rheinwelle - die rheinhessische Wasserwelt

The rheinwelle stands among the orchards of Rheinhessen between Bingen, Ingelheim and Gau-Algesheim, and is run by Regionalbad Bingen-Ingelheim GmbH at Binger Straße 99, 55435 Gau-Algesheim. The building's plan was modelled on the course of the Rhine. German Wikipedia's article on Ingelheim am Rhein dates the bath to 2005, when it replaced the town's indoor and outdoor pool at the Blumengarten. The house is divided into a Funwelt, a Sportwelt, a Saunawelt and a gastronomy area with a sauna bar and a pool restaurant that can also be entered without a bathing ticket.

The only special water is brine. The operator runs a year-round outdoor brine pool and writes that its Natursole is of medical quality, that studies show its minerals and trace elements act on skin and organism, and that the water temperature is 30 degrees; no concentration in grams per litre, no spring, no borehole and no analysis document are published, so the brine appears to be prepared rather than drawn on site. The rest of the water is ordinary heated pool water.

In the Funwelt the Erlebnisbecken is 29 degrees and holds a current channel, a wave generator driven by a red lighthouse that moves at intervals, bubble loungers, water spouts, a climbing rock and a climbing dolphin from which climbers fall into the water. The whirlpool is 31 degrees and the parent-and-child pool is likewise 31 degrees, with water toys, a mini slide and a mushroom shower. Two large slides were rebuilt with new routes: a Magic Tube with light, sound and animated effects, and a Turbo Slide with LED effects and timing. In the Sportwelt the operator describes a sports pool of six 25-metre lanes, 1.80 to 3.80 m deep at 27 degrees, with one-metre and three-metre boards, and a separate teaching pool 0.75 to 1.25 m deep at 30 degrees. This is contradicted by the homepage, which states that the bath is currently being extended by a competition-standard sports pool with six 25-metre lanes and a 125 m² teaching pool, to be finished in 2027 at a cost of around 16 million euro; the two operator pages do not agree on whether the six-lane pool already exists, and no reconciling note is published. A second, separate refurbishment of the existing bath in four stages and worth 20 million euro is also announced. The bath remains open throughout.

The Saunawelt is also counted inconsistently. Its own page opens with "Sieben unterschiedliche Saunen und ein Dampfbad" and lists them: indoors a low-temperature sauna at 60°, a steam bath at 40-50° and a Finnish sauna at 90°, outdoors a meditation sauna at 70°, an Aufguss sauna at 100°, a panorama sauna at 80°, a wine-cellar sauna at 80° with a masonry barrel vault and original wine casks, and a Kelo sauna house at 90°. A statistics strip lower on the same page instead advertises "8 außergewöhnliche und schweißtreibende Saunen", and the homepage gives the panorama sauna as 85 degrees rather than 80. Cooling is by an ice fountain, a plunge pool and a naturally laid-out bathing pond, which the same strip puts at 800,000 litres, set in 2,200 m² of lawn. Rest areas include a lounge with a view over the sauna garden, a fireplace room, a rest gallery and a rest house with four double water beds.

The bath is open Monday to Sunday and on public holidays from 10 to 23, with bathing and sauna time ending at 22:30; it closes on Christmas Day, and opens 10-15 on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Admission to the Fun- and Badewelt is 3.40 € for one hour, 6.50 € for two hours and 10.40 € for a day, reduced 2.60, 4.80 and 7.50 €, with family rates and free entry for children under six; each further 30 minutes costs 2.00 € up to the day rate. The Saunawelt, which includes the Fun- and Badewelt, costs 22.00 € for two hours and 26.00 € for a day. Bathrobes and towels are rented at 8.00 and 5.00 € against a 20.00 € deposit. All areas including saunas and pools are described as step-free, with lifts at the pools.