Badehaus Deutsche Eiche

Tucked away in the rear of the gay-iconic Hotel Deutsche Eiche and its restaurant [see entries] you'll find this extraordinary, labryinthine sauna with a 300-guy capacity. The vision of hotel owners Dietmar Holzapfel and Josef 'Sepp' Sattler, the Eiche opened in 1995, giving bathhouse sex a new lease of life following its decline during the grim height of AIDS among gay men. The venue has expanded continually, now on four floors and marked by a convoluted but rather sexy cat-and-mouse layout. Customers number more than 100,000 annually, but that seismic figure pales in comparison with the wowness of the fact that school groups of 14- and 15-year-olds have been known to visit (during off hours, of course) for educative and eye-opening views of glory holes, slings, private cabins and SM devices. This is the modern world. Other features include a Finnish sauna, a salt sauna, hot tub, solarium, tropical shower area, massage, roof garden and terrace (now extended), winter garden, porn rooms, a café-bar and more. Renovations happen yearly, with an extended relaxation area and more cabins introduced in 2016.