The train ride from Mannheim to Baden Baden was fairly short: only about 40 minutes. Once we arrived, we took a bus to the city center where we found our hotel, the Rathausglockel. Our hotel room was one of the largest I have ever seen in Europe. It was nearly a suite, a wooden structure separating the sleeping vs living areas of the room.

In my research on things to do in the area, I had come across some vague instructions on how to hike to some castle ruins above the town. We changed into more suitable hiking attire, then set out to find the trail. Our first stop was the Trinkthall where we purchased a local hiking map. However, the map was pretty confusing, so we ended up not using it at all. The directions I had found online said the trail started near the spas, and we finally found the start after some exploring around that area and headed up through the woods to Altes Schloss. If you are looking on Google Maps, it is the path that runs behind Caracalla Spa.

The hike took a little over an hour. Right before we arrived at the ruins, we passed a little church, Burnharduskapelle, where we stopped for a rest and a few photos before continuing on. When we finally arrived, we were in awe. The castle ruins were huge!

It took a long time to explore; you could climb up to the highest point and see for miles, including a spectacular view of Baden Baden itself. There was also a dungeon!

After hiking back down, we ate at Peters am Leo, then did a quick walking tour around the city until it began to rain.

Baden Baden is known for its spas, and there are two main ones to choose from: Friedrichsbad, the Roman style traditional spa, and Caracalla, the newer family friendly spa. We decided to go all in and went to the Friedrichsbad spa for a very unique and slightly awkward European experience. There are 17ish different bathing stations within the spa, which they tell you to do in a specific order, for recommended time limits, but for the most part you can go back and forth between them until towards the end. It is a completely nude spa; there are certain days of the week that are co-ed and certain days where the genders are (mostly) separated. Since we were there on a Monday, it was a separate day, so we said our goodbyes in the lobby and headed to our respective dressing rooms.

I removed my clothes and put them in a locker. They provide you with some flip flops and a small towel that you don’t get to keep for long. I was pretty self-conscious at first, but it is actually quite surprising how quickly you get used to walking around naked, when everyone around you is also naked. There were not a ton of people there when we went; there were anywhere from 0-4 other people at each of the stations on the women’s side.

The first station is a shower. This is a pretty normal shower, and they recommend spending three minutes before heading to the next station.

Next is the warm air bath, which is a sauna around 130 degrees F. They have lounge chairs to relax in for the recommended 15 minutes. The provided towel is to be used to sit on in these early rooms.

After that, you go into the hot air bath, an even hotter sauna room, around 155 degrees F. This room is covered in beautiful tile. Here you only spend five minutes.

You get to shower again at station four, now drenched in sweat. After the shower, you have to drop off your towel, so if you were trying to use it for modesty, you no longer get to.

Station five costs extra, so we did not opt to include it, but it is a soap and brush massage. If you opt for this, station six is another shower.

The next two stations are steam rooms. The first one is recommended for ten minutes, and the second hotter room for five.

Next up are the pools! The first is the warmest, around 96 degrees F. This was probably my favorite part. The second pool is a whirlpool, only slightly cooler.

Then you get in a large but cooler bath, around 82 degrees. This pool is in a mixed area, even only single-sex days, so you can skip if you are not comfortable. I did meet up with Mr. Strange here, and he caught me up on some of the awkwardness that he was feeling (although his best story was yet to come).

I parted ways with Mr. Strange again, completed the next shower step, and then it was to the cold bath. There is a tiny pool that is about 65 degrees F. I stayed in that thing for maybe five seconds before jumping out.

After this, there is another extra step that we did not opt for, where you can purchase some cream to apply to your skin.

The next step, however, was the one I had most anticipated. It is the relaxation room, where an attendant wraps you tightly in sheets and blankets and allows you to drift off to sleep. The recommended time here is half an hour. However, I took a wrong turn and ended up in the final room, the reading room instead. Feeling too awkward to wander back out and try to explain my mistake to someone, I sat down with a towel and drank some tea. After ten minutes or so, I left, dressed, and went back down to the lobby, disappointed that I missed the best part.

However, when Mr. Strange finally joined me, he told me about his relaxation room experience. He said that there were no attendants around, so he tried to wrap himself up as best as he could. But there was another man in the room, who kept trying to call to someone to help him wrap up, and no one was responding. So instead of really relaxing, all Mr. Strange was experiencing was another tourist calling out, “Help me. Please help me.”

Relaxed after our spa journey, we stopped by somewhere for a drink before finally returning to our hotel for the night.