Friedrichsbad

The Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden is the most historically magnificent thermal bathing experience in Germany — a palatial Roman-Irish bathing palace built in 1877 for Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden, whose 17 stages of graduated bathing (progressing through cool, warm, hot, steam, brush massage, thermal soaks and cool plunges) still replicate exactly the original therapeutic sequence prescribed by the building's founding physician. The architecture is overwhelming: a domed central hall in the style of a Roman palatial bath, with Italianate arcades, painted ceilings and carved stone details of extraordinary quality. The chloride thermal springs of Baden-Baden, which have been channelled into bathing facilities since the Romans built the town of Aquae Aureliae, still supply the Friedrichsbad with water at 68°C. No swimwear is worn in the historic bathing halls — the experience is conducted in the tradition of Roman public bathing that inspired the building.