Bad Gastein (; formerly ''Badgastein''; Southern Bavarian: ''Bod Goschdei'') is a

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, B ...

in the district of

St. Johann im Pongau St. Johann im Pongau (''Saiga Håns'' or ''Sainig Håns'' in the local Pongau dialect, abbreviated St.Johann/Pg.) is a small city in the state of Salzburg in Austria. It is the administrative centre of the St. Johann im Pongau District. Geogr ...

, in the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n state of

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

. Picturesquely situated in a high valley of the

Hohe Tauern The High Tauern ( pl.; german: Hohe Tauern, it, Alti Tauri) are a mountain range on the main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian states of ...

mountain range, it is known for the Gastein Waterfall and a variety of ''

Belle Époque The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (; French for "Beautiful Epoch") is a period of French and European history, usually considered to begin around 1871–1880 and to end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era ...

'' hotel buildings.

Geography

Bad Gastein is located in the historic ''Pongau'' region, the municipal area of about is the largest in St. Johann im Pongau District. It stretches along the upper Gastein Valley following the course of the Gastein Ache creek, a right tributary of the Salzach river. The valley separates the Hohe Tauern Ankogel Group in the east from the Goldberg Group in the west. The town centre is located at the Gastein Falls, about above sea level. It is characterised by numerous historic multi-storey hotel buildings erected on the steep slopes. The Gastein municipality comprises the cadastral communities of Badgastein, Böckstein, and Remsach. Its southern parts belong to the Hohe Tauern

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

Transportation

The Gastein valley is accessible by the Tauern Railway, a major railroad running from Schwarzach- Sankt Veit in the north across the Alpine crest through the Tauern Tunnel to

Spittal an der Drau Spittal an der Drau is a town in the western part of the Austrian federal state of Carinthia. It is the administrative centre of Spittal an der Drau District, Austria's second largest district ('' Bezirk'') by area. Geography The town is located ...

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Bavarian group. Carin ...

in the south. Frequent

EuroCity EuroCity, abbreviated as EC, is a cross-border train category within the European inter-city rail network. In contrast to trains allocated to the lower-level "IC" (InterCity) category, EC trains are international services that meet 20 criteri ...

and

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

trains going along this route connect Bad Gastein with many Austrian cities like

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

and

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popula ...

along a single circuit. The ''B167 Gasteiner Straße''

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

also passes right through the Gastein valley. Through traffic from the northern branch-off at Lend in the Salzach valley passes the lower municipalities of

Dorfgastein Dorfgastein is a municipality in St. Johann im Pongau District, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Geography It is located on the northern entrance of the Gastein Valley within the Hohe Tauern mountain range, south of the broader Salzach Valley. ...

and

Bad Hofgastein Bad Hofgastein ( bar, Hofgoschdei) is a market town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. The spa town is located in the Gastein Valley, a large ski resort belonging to the Ski Amadé network. Geography The ...

before reaching the Bad Gastein centre. However, in Böckstein at the head of the valley, the continuation southwards to Mallnitz in Carinthia requires cars to roll onto a shuttle train (''Autoverladung'') for a short trip through the Tauern Tunnel.

Spa and therapy

The name "Bad" means "spa", reflecting the town's history as a health resort. The local ''Heilstollen'' (literally 'healing tunnel') thermal spring water earned the town its early fame. Theophrastus Parcelsus (1493–1541) had studied the

spring water A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust ( pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fresh ...

to discover its secrets.

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the fir ...

(1867–1934) and Heinrich Mache (1876–1954) helped to discover that it contained

radon Radon is a chemical element with the symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colourless, odourless, tasteless noble gas. It occurs naturally in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains th ...

and as a result

radon therapy Radon, a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, has been studied by a number of scientific and medical bodies for its effects on health. A naturally-occurring gas formed as a decay product of radium, radon is one of the densest sub ...

began in the town. Radon inhalation therapy at the ''Gasteiner Heilstollen'' began as a result of further investigation into the anecdotal experiences of silver miners who noticed improvements in symptoms from various ailments including arthritis.

Ankylosing spondylitis Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a type of arthritis characterized by long-term inflammation of the joints of the spine typically where the spine joins the pelvis. Occasionally areas affected may include other joints such as the shoulders or hi ...

