Rotherma

Rotherma is the thermal bath of the town of Gaggenau, set in the spa park of the Bad Rotenfels district on the western edge of the northern Black Forest. The operator describes its water as coming from the red Rotliegend bedrock beneath the site, and lists the bathing areas it feeds as two indoor pools, a combined wellness and exercise pool, a whirlpool and a heated outdoor pool, held at temperatures between 32 and 36 degrees. Two heat rooms sit alongside the water: the Vitalbad, presented as a modern reading of the Roman caldarium and run at 40 to 48 degrees, and the Aromabad at 50 degrees, where essential oils, music and light effects are combined. Rest rooms look out onto greenery and a sun terrace faces the Black Forest hills.

The sauna park is the larger half of the complex. It covers more than 5,000 square metres and holds seven sauna cabins: the Sanarium as a gentle introduction, the Natura at 60 degrees, the Aqua Viva at 90, a Finnish outdoor cabin at 95, the Panorama at 75, the Parksauna at 90 with a view over the open grounds, and the Felsensauna, which is built as a sequence of cabin, ice grotto or rock showers, and a silent rest room. A steam bath at 40 degrees offers a scrub three times a day. Two of the cabins stand in wooden huts out in the park. The German Sauna Association has certified the park at its highest quality grade, and Wednesday is reserved as a women's day.

The third feature is the Salzwelt, a 75-square-metre salt chamber lined with what the operator states is 250-million-year-old Himalayan salt, 40 tonnes of it in total. Brine ionisation equipment disperses micro salt crystals into the air; the room is kept at about 28 degrees and a session runs roughly half an hour. Admission to it is included in both the thermal bath and the sauna ticket. A health studio and a physiotherapy practice operate on the same site, and a bistro serves both the entrance hall and the bathing area.

Both the bath and the sauna park open daily from 9 in the morning until 10 at night, closing at 8 on Sundays and public holidays, with the cash desk shutting an hour before the end. Standard admission is a four-hour ticket, priced at 16 euros for the thermal bath and 27 euros for the sauna park, the latter including access to the bath. From early May to the end of September the time limit is dropped and guests may stay as long as they wish, which the operator ties to the size of the open-air grounds bordering the spa park.