First-century Roman baths
Among the best preserved north of the Alps, under a glass canopy.
GFreihalter — CC BY-SA 3.0 · W. Bulach — CC BY-SA 4.0 · PantaRhei — CC BY-SA 4.0 · PantaRhei — CC BY-SA 4.0
The ruins of an eleventh-century castle on a hill above the spa town of Badenweiler, at the far southern end of the Black Forest near the Swiss and French borders. The castle was destroyed by French forces in the War of the Palatine Succession in 1688 and has been left in ruin since. Around it lies a large public park with exotic trees planted in the nineteenth century, when the town became a resort. What makes the site notable is what lies below it: in the town are the remains of Roman baths of the first century, among the best-preserved Roman baths north of the Alps. They were found in 1784 and are protected under a glass canopy. The Romans came here for the same reason nineteenth-century visitors did: the hot springs. From the ruins there is a view over the Upper Rhine plain with the French Vosges mountains on the horizon. The ruins and park are open and free; the Roman baths carry a separate ticket.
Among the best preserved north of the Alps, under a glass canopy.
Romans and nineteenth-century visitors came for the same hot springs.
From the ruins the plain and the French Vosges are visible on the horizon.
Above the town of Badenweiler, southern Black Forest
Because the Upper Rhine plain is geologically active, with a fault that lets hot water rise to the surface. The Romans found these springs and built baths on them, and they were rediscovered in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when water cures became a European fashion. Baden-Baden, Badenweiler and Baden in Switzerland all lie along the same line — and Bad in German means bath.
The distance is about a hundred and twenty kilometres south, so it is a full day. It is worth it if you want the ruins, the Roman baths and the southern Black Forest together, or if you are heading for Freiburg or Basel anyway — Badenweiler is roughly on the way. On its own it may not justify the journey.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet — be the first.