Den “Wissbadner”, as the locals call themselves in dialect, is usually not easily disturbed. Unless it has something to do with wine. Then we celebrate until dawn – from the wine ball in spring to wine festivals in summer and autumn sundowners on our own vineyard. That’s why every year a glass with a new wine motto is designed in the state capital. “Make wein not war” is written on the 2022 glass, entwined with flowers.
Wine, warmth and water are the three trademarks of Wiesbaden, and have been since the Romans, who planted the first vines here and used the hot springs. It was the thermal water that made Wiesbaden rich. One has a glimpse of the glitz and glamor of the 19th century’s rise to become a sophisticated world spa town in which everything met Europe to find healing and entertainment over a good sip of wine. Today this is experienced as wellness in a feudal setting with thermal springs and baths.
Even if, admittedly, Wiesbaden’s image seems a bit plush, it’s wonderfully enjoyable here in the Rhine Valley. The British “Guardian” also likes this comforting combination, which a few years ago named Wiesbaden one of the most recommendable city destinations in Europe that can be reached by train, after all in a row with the Mediterranean Nîmes and the glamorous Biarritz.
Source: Infographic WORLD
Perhaps the almost Mediterranean climate helped with this unexpected distinction. Because Wiesbaden in the Rhine Valley is extremely spoiled. The city is one of the warmest in Germany. That means: tropical summer, sunny autumn.
In the comparatively mild winter, Wiesbaden’s city center is practically foggy: the up to 66-degree hot thermal water, which bubbles up from the depths of the volcanic rock, then steams out of the gullies in the city center itself, which almost has the effect of underfloor heating. By the way, it is also sustainable and cheap. The town hall and many houses in the city center are heated with the thermal water.
Even the train station in Wiesbaden is worth seeing
Wiesbaden can be reached with the ICE from all directions, from Frankfurt also with the S-Bahn and regional trains of the Rhein-Main lines. Around 500 trains stop at the main station every day.
The station building from 1906 is a beauty: red sandstone, neo-baroque, with a 40 meter high clock tower. Planted for the inauguration, a now magnificent 23-metre-tall plane tree stands in the forecourt, marked as the number one of the thousands of old tree beauties of this remarkably green city full of avenues and parks.
With an unusual train to the Neroberg
From the main train station it is just five stops to the market square. The route can also be easily walked in a quarter of an hour. In any case, the cute city center is ideal for a tour. From the market you can get on a little train.
The magnificent market column provided ventilation with a chimney for the vaulted cellar below, in which the traders stored their goods
Quelle: picture alliance/imageBROKER
The two little tourist trains on wheels called “Thermine” (red) and “Lili” (white-blue-yellow) run in 50 minutes for twelve euros as a hop-on-hop-off tour of the most famous sights. You tour through the city center, to the Kurhaus with the casino, through the villa district up to the Neroberg and back – or down to the Rhine promenade.
A highlight, however, is a completely different Wiesbaden railway, unique in Germany: the Nerobergbahn has no motor, but is driven solely by “water power”. Since 1888, the funicular has rumbled up the Neroberg from April to October in just over four minutes.
The water-powered Nerobergbahn has been in use since 1888
Quelle: picture alliance/imageBROKER
The mechanism is as simple as it is ingenious and, like a scale, is determined solely by the weight: Two trolleys always drive at the same time, one up, the other down. The upper carriage is filled with 7000 liters of water, drives down and pulls the lower carriage up on a rope solely by its weight. As soon as the mountain railway arrives at the bottom, the water is drained and pumped up. So the game starts all over again. The ticket costs 3.50 euros.
View of the city with a glass of wine
The new vineyard “Château Nero” offers the best views and good wines until the end of October: It is located on a plateau above Wiesbaden’s only vineyard, which is normally not open to the public. At first glance, the “Château Nero” looks like a simple wine stand with benches and wine crates converted into seating. What is special, however, is its exclusive location: a sundowner with a broadband panorama over Wiesbaden.
The Neroberg with its four hectares of steep slopes is cultivated by the Rheingau state winery Kloster Eberbach. So you can taste the Neroberger Riesling, pressed from the grapes of the vineyard, right away, open Tuesday to Sunday, 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. By the way: A bottle of 1893 Neroberger Riesling Cabinet Trockenbeerenauslese achieved 17,500 euros at a wine auction, which is a record for a Riesling.
Even in autumn, restaurants still serve outside
On Wednesdays and Saturdays it feels like half of Wiesbaden goes to the weekly market with breakfast and wine. There are a good 80 stands with regional products: Frauensteiner cherry jam, for example, coffee from the Wiesbaden Hepa roastery, game from the Taunus, apple secco and wine rarities.
The “Café Maldaner” is the only original Viennese coffee house in Germany
Source: Georg Knoll/picture alliance / DUMONT Bildarchiv
Anyone who appreciates Austrian specialties such as Kaiserschmarrn or Sachertorte runs to “Café Maldaner”, founded in 1859, the only original Viennese coffee house in Germany. Just one or two rounds with the creaking wooden revolving door from yesteryear are worth a visit. A few steps further is the “Café Kunder”, which has been creating chocolate since 1898, such as pineapple tarts with marzipan, nougat and dark chocolate.
In Wiesbaden’s city center, people like to dine outside even in autumn. There is hardly a restaurant that doesn’t have a backyard garden or places tables in front of the door, like the six Italian restaurants lined up in Goldgasse, including “Due Amici” and “Da Vincenzo”. A rarity is the Peruvian restaurant “Huacas”, which serves the national dish ceviche – raw fish with lime juice, onions, chili, purple corn and sweet potatoes.
Restaurants in the Goldgasse: The almost Mediterranean climate invites you to sit outside
Source: picture alliance / DUMONT Bildarchiv / Georg Knoll
The inexpensive “all you can eat” Japanese restaurant has just opened on Taunusstraße, only the second in Germany after the one in Saarbrücken. Guests at Grand Asian can order dishes for two hours using an iPad. There are five dishes per round (from 18.90 euros). But be careful: If you order too much, you have to pay a fine of one euro for each sushi left behind.
Hotels with their own thermal springs
There are two downtown hotels with their own hot springs. The bath house in the “Radisson Blu Schwarzer Bock Hotel”, built in 1486 and thus the oldest grand hotel in Germany, and the famous “Nassauer Hof” with rooftop pool. Modern hotels such as the Mercure or the Dorint Pallas Wiesbaden are also centrally located.
If you still want to bathe in the thermal water: The Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme is in the middle of the city center and will reopen in 2023. It is designed in the style of an antique bathhouse with columns and ornate ornaments. Incidentally, except on Thursdays, bathing is nude.
Information: wiesbaden.de
Participation in the trip was supported by Wiesbaden Congress & Marketing. You can find our standards of transparency and journalistic independence at axelspringer.com/de/Werte/downloads.