The southern German spa town of Baden-Baden has been attracting visitors since the dawn of the tourism age in the 19th century. It is renowned for its beauty …
… as well as for its historic sites that include the elegant casino where the Russian writer Dostoevsky conducted intensive research for his novella The Gambler (so intensive that he had to leave the town overnight, pursued by his creditors) …
… and the monumental Trinkhalle where the spa town’s visitors – which included Czar Alexander II, Queen Victoria, Napoleon III and illustrious artists such as Richard Wagner, Mark Twain and Gustave Flaubert – could go to receive their daily dose of Baden-Baden’s renowned “miracle water”. (Whose secret ingredient, it was found out much later, was Arsenic.)
The casino and the neighbouring Trinkhalle provide the narrative spine of the spa town, but Baden-Baden also has a picturesque historic centre …
… with romantic side streets as well as formidable buildings such as the Stiftskirche whose bulky presence has dominated the old town since the 15th century.
On top of all of that, a new attraction has been recently added to Baden-Baden’s catalogue of riches: this is the Panoramaweg, a 45-km hiking trail through the Black Forest hills around the town.
The Panoramaweg of Baden-Baden – Germany’s Most Beautiful Hiking Trail
The Panorama Trail is alone in having won the Super Bowl of Germany’s annual hiking contest – and the title of the country’s Most Beautiful Hiking Route – twice, first in 2004 and then again in 2019 after it had been slightly revised and extended.
The trail consists of four stages, but it is fair to say that most hikers never get further than Stage 1, which is by general consensus what they call in Germany the Königsetappe, the most scenic and interesting section of the journey.
The trail starts at the Casino, but you will not miss much if you join it somewhere along Sophienstrasse, Baden-Baden’s poshest shopping street – as long as you do so before the junction with Sonnenplatz because this is where the trail takes a left turn and where you begin your climb through the Altstadt.
Soon, you will reach the Neues Schloss (the New Castle where the region’s feudal landlords resided from the early 1500s until about 1700) …
… which marks the frontier between the town and the slopes of the Black Forest. It is on these slopes where the Panorama Trail begins to fulfill the promise of its name.
Not all of the day’s hard leg work, however, is already behind you. The climb continues, albeit at a relatively gentle rate, until …
… the ruins of the Altes Schloss start shimmering through the trees, like something straight out of a German fairy tale.
The building is called the Old Castle because this is where the ancient feudal landlords, the margraves of Baden, resided before they moved their home closer to the town of Baden-Baden. (Perhaps they found the weekly shopping trip too tiresome in the end.)
The castle is also known by its original name of Hohenbaden, which, incidentally, lent its name to both the town and the entire region (the “Baden” in the state of “Baden-Württemberg”).
The trail leads right through the castle …
… and you should take the time to explore the Altes Schloss a little to familiarize yourself with the various stages of its complicated building history.
The castle’s oldest sections date from 1100 when Hohenbaden was little more than a fortress, but through the following centuries, it was gradually converted into something more like a palace.
As a rule of thumb, the more comfy something looks, the more recently it was added. The Rittersaal, for example, the Grand Hall, magnificent even in its current state, …
… was one of the last additions. It was completed around 1400 when the knights (the “ritter”) it was nominally constructed to accommodate were already something like an endangered species. Soon after, the Middle Ages came to an end, and large, draughty hilltop residences quickly went out of fashion.
The Old Castle is the first grand highlight of the trail, but the second is about to follow immediately. Straight after the exit from Hohenbaden, the Panoramaweg takes you on a tour around the Battertfelsen.
This is an extension of the original trail that was added in 2019. The Battert Rock is partly a natural phenomenon and partly an archaeological site: information panels along the way frequently point out the remains of a circular rampart that was constructed here in prehistoric times, probably by Celtic settlers.
For the past 150 years, the Battert Rock has not only attracted hikers but also increasing numbers of climbers, and one of Germany’s legendary mountaineers, Tony Kinshofer who had ascended the Nanga Parbat and the Eiger North Face, died here from a fall in 1964. So you better watch out: these rocks can be dangerous – although merely looking at them cannot do you much harm, even from up close.
After the tour around the Battertfelsen, the Panoramaweg begins to wind down a bit – physically as well as metaphorically – and the slow descent that follows may feel a little long.
Eventually, you will arrive at the lower station of the Merkurbahn, a funicular railway which goes all the way up to the summit of Baden-Baden’s local mountain, called Mount Mercure.
On the mountain’s summit (at an altitude of 668 m), there is a tower with a viewing platform. You will also find a restaurant and foot paths for short walks to explore the area if you still have the energy.
You can return to town by bus from the lower station of the Merkurbahn with lines no. 204 and 205. (There is roughly one bus every 30 minutes.)
If you want to find out more about the Panorama Trail, you can download an excellent free online brochure, but unfortunately, the text is – as of now – only available in German. The brochure, however, also features a map that you may find useful.
