We wanted to spend two days in a wellness hotel somewhere between Berlin and Frankfurt relaxing in a pool and saunas. The wellness hotel network website took us to Bei Schumann to the east of Dresden, which we had wanted to visit some time. The last minute pricing was fantastic so a day later we arrived.
We had booked one of the larger suites and were allocated the 'moon suite'. It was huge and gorgeous. The lounge area is all the area behind the curved windows in the photo of the pool, with the bathroom window to the right. The fireplace in the centre of the room was a real one - such a pity it was early summer because an open fireplace is such a temptation. It's above a fireplace which I think measures a couple of metres across that was in a relaxation zone in the spa area on the floor below. The bedroom was in a romantic alcove behind the fireplace. The dining table sat six.
The hotel comprises a late C19 building, which now mostly houses the public facilities such as restaurants and bars, adjoining a recent, cylindrical extension where most of the rooms and the spa facilities are located.
Kirschau is a proper spa town. The local area produces spa drinking water as well. The hotel offers 12 saunas and we sampled all the ones that were available (some were in use for individual therapies). The variety was part of the pleasure. There was an indoor icy plunge pool in one of the unclad zones and an outdoor plunge pool as well. Plus swirl pools.
The rooms in the new part of the hotel are arranged in two upper levels around a core, the centre of which is a pool that's open around the clock. It's surrounded by canopied double lounge beds. Above rises a roof mimicking the Pantheon in Rome. Another pool is indoor/outdoor, surrounded by sun lounges, where we indulged in lying around, reading and enjoying a glass of wine.
There are several dining options: our choices moved from a simple, tasty, inexpensive buffet salad the first night to the excellent regional Saxon menu in the best of the hotel's restaurants the next night.
Dresden is a beautiful city and the old master gallery lived up to our expectations. But it's about an hour's drive and even more by bus and train, so it would be better to stop there before or after rather than during a stay at Bei Schumann, to maximise your time in the hotel and the surrounding area. The town of Bautzen that to the north (where one comes off the autobahn that runs east from Dresden into Poland) is very pretty for a short walk and we hear that hiking in the area is good.