Our pleasure weekend at the Wald & Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe

20 out of 20 points in the “Relax Guide” and one of the 100 best chefs in Germany – that sounds like the perfect place for an enjoyable weekend, doesn’t it? These promising awards have prompted us to travel to the northeast of Baden-Württemberg for a long weekend this summer. Here, in the middle of the picturesque hills of the Hohenlohe region, the Wald & Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe is the perfect place to relax – far away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

The Friedrichsruhe – our refuge

The history of the Wald & Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe in Zweiflingen (not far from Heilbronn) can be traced back to the 17th century. Its origins lie in the construction of a hunting and conservation house as part of a large animal park. The foundation stones for the hunting lodge were laid in 1712 by the later Prince of Hohenlohe. In the 1950s, the complex was converted into a hotel, which was steadily expanded in the years that followed. The 5-star superior hotel has been part of the Würth Group since 2005 and is one of the top addresses in the country.

The history of the house can be seen in the buildings – the rooms are spread over different buildings from different eras. If you like a historic ambience, you will like the rooms in the hunting lodge and gatehouse. In the main house, the rooms are designed in English country house style and in the spa house we are greeted by a coordinated, restrained world of colours and shapes. The praline box, which sweetens our arrival, gives us a first promising taste of the skills of the kitchen crew. For the time being, however, we will leave it at the “snort” – they are already waiting for us in the spa world.

The Spa World – Wine Wellness

The wellness area of the Wald & Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe extends over 4,000^m2 and offers an outdoor and indoor pool, an extensive sauna area and a spa bistro as well as plenty of relaxation and lounging areas – both indoors and outdoors.

An absolute eye-catcher is the beautifully staged indoor pool. The differently structured floor plates of the two pools fascinate me immensely! Here I could easily spend the whole day and move back and forth exclusively between the sauna, Kneipp facility and deck chair.

• 

• 

What makes the wellness offer at the Wald & Schlosshotel unique is the in-house care line “SanVino”, whose ingredients are extracted from the Hohenlohe vineyards. My dry skin is now being pampered with the “best of the grape”. While I enjoy a SanVino Wellness facial treatment, the boyfriend’s tense neck muscles are loosened with a grape seed oil massage in another treatment room. We couldn’t imagine a better start to our wellness weekend in southern Germany.

The culinary delights – 2-star enjoyment

As with the hotel rooms and the Spa World, the Wald & Schlosshotel also offers a range of options when it comes to gastronomy.

Frühstücksglück

This includes the extensive breakfast buffet, which is complemented by an à la carte menu. Various ice cream dishes, French toasts and various other sinful temptations are freshly prepared to order and served to the table. Many products are supplied by surrounding producers. This is also the case with the bread, which is made from selected biodynamic raw materials in the bakery of Hofgut Hermersberg, 15 kilometres away. With the variety of fine things, nothing stands in the way of an enjoyable start to the day – it’s best to plan enough time for “zmörgälä”!

Best Swabian Food

After this hearty breakfast, our hunger is satisfied for the time being. But at the latest after a long walk across the fields and meadows and through the surrounding forests, the appetite announces itself again. When the time comes, a detour to the Waldschänke is obvious. In the rustic hut with beer garden, hearty Swabian food is mainly on the menu. Spätzle, Maultaschen, schnitzel or meat loaf – spoilt for choice!

• 

• 

Fine Dining

To get in the mood for dinner, we look for a place in the bar – in the Wald & Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe there is a hotel bar in classic style, which, in combination with the fireplace room and a small garden area, offers cosy corners for an aperitif both on warm summer evenings and in frosty temperatures.

In the fine dining area, the Wald & Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe offers two options – the rustic Jägerstube, which has been awarded 15 GaultMillau points, and the exquisite two-star restaurant Le Cerf. Here, the dignified atmosphere is somewhat at odds with Boris Rommel’s original cooking.

Le Cerf offers a choice of “Menu Gourmand”, “Menu Saison”, a vegetarian menu and à la carte options. While most of the guests at the tables around us opt for the “Menu Gourmand”, we dare to try the seasonal menu. This changes regularly and therefore certainly contains less of Boris Rommel’s classics. On the other hand, his creativity comes into its own. I can’t judge which is the better choice – either way, in my opinion, it’s worth planning a special evening at Le Cerf when staying at the Wald & Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Road trip through the Hohenlohe region

If you, like us, travel by public transport, you have the opportunity to rent an Audi from the hotel vehicle fleet at the Schlosshotel. This is quite practical, because although there is a lot to discover around the Friedrichsruhe, the exciting places are distributed in a star shape around the hotel and it becomes correspondingly complicated with public transport.

