Felsentherme Bad Gastein

As early as the Middle Ages, the springs of the Gastein Valley drew princes and nobility willing to endure the difficult journey into this remote Hohe Tauern valley. It was not until September 28, 1968 that the Felsentherme, Salzburg's first and highest-altitude thermal bath, officially opened its doors.

The water feeding its pools takes roughly 3,000 years to travel through the Hohe Tauern's deep rock layers before emerging from eighteen springs, picking up trace elements and the radon characteristic of this alpine bedrock along the way. Renovated in 2004 with a nine-million-euro investment, the Felsentherme now welcomes around 200,000 visitors a year beneath the surrounding peaks.