5 Best Hotels in Baden-Baden, The Black Forest

This stately and exclusive hotel on the Lichtentaler Allee is one of Germany's most celebrated and storied retreats—a favorite of royalty, from Queen Victoria to Czar Alexander II, and their contemporaries— that today features individually decorated rooms and suites with both modern and antique furnishings, good-sized balconies, and grand marble bathrooms. From a romantic escape (book a private spa suite) to a golf getaway, the hotel goes above and beyond to cater to the interests of its well-heeled guests. The Villa Stephanie comprises a five-story spa with saunas, plunge pool, gym, hammam, and treatment rooms overlooking the gardens; it offers various healthcare programs and medical treatments, including a detox retreat for those so inclined, plus rooms and suites for a complete wellness retreat. The Wintergarten restaurant offers German cuisine with a modern twist, while Fritz & Felix serves up eclectic global specialties.

Baden-Baden has plenty of grand and sometimes a tad old-fashioned places to lay your head, so this ultra-modern, design-focused property has updated the hotel game. Sleek rooms feature wood floors, white walls, and muted colors. Though the Superior rooms only have walk-in showers, the Deluxe category and up also include bath tubs. There’s also a well-equipped 24-hour gym, compact spa with hammam, steam bath, sauna, and whirlpool, and a small pool on the roof. Moriki restaurant serves Asian-fusion cuisine for lunch and dinner, and the rooftop bar affords lovely forest views.

This appealing hotel has paintings of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's illustrations for his 1943 French children's classic, Le Petit Prince, charmingly adorning the rooms, each done in its own unique decor. The Rademacher family opened this hotel using patriarch Norbert's experience as a veteran of New York's Waldorf-Astoria and his wife Edeltraud's interior design skills to combine two elegant city mansions into a unique, antiques-filled lodging.

Evoking the beauty of its namesake era (and a touch classier than its sister hotel Der Kleine Prinz), the Belle Epoque offers large rooms, soaring ceilings, spacious beds, genuine antiques, luxurious baths, and a beautiful enclosed garden. Family-friendly and elegant simultaneously, it offers both breakfast and high tea in a beautiful salon just off the lobby with a great view to the Lichtentaler Allee.

This upscale spa town can be an expensive place to stay, so the first German outpost of the affordable TRIBE hotel chain makes for a welcome sight. Check-in takes place at digital counters, though a human is available if any issues arise. Inviting guest rooms with jewel-toned curtains, furniture, and carpets are compact but practical, though they lack desks since guests are encouraged to work from the lively communal co-working space on the ground floor. A 24-hour gym opens onto a terrace for relaxing after your workout. Though there’s no restaurant, a bar in the lobby serves up drinks, and Baden-Baden’s restaurant scene is a short stroll away.