In order to see as much of the region as possible, we marked the sights on Google Maps in advance and designed a day road trip from Friedrichsruhe via Schöntal to Schwäbisch Hall based on this. The first stop on our route is Hofgut Hermersberg. Here we get a look behind the scenes and are allowed to take a look at the old bakehouse, where the well-known wood-fired bread is baked. In addition to the breads and seasonal, organic fruit and vegetables, the farm shop also sells numerous other regional specialties that are ideal as souvenirs.

• 

• 

It takes less than 20 minutes from Hofgut Hermersberg to Schöntal Monastery. The monastery complex is located in the idyllic Jagst Valley and surprises with an imposing baroque church. Depending on the weather and available time, you can take a hike around the monastery complex or simply stroll across the grounds and enjoy the pretty details – as we did.

• 

• 

Then we head for the district town of Schwäbisch Hall. The picturesque old town on the banks of the Kocher is one of the most beautiful in southern Germany and is immensely photogenic even in rainy weather. Directly opposite the old town centre is the Kunsthalle Würth, which has been cleverly integrated into the old town structure as a modern architectural addition. As in all Würth museums, admission is free of charge. On bad weather days, this can quickly make the Kunsthalle look “full”.

• 

• 

On our road trip, we would have liked to stop at the Jagstmühle in Heimhausen at noon. However, the good reputation of the country inn was not only noticed by us and so I unfortunately did not receive a free table when I made my reservation the day before. I found a no less recommendable alternative in Schwäbisch Hall – here we stopped at the restaurant Rebers Pflug and enjoyed an excellent lunch.

With renewed energy, we made our way back towards Friedrichsruhe. On the way we stopped briefly in Neuenstein to walk around the imposing castle of the same name. Built as a moated castle, the complex was once the princely residence of the Counts of Hohenlohe. Today, the castle is open to visitors as a castle museum.

The last highlight of our road trips is the Limes. The former border of the Roman Empire is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and runs through Friedrichsruhe in the immediate vicinity of Friedrichsruhe. In order to make the Limes come alive, the municipalities of Zweiflingen, Öhringen and Pfedelbach have built so-called “Limesblicke” – viewing platforms. One of these platforms is within walking distance of the Wald & Schlosshotel. Much more exciting than the view from the platform is the section of forest right next to it, where the course of the Limes can be guessed very well by means of an earth wall.

• 

• 

Detour to Heilbronn

If you, like us, travel to the Hohenlohe region by public transport, you will most likely pass through Heilbronn. The city on the Neckar is one of the ten largest cities in Baden-Württemberg and hosted the Federal Horticultural Show “BUGA” this year.

The BUGA is already history, but there are still plenty of good reasons to make a stopover in Heilbronn. The city on the Neckar not only impresses with a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly network of paths along the footpath, but also with a new, dynamically developing district, Germany’s largest science center – the Experimenta – a core city steeped in history and with the Wartberg as a promising excursion destination near the city.

For the visit of the Experimenta alone, it is worth planning at least half a day in Heilbronn. On more than four floors, 275 interactive stations invite you to learn more about our bodies and our environment. In addition, there is the Science Dome, where exciting shows are shown. Our planned three hours for the visit of the Experimenta were just long enough to visit at least every floor of the Discovery World – but definitely too short to watch one of the shows in the Science Doms.

At the end of the Second World War, a large part of the city of Heilbronn was destroyed by bombing. This history is reflected in today’s cityscape of Heilbronn, which is characterised by post-war architecture that is often described as “unattractive”. However, individual historical buildings have withstood the tragedy – including the Bulwark Tower and the Idol Tower – both parts of the former city wall. A nice overview of the city centre is offered by the harbour market tower in the centre. The key that unlocks the door to the viewing platform is available free of charge during opening hours at the tourist information office on Kaiserstrasse.

Local wines and matching appetizers are available at the Pfeffer Lebensmittel & Tagbar on Kramstrasse – picnic baskets are not (yet) offered as standard – but even so, you can stock up on delicatessen there and then look for a nice spot on the Neckar or on the Wartberg for a picnic.

Practical tips for the Wald & Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe

• The journey by train from Zurich to Öhringen (nearest train station) takes just under five hours. The Wald & Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe will pick you up at the train station on request. By car, it takes about three hours to get there. There is an e-charging station for electric cars on the hotel grounds.
• Room rates vary depending on the room type and the season. The cheapest category costs from 340 euros per night including breakfast and free use of the Spa World for double occupancy.
• Depending on the season, there is the possibility to book attractive packages including wellness offers and gourmet food.
• The menus at Le Cerf cost between 100 and 170 euros – but everything can also be ordered individually à la carte. I recommend reserving the table at Le Cerf at the same time as booking the hotel.
• Heilbronn offers various city tours – in addition to the classic tours, there is also the opportunity to discover the city paddling in a canoe or by bike.

Note: our stay in the Hohenlohe region was supported by Heilbronn Tourism and the Wald & Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe. All impressions and opinions are, as always, ours.