Quote:
Originally Posted by bubby996
Thank you.
Anyone can give me a feedback on Fried****bad or Cara**lla therme in baden baden?. I have read quite opposite reviews  |
C is just like other German wellness centres - it has a swimming-pools textile section, and a nude sauna section, in this case upstairs. You climb up a spiral staircase and you are at the entrance of the sauna section, with signs making it clear that it’s a nude area. People remove their bikinis, trunks etc then and there, and walk about mostly in towels. However, for a younger crowd, it’s best to go there on weekends which is when people come from neighboring towns, even from France just across the Rhine nearby.
The F is something differenrt and unique that has changed a lot, not always for the better. It’s a 19th century thermal bathhouse (using natural hot springs) that, in principle, enforces total nudity inside. You do get “towels” - more like linen sheets - for lying down in the dry-sauna steps, but these are taken away by the staff when you enter the steambath and pools area. You walk about totally naked, no other option.
Historically they had nearly symmetrical sections for men and women, which were more or less integrated anyway dependending on the day of the week - in the “segregated” days men and women would stick to their sections - except for the central circular pool which was always mixed. In other days, it was mostly mixed except that men were barred from going into one specific area of the women’s section. And changing rooms and lockers were segregated.
Then came its “golden age” in the 2010s when everything, including changing rooms, were made mixed on the mixed days. It was awesome.
However, it seems that during Covid they took a hit from which they have yet to recover (I haven’t been there since): chronic lack of staff, having to close one of the two halves due to maintenance, not so great maintenance overall, and now they replaced the old segregated days with - yes - textile days.
So I don’t know how it’s now. Hopefully if you go on a mixed/nude day on a weekend it’s still worth it, but I don’t know.
I introduced a lady to nude saunas at the F in its golden age, I will tell that story later.