Bad Radkersburg

Radkersburg was a fortified town on the Mur, a frontier post against the Ottomans, and its centre survives largely as it was built - a market square with arcaded Renaissance and baroque houses, a town hall with a tower, the Hauptplatz plague column and stretches of the bastioned walls, restored over decades and given a European heritage award. The border cut through it: in 1919 the Mur became the frontier and the suburb on the far bank went to the new Yugoslav state as Gornja Radgona, so a single town became two in two countries, and the bridge between them was a controlled crossing until Slovenia joined Schengen in 2007. Thermal water was found in the 1970s and the spa is now the town's main business.

What you actually see

• An intact Renaissance centre - arcaded houses round the square and bastioned walls.
• A town split by a border - the far bank became Yugoslav in 1919.
• An open crossing - the bridge to Gornja Radgona, freely walked since 2007.
• A thermal spa - built on water found in the 1970s.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Honest expectations

The old town is small and quiet - the spa is what most visitors come for. South-east Styria is remote from Graz by public transport. Summer here is genuinely hot.

Nearby

Gornja Radgona is over the bridge in Slovenia; the Styrian wine road is north-west.