Discover Baden-Baden: Spas, Culture & the Black Forest
Your independent guide to the world spa town: thermal baths & spas, the legendary casino, hikes up Mount Merkur and the finest hotels along the Lichtentaler Allee.
The finest attractions
From the Belle Epoque colonnade to the lookout mountain: the classics no visit should skip.
Casino at the Kurhaus
4.7Caracalla Spa
4.4Friedrichsbad
4.6Lichtentaler Allee
4.8Mount Merkur & Funicular
4.7Festspielhaus
4.7Trinkhalle (Pump Room)
4.5Frieder Burda Museum
4.6Hotels in Baden-Baden
From grand hotels on the Allee to charming spa inns: availability & prices through our booking partner.
How long, and where to stay
Baden-Baden is small enough to walk and dense enough to fill several days. Two ways to work out what yours should look like.
Trip Planner
Ready-made itineraries: what to do with one day, a long weekend or a week, including the Black Forest day trip and a spa day that actually fits the opening hours.
Plan your days →Neighborhoods
Where to base yourself: the old town around the Kurhaus, quiet Lichtental at the far end of the park, the station district of Oos and the Rebland wine villages.
Compare neighborhoods →Experiences & guided tours
Bookable experiences with instant confirmation, through our travel partner.
Time your visit
The Christmas market runs from late November into early January, and race week at Iffezheim fills the town every summer. Both are worth planning around.
Christkindelsmarkt (Christmas Market)
The Christkindelsmarkt is Baden-Baden's Christmas market: wooden stalls with Glühwein, a hot spiced red wine served in a mug you pay a deposit on, roasted almonds, bratwurst and handmade ornaments. The stalls wrap around the Trinkhalle, the Kurhaus and the edge of the Lichtentaler Allee, so the whole spa quarter glows after dark. The season runs from late November into early January, which makes it one of the longest-running markets in southwest Germany and an easy pairing with a thermal bath visit.
Grosse Woche (Grand Week) at Iffezheim
Iffezheim (the racecourse about half an hour west of town) has hosted flat racing since 1858 and ranks among the classic tracks in Europe. Grosse Woche is its summer meeting: a full week of top-level thoroughbred racing where the grandstands turn into a fashion parade of hats and linen suits, much like Royal Ascot or the Kentucky Derby. It is the single biggest social event of the Baden-Baden year, so hotel rooms in town sell out months ahead.
Easter Festival (Osterfestspiele)
Since 2013 the Berlin Philharmonic has brought its Easter residency to Baden-Baden. For roughly two weeks around Easter the orchestra stages a fully produced opera plus a run of concerts at the Festspielhaus (Germany's largest opera house), and the town fills with conductors, soloists and classical-music travelers from across Europe and the US.
Spring Meeting at Iffezheim
The opening meeting of the flat-racing season at Iffezheim, the historic racecourse in the vineyards west of Baden-Baden. Smaller and more relaxed than the August week, it is the easiest way to see a German race day without the crowds, and the surrounding Rebland wine villages make a natural add-on for the afternoon.
Read before you go
Background on the hot springs, the casino and the buildings you will be walking past, written in English.
The Historic Baths and Thermal Spas
Two thousand years of bathing, from the Roman ruins under the old town to the Friedrichsbad of 1877 and the modern Caracalla Spa.
Baden-Baden in Roman Times
How the hot springs turned a valley in the Black Forest into the Roman settlement of Aquae, and what you can still see of it today.
The Story of the Trinkhalle
A 300-foot colonnade from 1842, sixteen frescoes of Black Forest legends, and the mineral water that spa guests once came to drink.
The Kurhaus and Its Casino
From Weinbrenner's assembly rooms of 1824 to the gaming halls that made Baden-Baden the summer capital of Europe.
A spa town with worldwide fame
Baden-Baden sits at the northwestern edge of the Black Forest, famous for its hot thermal springs, the elegant casino of 1824 and the Belle Epoque architecture around the Kurhaus and Trinkhalle. Since 2021 it has been part of the UNESCO “Great Spa Towns of Europe.”
Explore the thermal bathsThe Baden-Baden insider brief
New guides, event tips and seasonal spa offers, once a month, free of charge.