestary was established. Esslingen was a free imperial city from the 1200s until Napoleon, and for a long time, larger than Stuttgart. It had the first bridge on the Neckar River on a crucial trading route between Northen Italy and the rest of Europe, so as a result the city became very rich. There are 3 great old churches in the city center, one with some of the oldest stained glass windows in Germany (late 1200s) and one is the oldest gothic church in the area. It's also home to the first sektkeller - "Champagne" cellar - in Germany and while many towns in this immediate area are huge wine towns, Esslingen feels especially wine-focused. You can walk right up through the vineyards from the old town through an old gate. There are two town halls, a renissance one and a baroque one, some of the oldest half-timbered buildings in Germany (indeed it's part of the "fachwerkstrasse") and some truly great Swabian "Weinstube" style restaurants and one of my favorite summer biergartens ever at the Palmenbrau restaurant overlooking the river and old water wheels (still in use generating electricity). All this 10 minutes from Stuttgart! It has no remaining city walls (gates yes, walls no), however, which is probably why it's escaped RS' attention. ;)

WOW! Thanks! Sarah I will be asking you more questions as soon as I get my info together! I will be looking for a certain church in the area with family history! I am liking all the "BAD" info very much...

I also found Esslingen to be charming. It has been a number of years since I was there, but definitely need to return. Worth the time.

I don't know, I've been to Esslingen and Tuebingen multiple times and while I know people (including my husband) who prefer the latter to the former, I can't figure out why. They're both relatively similar - historic old centers on the river, with a castle/fortification to walk up to to see from above. In Tuebingen's case, the castle is more of a real castle (which was later turned into Germany's second-oldest University) and in Esslingen's case it's just a straight up fortification so less interesting. That said, both are fun (and challenging) to walk up to for great views. As far as the inner cities go, Tuebingen's church is somewhat more interesting from the outside than Esslingen's 3 churches, but Esslingen has 3 and all are architecturally different and interesting in their own right. Tueblingen's city hall is a beautiful "painted" city hall and quite remarkable. Esslingen has two and both are also very pretty. Tuebingen is still a university city and as a result has more of a nightlife. I like the food better in Esslingen though. In both cities you have to walk through an unremarkable downtown shopping area to reach the old city. I'd say it's a draw, except that round trip from Esslingen is 20 minutes from Stuttgart by train, whereas Tuebingen is 2 hours. So if you're actually staying in Stuttgart and have limited time, Esslingen is the obvious choice for that reason alone. Of course, if you have time, you should visit both. :)

On car rental..are cars readily available...we were thinking of possibly just renting a car if and when we needed one, mainly using the train...good idea or bad? Thanks!

I would make a reservation for a car for the time you think you might need one. You need to research it and fin d the cheapest car, otherwise who knows? If you just make a reservation and don't prepay (I never do) if you change your mind just cancel.