There is a Mozartplatz in the small town of Bad Gastein, about an hour’s drive from his native Salzburg. There is a Mozart hotel, a Mozart bar and various other venues named after Austria’s greatest composer. This is quite interesting, considering that Mozart never visited this place. But his mother did it. Having lost her first two children, her doctors recommended that she undergo treatment in the famous spa town of Bad Gastein, and then she gave birth to little Wolfgang Amadeus. So, as they will surely tell you at Gastein, without them there would never have been Mozart. QED.
It was, of course, very common to receive treatment in a spa town in the 18th century; However, Bad Gastein’s offer was slightly different from the others. Spa towns are traditionally built around thermal waters, which are a combination of heat and minerals that provide health benefits and relieve pain. These waters are abundant in Bad Gastein (there are about 19 thermal springs here), but they have an unusual content.
Thermal caves, mined from gold and silver mines since Roman times, had been unexploited for some time when Hitler reopened them in the 1940s and something interesting happened. Instead of the fatigue you might expect from such a grueling job, the miners emerged from the caves each day feeling better than when they went in. Back pains, lung diseases and rheumatism disappeared. They even felt less stressed.
It turns out that intense heat (37-41°C) and humidity (75-100 percent) inside the Rad Hausberg Mountain combine with radon to create very beneficial effects. Isn’t radon radioactive, you ask? It really is. But the small amounts you are exposed to here stimulate cellular metabolism, reduce free radicals, and activate healing, anti-inflammatory messengers.
The results of a three-week course of treatment are, on average, reduced pain, anti-inflammatory effects and even reduced stress. All this comes from lying on a bed in the dimly lit, steamy cave known as the Gasteiner Heilstollen (healing tunnel) and sweating constantly for an hour.
Of course, Mozart’s mother would not go into the mountain. He would soak in the famous waters, which were carried through wooden pipes into wooden tubs, for a treatment known as balneology (bathing therapy). He wouldn’t be alone. The Archbishop of Salzburg undertook the treatment, as did Otto von Bismarck. Tsars, kings, Holy Roman Emperor, II. Francis, Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) all flocked here and of course they needed a place to stay.
The result is a town with a population of 4,000 that not only has the first railway station in the Alps (opened by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1905), but also exudes the rural Austrian architecture you can find in the mountains. In fact, Bad Gastein looks more like Salzburg or the Ringstrasse. There are no rustic wooden balconies here – but there are plenty of porticoes and columns, crystal chandeliers and lots of marble.
As the news spread, it wasn’t just the royal family who came to visit. Then came Schubert (later Gasteiner sonata for “the most intense landscape I have ever seen”). Thomas Mann, Einstein, Churchill and the Roosevelts arrived. Hearing that one benefit of the treatment was increased male potency (he also liked the idea of watery orgies in communal bathtubs), Sigmund Freud enjoyed a six-month stay.
The Shah of Iran had plans to buy the whole place. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle went and found the Reichenbach Falls as a way to escape Sherlock Holmes and his arch-nemesis Moriarty, inspired by the extraordinary waterfall that runs through the middle of the city.
Recently, waters and thermal caves have gained popularity again. One reason for this is that the treatment is now recognized and often funded by German and Austrian health authorities for around 10,000 people a year. The town’s oddities continue to attract attention.
Over the years, everyone from Shirley Bassey to Ludwig Wittgenstein, Gustav Klimt to Bruce Willis, Marlene Dietrich to U2 have made the pilgrimage. Wes Anderson was advised to take a look at the town’s Grand Hotel de l’Europe as inspiration for the Grand Budapest Hotel, while Hugh Grant is a regular visitor. He calls it Good Gastein. This seems to be true.
Fundamentals
Double rooms at the Hotel Bismarck in nearby Bad Hofgastein start from £294 per night, including all meals. The pool has its own spa area with filtered (Radon-free) thermal water and Radon baths using unfiltered thermal water.
Easyjet (easyjet.com) flies twice a week from London Gatwick to Salzburg from £67 return.
Anna Selby was a guest of SalzburgerLand (salzburgerLand.com) and Gastein (gastein.com)