Disappoint

A short review of the Schwarzwald Panorama hotel wellness section. 

Located in the pleasant Bad Herrenalb, on the northside of the Schwarzwald, the hotel prides itself as a wellness hotel. However in my experience, there's preciuos little to pride over. 

The wellness part comprises of two small sauna's (both in themselves ok) and an intermittently functioning hamman / steam room. There's no adjacent resting room and the outside sun area, is well overseen by all and sundry. Imagine organizing a conference and the participants all the looking outside to see a glimpse (or more) of a naked myself, oblivious to being the lead topic of the conference. Hmmm.

There's also a good thermal pool adjacent, but formally that's the clothed part.

The experience in itself was ok, people enjoying a sauna are like that. However there were those that failed to read the German / English signs saying "no clothing here!" Out of ignorance? Could be, there was a French family who felt they were above these rules. And also the rule to sit on a towel. There was an Eastern European family, who managed to state that bathing nude was impossible for them. Quite odd. Oddest maybe was that everyone else tolerated their behaviour. 

That said, there was also no-one disapproving (in public) of using the pool clothesfree (really?). But at least that's still very hygienic.

The rest of the resort was also ok-ish. Rooms very good / spacious. Food, mwah, but all organic. Staff ok, frontdesk hmmm. 

The resort backs up directly to extensive forest, that's beautiful. Think all-day forest bathing.

The review world is equally not overwhelmed by the experience here. Note most stars / rates are based on the full overnight experience. 

Tripadvisor rates it a 4.3 star (from 1000+ reviews). Booking.com figures are 8.1 (850+ reviews).

Google surprisingly notes Schwarzwald Panorama a rather good 4.6 stars (1150+ reviews); the main reason why I stayed here. Here are some snatches of reviews:

'Very disappointed by the behavior of the numerous French guests in the saunas and pools. They showed no respect for the sauna rules (silence, towels on the benches, etc.) and left their cups lying around everywhere'.

And:

'The spa area is nice but small. Many people were in the sauna wearing swimwear'.

So should of been forewarned?

Found

Bad Herrenalb, as the names says is a kurort. Wikipedia (translated):

Since 1954, Herrenalb has been able to call itself a climatic health resort. In 1964, a borehole at a depth of 600 meters led to a mineral-rich thermal spring. The thermal baths built as a result opened in 1971 and Herrenalb became Bad Herrenalb. The city has had the name suffix "Bad" since July 26, 1971.

More history. 

A Schwarzwälder Bote article (Jan. 24, 2021) highlights Bad Herrenalb's Forest Shower:

'Mit Philipp Friedrich Weiß begann 1840 der Kurbetreib in Herrenalb. Er nahm sich dabei die Heilmethoden von Vinzenz Prießnitz zum Vorbild. Eine Heilanwendung wurde an sogenannten Waldduschen praktiziert. Bad Herrenalbs Bürger Michael Arndt hat nach intensiven Recherchen den Platz der Herrenalber Walddusche gefunden'.

A cold shower (fresh sourced water, 4-5C!) purposely constructed half an hours walk in the forest which was supposed to be enjoyed on a (bi-)daily basis for patients.

Comaprable?

Diese Darstellung aus dem Jahr 1836 zeigt eine Prießnitz’ schen Walddusche in Gräfenberg. Dort hat Vinzenz Prießnitz gewirkt. (Foto: Schwarzwälder Bote)

There's a six minute youtube vdo, explaining more.

The thermal baths (Siebentäler Therme) though were under renovation (until end of the year), maybe a good alternative to the included in the price wellness section of Schwarzwald Panorama. There's a kur center, basically a big meeting hall, with a drinking pavilion next to it. Here you can taste the waters.

Note that public transport (i.e. train/tram) serves the village well. It's a breeze to reach the station of Karlsruhe.