Cultural events in Baden-Baden

It is one of the loveliest contradictions of a Black Forest holiday. In the morning you are standing in the mountain woods, where a woodpecker is the loudest thing around, and by evening you are sitting in the largest opera house in Germany. What makes this possible is Baden-Baden, the world-famous spa town on the northern edge of the Black Forest, a good hour's drive from Obertal.

The small town plays in a cultural league usually reserved for major cities. And because the distances are short, an evening of culture can easily round off a day of hiking or a spa day.

With 2,500 seats, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden is the largest opera and concert house in Germany, and one of the most unusual. You enter through the historic facade of the town's old railway station. Beyond it lies the modern concert hall, opened in 1998, whose acoustics have earned international acclaim.

The programme lives up to the architecture. The Easter Festival is a fixture here, and the rest of the year brings opera productions, visiting ballet companies, jazz and the great names of classical music. If you are planning an evening there, book early. Popular productions sell out quickly.

By day, culture belongs to the park. Along the Lichtentaler Allee, Baden-Baden's famous promenade, the museums line up one after another. The best known is the Museum Frieder Burda, a light-filled building placed in the parkland by the New York architect Richard Meier and fondly called the "jewel in the park" by locals. It shows modern and contemporary art in temporary exhibitions of international standing.

The Allee itself is more than just the way to the museum. The walk beneath old trees along the Oos is one of the finest urban walks in southern Germany. It costs nothing, is fully accessible and looks different in every season.

The neoclassical Kurhaus is the social heart of the town, home to the legendary Casino, whose opulent halls can be visited on morning guided tours, with no need to place a bet.

In summer the programme moves outdoors. At the bandstand in front of the Kurhaus, orchestras and bands play with free admission, and there are matinees and chamber concerts in special settings around the town. Culture in Baden-Baden is not a question of budget. Between an open-air concert and a gala evening, the only question is what you are in the mood for.

The logistics are straightforward. Via the Schwarzwaldhochstraße or through the Murg valley, Baden-Baden is about an hour away. The drive there over the heights is the more scenic, the drive back through the valley the quicker. For evening performances it pays to plan parking and a restaurant in advance. Many guests combine the performance with an early dinner in the old town.

And then comes the best part of the evening. While concertgoers in the big city sit in traffic after the final applause, you drive back through the night-time Black Forest to the quiet valley, with the music still in your ears.