Baden bei Wien

Baden's sulphur springs were used by the Romans, who called the place Aquae, and it became the summer resort of the Habsburg court in the early nineteenth century - Franz I came every year for three decades, and the aristocracy followed. A fire destroyed much of the town in 1812, and the rebuilding produced the coherent Biedermeier centre that survives: low painted façades, courtyards, the Josefsplatz and Hauptplatz, a plague column, and the Kurpark climbing the hill behind with the casino and the arena. Beethoven took lodgings here across fifteen summers and worked on the Ninth Symphony in the house that is now his museum. Baden is one of the eleven towns inscribed by UNESCO in 2021 as the Great Spa Towns of Europe.

History

The Romans knew the springs as Aquae Cetiae, and the settlement is recorded as Padun in a deed of 869; it gained its town privileges in 1480 and was sacked more than once by Hungarians and Turks. Members of the imperial family built villas nearby and Beethoven stayed in Baden a number of times, and after a fire largely wrecked the town in 1812 it was rebuilt to plans by the architect Joseph Kornhäusel. In 2021 Baden became part of the transnational World Heritage Site of the Great Spa Towns of Europe (Wikipedia, Baden bei Wien).

What you'll find

• A Biedermeier town centre - rebuilt after the 1812 fire, coherent and low.
• Sulphur thermal baths - the springs used since Roman times, still running.
• Beethoven's summer house - where he worked on the Ninth, now a museum.
• The Kurpark - the terraced park with casino and arena above the town.

When to go

April to October; the summer operetta festival runs in the arena. A day.

Before you go

The sulphur smell is noticeable near the springs. The thermal baths are a modern complex, not a historic bathhouse. Museums keep short hours and close on Mondays.

Nearby

Mayerling and Heiligenkreuz are west; the Vienna Woods run north.

Key facts