2 dream days between the holidays

The days between Christmas and New Year's Eve are among the quietest of the year in the Bavarian Forest — hiking trails freshly snowed in, pistes manageable, hotels noticeably more relaxed beyond the festive days. Exactly into this gap the Hotel Oswald places its “dream days” arrangement: two nights with pampering board between 25 December and 5 January, without the price-driven peaks of Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. During the day the heated outdoor pool stays open — in snow and under a starry sky with torches at the poolside, one of the few spa-hotel images that keep their promise.

The hotel is a family-run four-star-superior house, a member of Relais & Châteaux, in Kaikenried on the Bavarian Forest Nature Park. Whoever wants to extend the stay can do so; the five-course choice menu as part of the pampering board changes daily, the personally reserved table in the restaurant stays yours for the whole duration, and the spa area comprises around 4,000 m² with a rooftop pool, an aroma steam bath, a Finnish sauna and a wellness garden — precisely on grey winter days the real main stage.