Alpentherme Gastein

Bad Gastein in the Gastein valley of Salzburg province is one of Austria's most dramatically and spectacularly sited thermal resorts — a Victorian-era spa town clinging to the steep walls of an Alpine gorge, with the Gasteiner Ache waterfall cascading directly through the centre of the town in a display of natural power unique among European spa cities. The radioactive radon thermal springs, which emerge at 44–47°C from granite deep in the Hohe Tauern National Park, are among the most storied in the Alps, long associated with relaxation and muscular comfort in a rich thermal tradition. The unique Heilstollen — abandoned gold mine tunnels where visitors breathe radon-bearing warm air — offers an experience found nowhere else in Austria. The Belle Époque grand hotels on their vertiginous terraces, the dramatic mountain scenery and the skiing of the Gastein circuit make this one of the most extraordinary and atmospheric thermal destinations in all of Europe.