(also known as Bekhterev's disease), in particular, has been claimed to see positive results from treatment at the Heilstollen. However, there is no empirical evidence of any benefit to inhaling radon. For example, one of the few studies to test the efficacy of spa treatments for ankylosing spondylitis found no statistically significant difference between a group that spent three weeks at Bad Gastein and a group that spent three weeks at a different spa without radon inhalation therapy. Claims of therapeutic benefits of radiation, beyond its application in radiotherapy, are considered

quackery Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, ...

by medical professionals. Bad Gastein Gasteiner Ache Wasserfall

History

The remote valley was settled by Bavarian peasants in the 9th century; field names in the highest-lying southern parts also denote a Carantanian ( Slavic) colonization. Gastein is first mentioned as ''Gastuna'' in a 963 deed, when the area belonged to the German

stem duchy A stem duchy (german: Stammesherzogtum, from '' Stamm'', meaning "tribe", in reference to the Franks, Saxons, Bavarians and Swabians) was a constituent duchy of the German Empire at the time of the extinction of the Carolingian dynasty (death of ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

. It was originally an alpine farming and

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface, ...

area and the site of an ancient trade route crossing the main ridge of the Central Eastern Alps. In 1297 Duke

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of ...

and his brother Stephen I, both highly indebted, sold it to the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg. Already about 1230, the minnesinger Neidhart von Reuental had referred to the

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

in his

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...

poem ''Die Graserin in der Gastein''; the spas were visited by the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

emperor Frederick III as well as by the Renaissance physician

Paracelsus Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. He ...

. In the 19th century the waters of Bad Gastein became a fashionable resort, visited by European monarchs as well as the rich and famous. Some notable guests of the past included Empress Elisabeth of Austria (''Sisi'') and the German Emperor Wilhelm I with his chancellor

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...

as well as

Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945 * * * * * * * * *) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperi ...

, a leading Indian nationalist, Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, King

Faisal I of Iraq Faisal I bin Al-Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi ( ar, فيصل الأول بن الحسين بن علي الهاشمي, ''Faysal el-Evvel bin al-Ḥusayn bin Alī el-Hâşimî''; 20 May 1885 – 8 September 1933) was King of the Arab Kingdom of Syria ...

, King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia and Iran's last king

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , title = Shahanshah Aryamehr Bozorg Arteshtaran , image = File:Shah_fullsize.jpg , caption = Shah in 1973 , succession = Shah of Iran , reign = 16 September 1941 – 11 February 1979 , coronation = 26 Octob ...

, industrialists like

Wilhelm von Opel Wilhelm von Opel (15 May 1871 – 2 May 1948), known as Wilhelm Opel before being ennobled in 1917, was one of the founders of the German automobile manufacturer Opel. He introduced the assembly line to the German automobile industry. His father ...

and artists like

Heinrich Mann Luiz Heinrich Mann (; 27 March 1871 – 11 March 1950), best known as simply Heinrich Mann, was a German author known for his socio-political novels. From 1930 until 1933, he was president of the fine poetry division of the Prussian Academy ...

, Robert Stolz and

W. Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

. On 14 August 1865 Bismarck had signed the Gastein Convention with Austria concerning the joint administration of the provinces of

Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...

and

Holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...

after the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...

. The composer

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...

composed his Piano Sonata in D Major in Bad Gastein, and was once believed to have sketched a ''Gmunden-Gastein Symphony'' ( D. 849) during his stay in August and September 1825. Though no score appears to have survived for the latter, it is often identified with the Symphony No. 9 in C major (D. 944). Mass

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

was pushed by the opening of the Tauern Railway station in 1905. From the 1960s on the resort lost some of its former reputation and many former hotels sit empty. Recently, Bad Gastein renovated its ''Felsentherme'' in 2014.

Places of interest

* * Catholic parish church * Gletschermühlen * Felsentherme * Gasteiner Heilstollen * Gasteiner Heimatmuseum im Haus Austria

Traditions

Bad Gastein has vibrant

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

traditions that have been slightly assimilated into Roman Catholic tradition. One example of the

pre-Christian Alpine traditions The central and eastern Alps of Europe are rich in folklore traditions dating back to pre-Christian times, with surviving elements originating from Germanic, Gaulish ( Gallo-Roman), Slavic ( Carantanian) and Raetian culture. Survival throug ...

is the

Krampus Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure in the Central and Eastern Alpine folklore of Europe who, during the Advent season, scares children who have misbehaved. Assisting Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus, the pair visit children on the nigh ...

, now adopted as one of the

Companions of Saint Nicholas The companions of Saint Nicholas are a group of closely related figures who accompany Saint Nicholas throughout the territories formerly in the Holy Roman Empire or the countries that it influenced culturally. These characters act as a foil to ...

