Baden-Baden

Baden-Baden needs 1 day: the Kurhaus and its 19th-century casino, which inspired Dostoevsky to write «The Gambler» after losing much of his fortune at its tables, in a morning walk, and the Friedrichsbad thermal baths, running since 1877, in the afternoon. April-October is best. It's expensive by German standards. It was one of the most elegant spa towns of 19th-century Europe, nicknamed the «summer capital of Europe» for the amount of royalty and aristocracy that visited each season, and its thermal baths remain a social ritual today.