Germany's Black Forest and Cologne: Travel Details
This is a quick and handy source for details on the sights, hotels, tour guides and restaurants featured in the "Germany's Black Forest and Cologne" show. For much more (and updates), see this year's edition of Rick Steves' Germany & Austria guidebook.
Hotel Am Markt
Hotel am Markt is a warm, 25-room, family-run hotel with all the comforts a commoner could want in a peaceful, central, nearly traffic-free location, two cobbled blocks from the baths (S-€30–32, Sb-€42–47, D-€60–62, Db-€74–80, Tb-€90, extra bed-€15, Marktplatz 18, tel. 07221/27040, fax 07221/270-444, www.hotel-am-markt-baden.de, info@hotel-am-markt-baden.de, Herr und Frau Bogner-Schindler and Frau Jung). For romantics, the church bells blast charmingly through each room every quarter hour from 6:15 until 22:00; for others, they're a nuisance. Otherwise, quiet rules. The ambience and the clientele make killing time on their small terrace a joy.
Caracalla Baths
The baths are an indoor/outdoor wonderland of steamy pools, waterfalls, neck showers, Jacuzzis, hot springs, cold pools, lounge chairs, exercise instructors (extra fee), saunas, a cafeteria, and a bar (daily 8:00–22:00, last entry at 20:30, tel. 07221/275-940, www.carasana.de). Bring a towel (or pay €5 plus a €10 deposit to rent one) and swimsuit (shorts are OK for men). Buy a card (€12/2 hrs, €14/3 hrs, €16/4 hrs, 10 2-hour entries for repeat visits or a group cost €105) and put the card in the locker to get a key.
Friedrichsbad
The highlight of most visits to Baden-Baden is a sober two-hour ritual called the Roman-Irish Bath. Friedrichsbad pampered the rich and famous in its elegant surroundings when it opened 120 years ago. Today, this steamy world of marble, brass columns, tropical tiles, herons, lily pads, and graceful nudity welcomes gawky tourists as well as locals. For €29, you get up to three hours and the works (€21 without the 8-min massage, Mon–Sat 9:00–22:00, Sun 12:00–20:00, last admission 3 hours before closing if you're getting a massage, 2 hours before otherwise; men and women together Tue, Wed, Fri–Sun, women separate Mon and Thu; Römerplatz 1, tel. 07221/275-920, www.carasana.de— click on "Friedrichsbad").
Baden-Baden Casino
The impressive building called the Kurhaus is wrapped around a grand casino. Built in the 1850s in wannabe-French style, it was declared "the most beautiful casino" by Marlene Dietrich. Inspired by the Palace of Versailles, it's filled with rooms honoring French royalty who never set foot in the place. But many other French did. Gambling was illegal in 19th-century France...just over the border. The casino is licensed on the condition that it pay about 90 percent of its earnings in taxes to fund state-sponsored social programs and public works. It earns $35 million a year and is the toast of Baden-Baden — or at least its bread and butter. The staff of 300 is paid by tips from happy gamblers.
You can visit the casino on a tour, or you can drop by after 14:00 to gamble or just observe. (This is no problem — a third of the visitors only observe.) The place is most interesting in action; you can people-watch under chandeliers. The casino is open for gambling daily from 14:00 to 2:00 in the morning (Fri–Sat to 3:00, €3 entry, €1.50 entry with Kurkarte discount card from your hotel, €5 minimum bet, €10,000 maximum bet, no blue jeans or tennis shoes, tie and coat required and can be rented for €11 with an €11 deposit, passport absolutely required, under 21 not admitted, liveliest after dinner and later, pick up English history and game rules as you enter, tel. 07221/30240, www.casino-baden-baden.de).
Black Forest Open-Air Museum
This offers the best look at this region's traditional folk life. Built around one grand old farmhouse, the museum is a collection of several old farms filled with exhibits on the local dress and lifestyles (€5, daily March–Nov 9:00–18:00, last entry at 17:00, closed in winter, English descriptions and €6 guidebook, north of Triberg, through Hornberg to Hausach/Gutach on road B33, tel. 07831/93560, www.vogtsbauernhof.org).