Spa hotels in the Bavarian Forest

The wellness tradition of the Bavarian Forest is no marketing invention but measurable. Bodenmais has carried the state title of climatic health resort since 1992: the cool air filtered by the forest at 689 metres is considered therapeutically effective — gentle enough to do without altitude adaptation, and thus a milder variant than the demanding stimulating climate of the coasts.

Underground it continues: the healing gallery at the Silberberg carries on the heritage of historic silver mining as a therapy station. The constant, dust- and allergen-free cave climate is used in respiratory rehabilitation — for asthma, chronic bronchitis and more recently after respiratory infections. Bodenmais is thus a rare double address: a certified climate above ground, gallery air below.

The region's second recognised health resort unites two healing traditions under one roof. Bad Kötzting is a recognised Kneipp spa — the Kneipp cure with its five pillars of water, exercise, nutrition, medicinal plants and a balanced way of life is part of the townscape here. At the same time, since 1991 the town has housed the first German clinic for Traditional Chinese Medicine: Western diagnostics meet acupuncture, herbal therapy, tuina and qigong — recognised by health insurers and to this day unique nationwide.

Founded in 1970 as Germany's first national park and extended to 24,000 hectares in 1997, the Bavarian Forest National Park follows the principle “let nature be nature”: the forest may develop unmanaged — a primeval forest of tomorrow, in which lynx, capercaillie and black stork are native again. Together with the Czech Šumava it forms the largest contiguous protected forest area in Central Europe.

It can be experienced without hardship: the treetop walk in Neuschönau leads over 1,300 metres — the longest in the world — largely barrier-free through the treetops and culminates in a 44-metre wooden tower with a view of the Alps in clear weather. In the animal enclosure wolves, lynx and bears can be observed.

With around 6,000 square kilometres of largely unfragmented forest the Bavarian Forest is one of the few Central European landscapes in which forest bathing — the Japanese shinrin-yoku — works without a tourist staging. Certified forest guides and course leaders accompany guided sessions, at the Großer Arbersee for instance; little more than the forest itself is needed.

Water comes with it, without a long drive: the crystal-clear cirque lakes — the Großer and Kleiner Arbersee — are protected and invite you to walk around them rather than swim; at the designated bathing lakes people swim and stand-up paddle. More on the effect of still waters in the natural bathing lake glossary and in the topic wellness by the lake.

The proximity to Bohemia has left the Bavarian Forest a centuries-old glassmaking tradition. Along the roughly 250-kilometre Glass Road between Waldsassen and Passau glassworks, manufactories and museums can be visited — the Frauenau Glass Museum documents the craft since the 14th century, and in the glass town of Zwiesel the furnaces are open to visitors.

For bad-weather days and cultural travellers: the open-air museums with old village life, the Benedictine monasteries of Niederalteich and Metten on the edge of the range and, within day-trip distance, the two Danube towns of Regensburg and Passau — the latter as the “city of three rivers” with a baroque old town and cathedral.

Many houses of the region cater deliberately to families — and the surroundings supply the programme, from the mining tradition to the animal enclosure:

• Summer toboggan run and show mine at the Silberberg in Bodenmais
• Neuschönau treetop walk and the national park's animal enclosure (wolves, lynx, bears)
• Bavarian Forest Museum Village in Tittling and the Finsterau open-air museum
• Pedal boats at the Arberseehaus, the ice-age nature trail at the Rachelsee, the forest playground near Spiegelau