Cafe Beeg is an old-school German cafe, formal atmosphere, delicious food, cakes and coffee. What makes it wonderful is that it is so welcoming to children - they warmed our daughter's baby meal, brought it out on a silver salver, with doily and her own spoon.
The adult meals were the best we had this trip and the cakes ... ah the cakes. To die for, with a selection of about 25 different kinds. Naturally including the region's speciality: Black Forest Gateau.
The Caracalla spa is the new spa in Baden-Baden and is sparklingly lovely. It has a creche for children. It's worth noting (Lonely Planet doesn't mention this!) that none of the spas in Baden-Baden let children under seven years old in as they all use the local thermal water, which is unsafe for small children.
When you arrive at Baden-Baden, switch off your satnav and follow the signs for the "Bädergarage" to park right underneath Caracalla. Entry for three hours is €17 per adult and parking costs €1 for 3 hours - bargain!

Cafe Beeg: Gernsbacherstrasse 44-46, 76530 Baden-Baden, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany +49722136760
Google map: bit.ly/fa274U

Caracalla: CARASANA Bäderbetriebe GmbH • Römerplatz 1, D-76530 Baden-Baden
+49 (0) 7221 2759-20,-40
www.carasana.de/
Google map: bit.ly/dTHxkO

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Ryanair fly to Karlsruhe-Baden from Stansted with fares rarely more than a fiver. Flight timetables are perfect (out Friday evening after work, back Sunday night) meaning you can spend a long weekend enjoying the spas at Baden-Baden. There are two: the modern Caracella, which has a family atmosphere with large thermally heated pools, and the Roman Friedrichsbad. Enjoy coffee and cake in one of the smart cafes in the pedestrianised town centre and maybe take in the opera or a concert in the cultural district. You needn't worry about paying extra for hold luggage because in the Roman baths (and parts of the Caracella), it's compulsory not to wear clothes, so you can ignore the airline's swingeing baggage restrictions.

www.carasana.de/home/en/roemisch.html
+49 7221 2759-40
Römerplatz 1, D-76530 Baden-Baden
Google map: bit.ly/h7QkDY

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Forgo any inhibitions and don your birthday suit in Germany's thermal bath mecca. Caracalla spa has a variety of indoor and outdoor spas and saunas to keep you relaxed yet stimulated throughout the day. Nudity is the norm in the upstairs sauna level, so when in Rome. In January the bath’s central building and surrounds lights up at night, creating a glowing atmosphere. And if it snows during an outdoor bath session, even better for a magical winter break.

Römerplatz 1, 76530 Baden-Baden, Germany
+49 (0)7221 275940
www.carasana.de/caracalla.html
Google map: bit.ly/g51e8W

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Perhaps one of the most romantic places in Germany, Baden-Baden ('name so nice, you say it twice' as Moto-Moto says in Madagascar 2)is perfect for a wintery break. Chic and swanky (check out the fur on the snooty, evidently rich ladies! Don't forget to gawk at their egg-sized diamonds too!), the town stops just shy of being exclusive, thanks to those cavernous, fairly egalitarian, wonderfully-soothing baths. With the BlackForest at the door-step, and the "Schwarzwaldhochstrasse" (panoramic road to Freudenstadt) taking you high into the neighbouring hills, there are plenty of opportunities to ski. If, however, you can't or won't, drag yourself uphill, then slide down on traditional, wooden toboggans.
The sun might set early in these parts, but there's always deliciously heart-warming gluhwein from ridiculously pretty Christmas markets,sinfully-rich Blackforest cakes (yes, the real ones!) and, to top it all off, a gloriously gilded Casino to keep you going!

We found our lovely apartment on the www.baden-baden.de/en/tourism/ website.
Fly into Basel/Strasbourg, or take a train to Baden-Baden.
Best buys - cuckoo-clocks, Christmas kitsch.
Famous for - wonderful, warming baths, what else?!

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Baden-Baden is one of the few low-cost destinations that really can be reached for under a tenner. It is a charming, traditional Black Forest town with all the usual winter attractions-cosy bars selling Gluwein, cake shops with comfortingly fattening cream cakes and matronly chic women who march purposefully round the shops of "Knightsbridge-am-Rhein", clad in furs and designer labels (even the dogs wear matching capes and jackets). However, the greatest lure in winter is the outdoor thermal spa, the Caracalla. For just a few euros you can relax in the mineral rich waters of one of twelve spa pools, including some outside where you can soak in 68c naturally heated, curative water as the snowflakes twirl around you. A bracing walk through some trees leads you to the saunas, set amongst the trees and perched above the pools. Don't be surprised to meet hardy souls using the icy outdoor showers next to the sauna cabins before they plunge back into the waters of the pools.

Carasana Bäderbetriebe GmbH
Römerplatz 1, 76530 Baden-Baden
+49 (0) 7221 275 940
www.caracalla.de
Google map: bit.ly/ceA2s5

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