Travellers' checks
Bare essentials
Germany will have its first 'comprehensively' nudist hotel when the Hotel Rosengarten, in the Black Forest hamlet of Freudenstadt, goes starkers. Local entrepreneur Frieder Haferkorn has announced he will convert the 32-room property into a safe and inviting retreat for naturists, of whom there are an estimated 250,000 registered globally. Guests will be required to discard their clothing on check-in (where will they keep their room keys?) and strict rules apply within the hotel's grounds; no clothing can be worn and no hanky panky is allowed in common areas. Germany has a history of nude tourism - nudist-friendly villages on the German-Swiss border have proposed specially marked trails for bare hikers and, last year, a German travel company attempted to run naked charter flights to Baltic Sea resorts but was denied clearance. A date has not been set for the hotel's reincarnation but guests would be advised to wear their birthday suits for the occasion.
All together now
With natural hot springs and a 27-hole Vijay Singh-designed golf course nearby, the new Hyatt Regency Jing Jin City Resort and Spa, in Baodi, between Beijing and Tianjin, is part of a mixed-use development that includes 8,000 residential villas, equestrian stables, a university, a hospital and restaurants. The hotel has been modelled to resemble an ancient mythical palace, with minarets, archways and a moat. Two wings offer rooms with balcony hot tubs fed by the springs. The hotel also manages 10 mansions on the site, which come with butler service, saunas and whirlpools. A thermal pool complex is scheduled for completion in the spring. For details, visit jingjin.regency.hyatt.com.
Deal of the week
