Bad Gastein

Bad Gastein was built on hot radon-bearing springs that were used from the Middle Ages and became fashionable in the nineteenth century, when the Gasteiner Ache waterfall crashing through the middle of the town was framed by grand hotels stacked in tiers up both sides of the gorge - a Belle Epoque resort with a genuinely dramatic site, visited by emperors, Schubert, Schopenhauer and Bismarck. It declined hard from the 1960s, and for decades the largest hotels in the centre stood empty and decaying behind their facades while the ski area above kept the valley alive; the derelict grandeur became the thing people photographed. Since the late 2010s a substantial redevelopment has been reopening the central hotels. The Gasteiner Heilstollen, a former gold mine, is used for radon therapy.

History

Bavarian peasants settled the remote valley in the 9th century, field names in its highest parts point to Slavic Carantanian settlers too, and Gastein is first named, as Gastuna, in a deed of 963; it lived from alpine farming, gold mining and a trade route over the main ridge of the Alps, and in 1297 the indebted Bavarian dukes Otto III and Stephen I sold it to the Archbishopric of Salzburg. Around 1230 the minnesinger Neidhart von Reuental already sang of its hot springs, Emperor Frederick III and Paracelsus came to them, and in the 19th century the guests included Grillparzer, Schopenhauer, Schubert, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Franz Joseph, Empress Elisabeth, Wilhelm I and Bismarck, before the resort lost much of its fame from the 1960s and many old hotels stood empty (Wikipedia, Bad Gastein).

What to look for

• A waterfall through the town - the Gasteiner Ache falling between the hotels.
• Belle Epoque hotels in tiers - stacked up both walls of the gorge.
• Decades of dereliction - central buildings empty for years, now being reopened.
• Radon thermal water - the springs and the mine gallery used for therapy.

When to go

All year; winter for skiing, summer for walking. A day.

Things to know

Redevelopment means building sites and closures in the centre. Radon therapy is a contested treatment - the springs are marketed on health claims that are not settled. Streets are steep.

Nearby

Bad Hofgastein is down the valley; the Rauris valley and Hohe Tauern are west.

Key facts