Travel & Leisure


Bareiss: The Top of Wellness

Legendary Bareiss looks like a postcard ideal village nestled in the heart of the Black Forest. Its sublime spa has just been remodelled and now sets the standards for all the Relais & Châteaux  German luxury spas.
Year after year, the Bareiss has been building up the reputation of its legendary hotel. Far from the trodden paths, but maintaining all the charming Black Forest traditions, it works relentlessly on its elegant wellness and gastronomy offers. 70 km from Strassburg, and right in the center of the small German village of Mitteltal, Winter and Summer, the 1951 palace lives in a kind of fairy tale aura, mixing high class gastronomy and all kinds of leisure with luxury and a family ambiance. Clients are more like friends, really, in this 230 bed and a 250 staff hotel. The rooms, from 36 to 120 sqm, are decorated in a chic country style, mixing flowery fabrics and warm hues chequered cushions. They all have a panoramic view on the forest and the neighboring mountains.



Bath in rose steam and ice cascades


It’s hard to free oneself from the entangling and cozy comfort, but there are still a lot of good things to discover! Gastronomy, to begin with. Five restaurants can fulfill all your wishes. Breakfast alone is a splendid experience : homemade pastries, cereals galore, fresh fruit salads, omelets on order, smoked or marinated fish, the list is never-ending ! Another must is the old fashioned Dorfstuben restaurant, with bacon crêpes, lentils and sausages, or odorous deer stew on the menu. But you reach the top with the 3-starred Bareiss gastronomic restaurant, under chef Claus-Peter Lumpp, in an 8-table room to guarantee an exclusive cuisine and service.



But your stay in Mitteltal shouldn’t be confined to food experience, as the Bareiss Hotel has in time created a huge park, dedicated to leisure, its 9 swimming-pools being the stars of the show, a paradise for children. And just close by, you can enjoy the most beautiful and recently remodelled spa in Germany, which speaks for itself! It’s a world in itself thanks to its cabins with a view, an extraordinary choice of 5 swimming-pools (sea-water and freshwater), 2 indoor and 2 outdoor Jacuzzis, a pond with a small beach… Plus five unheard of saunas: Finnish style, or bio, perfumed steam, rose-steam for the ladies! Notwithstanding the amazing ice fountain!



Juillet 2013
By Laurent CAILLAUD