Six hotels, six answers

How we score it: Minimum age, entry fee and dress rules, as published by the casino. 18+, free entry and no jacket rule score highest.

• Wiesbaden: 5 / 5. 18+, free entry, and no jacket or tie rule: the official list bars sportswear, hoodies and similar, not business casual.
• Bad Homburg: 4 / 5. 18+, €2.50 day ticket, a loan jacket offered "if in doubt", and men welcome in an open shirt or polo.
• Berlin: 4 / 5. 18+, €2 entry, no published dress code; ID is recorded and checked against the exclusion file.
• Tegernsee: 3 / 5. 21+; free entry per a dated magazine; neat clothing and Tracht welcome (jacket rule unverified).
• Lindau: 3 / 5. 21+; free entry per a dated magazine; neat clothing (jacket rule unverified).
• Baden-Baden: 2 / 5. 21+, €5 table entry and a jacket for men in the classic rooms (loan jacket €10).

How we score it: What a hotel guest can use: pool, saunas, treatments, hours and whether it is included. Judged from the hotel's own pages.

• Baden-Baden: 5 / 5. Villa Stéphanie spa open to 22:00, medical programmes and a 600 m² Parkvilla on site; hotel spa size not published.
• Tegernsee: 5 / 5. A redesigned spa (the hotel says 3,000 m²) with a 28 m indoor pool, three saunas, steam bath and a private lake beach; guests use it free.
• Berlin: 4 / 5. Club Olympus: 800 m² with an indoor rooftop pool, free for hotel guests and open to 21:00.
• Wiesbaden: 3 / 5. The Badhaus is fed by the Kochbrunnen spring, but an outside provider runs it and it is charged separately (€15 an hour).
• Bad Homburg: 3 / 5. A sauna and steam bath in the hotel; the Kur-Royal brine spa is a separate ticket (2 hours €28–32).
• Lindau: 3 / 5. The Maximilian SPA: heated indoor pool all year, Finnish sauna, sanarium, steam bath and caldarium.

How we score it: Quality and range of dining under the roof and within a short ride: Michelin stars and listings (2026 guide), hotel venues, bars.

• Berlin: 5 / 5. VOX and a bar of 300+ spirits in the hotel; two-star FACIL about 120 m away; two more one-star restaurants within about a kilometre (straight-line).
• Tegernsee: 5 / 5. A one-star restaurant in the hotel; the two-star Dichter and one-star Haubentaucher are in the same village.
• Baden-Baden: 4 / 5. Several hotel venues, a Michelin-listed Wintergarten and two one-star restaurants in town.
• Lindau: 4 / 5. A lake-view hotel kitchen with Bodensee fish; one-star KARRisma and VILLINO nearby, and Mangold across the border.
• Wiesbaden: 3 / 5. No dinner restaurant in the hotel; a one-star table (Ente) in Eltville; the Kurhaus restaurant is closed for renovation and due to reopen in 2027.
• Bad Homburg: 2 / 5. No Michelin restaurant in the town; Le Blanc at the casino and Ritter's at the hotel; listed tables in Oberursel and Königstein.

How we score it: Age and continuity of the gaming tradition in its setting. Every German spa-town casino has a gap after 1872; we score the building and the tradition, not a marketing claim.

• Baden-Baden: 5 / 5. Kurhaus of 1821–24 and gambling since 1812 (per German Wikipedia) and in the Kurhaus since 1824; closed 1872–1933.
• Wiesbaden: 4 / 5. First licence 1771, a Kurhaus of 1905–07; closed 1872 and reopened 1948–49.
• Bad Homburg: 4 / 5. Casino opened 1841 in the Kurpark; closed 1872 and reopened 1949.
• Berlin: 2 / 5. Founded 1975; at Potsdamer Platz since 1998.
• Tegernsee: 2 / 5. Casino opened 1957; on its present site since 2005.
• Lindau: 2 / 5. Casino opened 1950; round building since 2000.

How we score it: Rail and airport access from the nearest big hub, from published timetable samples. Fewer changes and shorter transfers score higher.

• Berlin: 5 / 5. FEX from BER in 19 minutes to Potsdamer Platz station, a few minutes’ walk from the hotel.
• Wiesbaden: 4 / 5. S8 from Frankfurt Airport in about 42 minutes; the Rhine rail line is closed until 12 December 2026.
• Bad Homburg: 4 / 5. S5 from Frankfurt Hbf in about 24 minutes; no direct train from the airport (41 min with a change).
• Baden-Baden: 3 / 5. Frankfurt Hbf 1 h 27 direct, Karlsruhe 16–19 min; the station is about 7 km from the centre.
• Tegernsee: 2 / 5. Hourly train from Munich to Gmund or Tegernsee, then bus or taxi; 60 km by road.
• Lindau: 2 / 5. Munich in 2 h 15 with one change; long-distance trains stop on the mainland at Lindau-Reutin.

How we score it: Lake, mountains, park or promenade on the doorstep. A city scores low here by design; weight it down if you want a city.

• Tegernsee: 5 / 5. A lake with a private hotel beach and boat stop, in the Bavarian Alps foothills.
• Baden-Baden: 4 / 5. The 2.3 km Lichtentaler Allee and a UNESCO Great Spa Town (2021).
• Bad Homburg: 4 / 5. The casino stands in the Kurpark (roughly 44–47 ha), which holds a Russian church and a Thai Sala.
• Lindau: 4 / 5. An island of about 70 ha on Lake Constance, with a lighthouse and a lion at the harbour.
• Wiesbaden: 3 / 5. Kurhaus colonnade, Kurpark and the Kochbrunnen on the doorstep; a state capital rather than a retreat.
• Berlin: 2 / 5. A big-city setting; no lake or park on the doorstep.

It depends on the evening. For a first, relaxed visit we would pick Wiesbaden; for a formal night, Baden-Baden; for a city weekend, Berlin; for a spa and a starred dinner, Tegernsee. The scorecard lets you set your own priorities.

Each score is our editorial judgement on a 1–5 scale, but every score is paired with the published facts it rests on, shown under "The reasoning behind each score". We use no guest ratings, and Heimatpuls has no commercial relationship with the venues unless stated.

Partly because its casino's own information could not be read, so we cannot give it credit for what we cannot verify. That is a gap in the record, not a verdict on the hotel.

Yes, when a hotel or casino changes. The facts table shows the date it was last checked.