Black Forest & Baden-Baden

The Black Forest begins just across the Rhine from Basel, and Baden-Baden lies about two hours to the north by road, and a little less by direct train. It is the German counterpart to the lake and mountain resorts of the collection: a nineteenth-century spa town of baths, concerts and the Lichtentaler Allee, and behind it the forest heights, where Baiersbronn has become a destination for serious dining.

Baden-Baden lies in the valley of the Oos, on the western edge of the Black Forest. The Romans used its hot springs; in the nineteenth century it became the summer capital of Europe, with its Kurhaus and casino, its Trinkhalle and the Lichtentaler Allee, a park promenade along the little river. The town is part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe, inscribed by UNESCO in 2021, and its two great baths remain in use: the Friedrichsbad, opened in 1877, and the modern Caracalla Therme. The Festspielhaus, Germany’s largest opera and concert house, and the Museum Frieder Burda, designed by Richard Meier, give it a cultural life out of proportion to its size.

To the south and east, the Black Forest rises in rounded, wooded heights to the Feldberg, at 1,493 metres. The Black Forest High Road climbs from Baden-Baden along the crest towards Freudenstadt, past the Mummelsee and viewpoints over the Rhine plain. Below it lies Baiersbronn, a scattered village of valleys and farms with an unusual concentration of Michelin-starred restaurants; further south are Freiburg, with its Gothic minster, and the old clock-making country around Triberg.

Late spring and early summer are fresh and green, the season for long walks through forest and meadow; autumn brings mist in the valleys, colour on the beech slopes and the wine harvest in the vineyards of the Baden side of the Rhine plain. The baths make Baden-Baden a town for every season, and the Festspielhaus programme runs through most of the year.

In winter the higher ground around the Feldberg and along the High Road has cross-country trails and small ski areas, and Baden-Baden holds its Christmas market by the Kurhaus from late November. Summer is the high season in the forest villages; the great restaurants of Baiersbronn each close for several weeks a year, including part of the summer, so dates are worth checking before a stay is planned around a table.

Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa, of the Oetker Collection, has stood beside the Lichtentaler Allee since the nineteenth century, with its own bridge into the park and a spa known for long wellness programmes. In Baiersbronn, two family houses define the region: Hotel Bareiss in Mitteltal, a three-generation family estate whose gourmet restaurant under Claus-Peter Lumpp has long held three Michelin stars, and Hotel Traube Tonbach, in the Finkbeiner family since 1789, home of the Schwarzwaldstube, a three-star restaurant since 1992.

LVXE books Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa through LHW VITA and Hotel Bareiss through Relais & Châteaux Preferred Partner — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges each programme attaches to the stay. For Hotel Traube Tonbach, LVXE advises on the stay and arranges it directly with the hotel. Baden-Baden and Baiersbronn are about an hour apart by the High Road, so a stay often combines both, and tables at the three-star restaurants are best reserved together with the rooms.