Bad Reichenhall

Salt springs here have been exploited since at least the Iron Age, and the town's wealth and its many fires both came from the industry. After a fire in 1834 Ludwig I had the Alte Saline rebuilt in a monumental Romanesque revival style, with vaulted marble halls underground housing the brine wheels and pumps, decorated as though they were rooms of state; the machinery is preserved and shown on tours through the tunnels. Brine is still processed in the town. A graduation tower, a wall of blackthorn brush over which brine trickles to concentrate and release salt into the air, stands in the spa gardens for open-air inhalation.

History

The earliest known people here belonged to the Bell Beaker culture, from about 2000 B.C., and organised salt production from the brine pools began in the La Tène period around 450 B.C., when there was also a Celtic place of worship at the Langacker; from 15 B.C to 480 A.D the town lay in the Roman province of Noricum, and the monastery of St Zeno was founded in 1136. In 1617-1619 a wooden brine pipeline 31 km long was built to Traunstein, climbing more than 200 m. A great fire in 1834 destroyed two thirds of the town, tourism began in the early 19th century, Reichenhall became Bad Reichenhall in 1890, the Predigtstuhl cable car opened in 1928, and in 2001 it was named Alpine Town of the Year (Wikipedia, Bad Reichenhall).

What's there

• The Alte Saline - vaulted underground halls with preserved brine machinery.
• The 1834 rebuild - industrial works dressed as monumental architecture.
• The graduation tower - brine trickling over brushwood in the spa gardens.
• The brine tunnels - passages cut to carry water through the rock.

When to go

April to October; the saltworks tours run year-round with reduced winter hours. The spa gardens are open all year. The town is a base for the Berchtesgaden area.

What to expect

The saltworks is seen only on a guided tour and it is cool underground. The modern spa town is otherwise ordinary. Tours can book out in summer.

Nearby

Berchtesgaden lies south; Salzburg is northeast across the border.

Key facts