Welcome to the third iteration of Vogue’s global spa guide, a compendium of the 100 best spas in the world, compiled based on first-person reviews and careful editing. This year, we’ve renewed our focus on establishments that have established a reputation for exceptional care of body and mind, though there is a great variety in the list. Whatever you are seeking when it comes to wellness, there is something here for you.
Why go here?
The elegant German spa town of Baden-Baden, nestled in the heart of the Black Forest, has been celebrated for its tranquil setting and the healing properties of its waters as far back as the time of the ancient Romans. (The name literally translates as “Baths-Baths”—so if you’re seeking some R&R, you know you’re in the right place.) And it’s lived many lives since: as a gambling hotspot for 19th-century Russians such as Chekhov and Tolstoy, a favored retreat of Queen Victoria’s, and perhaps most infamously in the British public consciousness, as the site of the “WAGs gone wild” furore surrounding the 2026 World Cup tournament. But for the past two centuries, the town’s crown jewel has been the Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa—and it’s never looked more lustrous, having just reopened its doors after a two-year, top-to-toe renovation.
During this process, particular attention was lavished upon the spa. (It’s in the name, after all.) The sprawling, five-story complex is largely located in Villa Stéphanie, a separate wing of the building housing 15 rooms and suites within a former royal residence, where you’ll find “digital detox” switches on the wall to kill the Wi-Fi and eliminate any residual “electronic smog,” as well as direct access to the medispa and various bathing facilities. That includes multiple saunas, a steam room, a hammam, a ladies-only sauna—we’re in Germany, so nudity is very much encouraged here—and a room I can only describe as a sort of enchanted forest of mosaic-decorated showers. (I was especially fond of the enormous Finnish sauna, which was set at a pleasingly scorching 90 degrees Celsius—perfect to get the body molten hot before leaping into the glacially cold plunge pool.) And that’s without mentioning the epic indoor pool, with its Roman-style frescoes and columns, and sweeping views of the leafy estate beyond and the babbling River Oos in the distance. It is, to put it simply, paradise.
