"Sanus per aquam" - health through water. Even the Romans knew about the healing powers of the thermal springs as they settled along the Rhine and on the slopes of the Black Forest. It was they who constructed the first baths to the south of Germany's south west mountain range. Today, the healing power of the baths does not come solely from the thermal springs and mineral water. The "silva negra" or "black forest" of the Romans is now adorned with health temples that the Roman tourists could not have even dreamed of.

Tourists visiting the Black Forest today find elegant thermal baths and saunas with sun-beds, beauty and wellness programmes together with massages and health applications from all over the world. Only the names stand to remind guests of the Roman past: Caracalla Springs in Baden-Baden, Vita Classica in Bad Krozingen, Cassiopeia Springs in Badenweiler. The Seven Valley Springs in Bad Herrenalb or Palais Springs in Bad Wildbad also form part of today's wellness temples in the Black Forest.

Thermal baths can strengthen the immune system, ease aches and pains and help to combat stress and nervous tension. The healing waters are often used in modern springs for various therapy cures, mostly as bathing cures but also as tonics. "Mens sana in corpore sano" as the Romans once said, or in English, "healthy body, healthy mind". Although no longer to be taken at face value, excuse the pun, it is nevertheless true that appearance and well-being go hand in hand. "Beauty" has never enjoyed such importance as we attach to it today. And not least for this reason, beauty plans including balanced and vitamine rich nuitrition programmes stand at the forefront in the wellness hotels.

Wellness has become a fashionable word. In the Black Forest, however, guests know what they can expect. The Black Forest is home to the "wellness stars" of Germany. In Baden-Wurttemberg 44 hotels have fulfilled the strict classification criteria, 34 of those are in the Black Forest. Most of them are four star establishments, six belong to the five star category. In order to qualify for a single wellness star, the hotel must have at least a three star rating. In a five star wellness hotel the guest can even expect to indulge himself in wellness facilities around the clock, independent of restrictions imposed by opening times.

But that's not all: The majority of thermal springs with wellness stars and the medical wellness resorts with wellness stars are to be found in the Black Forest holiday regions. More information about the qualification criteria and the hotels, springs and medical wellness resorts distinguished with the wellness stars can be found at www.wellness-stars.de

More information about relaxation health holidays in the Black Forest can be obtained from: Schwarzwald Tourismus GmbH (STG), Ludwigstr. 23, 79104 Freiburg, tel: +49 (0)1805/66 12 24, fax: /66 12 25 (charged at 12 cent per minute inside Germany)