. The Krampus is an elemental, horned and demonic character, playfully re-enacted by bands of male revellers during December and also once every four years during a

Perchten or (English: Bertha), also commonly known as and other variations, was once known as a goddess in Alpine paganism in the Upper German and Austrian regions of the Alps. Her name may mean "the bright one" ( goh, beraht, bereht, from Proto-Germa ...

event or Perchtenlauf. The Perchtenlauf happens every four years at Bad Gastein. The most recent was in 2014.

Climate

Bad Gastein has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

( Dfb) bordering on a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, g ...

(Dfc) due to the town's high elevation. Summers are mild, sometimes warm with cool, refreshing nights. Winters are moderately cold and snowy, with annual snowfall averaging 136 inches (345 cm).

Sports

Beside its water treatments, the town is popular for winter sports. Bad Gastein hosted the 1958 World Championships in

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...

and regularly is a scene of the

snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic ...

and boardercross worldcup. The Bad Gastein and Bad Hofgastein ski resort is part of the larger

Ski Amadé The Ski Amadé region of Austria is a network of 28 ski areas and towns that combined, make up the second largest ski area in Europe.largest ski domain is Dolomiti Superski It is named after the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who was born in t ...

network, with Gastein valley having 4 ski areas with over 200 kilometers of downhill slopes. Many establishments on the slopes offer warmth, food and strong drinks. Since 2007, the town also annually hosts the

Gastein Ladies The WTA Austrian Open is a WTA Tour affiliated women's tennis tournament held off and on from 1968. In the Open Era, seven locations hosted the event: Pörtschach in 1968 and 1999; Kitzbühel from 1969 to 1983 and from 1990 to 1993; Vienna in ...

tennis tournament, an International event on the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tou ...

, attracting top players like

Julia Görges Julia Görges (born 2 November 1988) is a German former professional tennis player. A former top-ten singles player, she was ranked as high as No. 9 in the world on 20 August 2018, and was ranked inside the top 15 in doubles, peaking at world No ...

Notable people

Franz Schubert by Wilhelm August Rieder 1875

Thea Hochleitner Dorothea "Thea" Hochleitner (10 July 1925 – 11 May 2012) was an Austrian alpine skier who competed in the 1956 Winter Olympics. She was born in Bad Gastein Bad Gastein (; formerly ''Badgastein''; Southern Bavarian: ''Bod Goschdei'') i ...

(1925–2012), alpine skier * Hans Eder (1927–2008), Nordic skier *Franz Xaver Franzmair (1901–1988) hotelier and builder, Freeman of Bad Gastein *Hermann Greinwald (1927–1990) doctor and mountain rescue doctor *Fritz Gruber (born 1940) local historian of Gastein alley and botanist *

(1797–1828) composed after a holiday in Bad Gastein the "Gasteiner Piano Sonata in D major, D 850 (Schubert)" *Karl Straubinger (1855–1924) mayor (1882–1917), freeman of Bad Gasteins *

Georg Thomalla Georg Thomalla (14 February 1915 – 25 August 1999) was a German actor. He appeared in about one hundred fifty film and television productions between 1939 and 2000 and was widely known in Germany for his comedic roles. Thomalla was well k ...

(1915–1999) German actor * Karl Heinrich Waggerl (1897–1973) author, freeman of Bad Gastein *Erwin Wexberg (1889–1957) individual psychologian, doctor, student of Alfred Adler *

Eckart Witzigmann Eckart Witzigmann is an Austrian chef. After his chef-apprenticeship in the Hotel Straubinger in Bad Gastein (1957–60), Witzigmann moved on to numerous positions in prestigious restaurants around the world, among others as a student of Paul B ...

(born 1941) Austrian master cook, freeman of Bad Gastein *Maria Zittrauer (1913–1997) lyrician, Trakl-Prize-winner 1952 *Fedor Ivanovich Shalyapin, singer,

Feodor Chaliapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; April 12, 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass v ...

Notes

References

External links

* http://www.gastein.com – official homepage
www.slopeseeker.com – An independent guide to skiing in Bad Gastein
* https://web.archive.org/web/20190822151847/https://www.gasteinertal.com/
Many pictures of Bad Gastein
* http://www.gasteiner-heilstollen.com * https://web.archive.org/web/20100421012723/http://gastein360.com/ – Gastein 360 panoramas, See Gastein and come to feel Gastein
Bad Gastein photo gallery
{{authority control Spa towns in Austria Cities and towns in St. Johann im Pongau District Ski areas and resorts in Austria Ankogel Group Goldberg Group Belle Époque