Wellness in winter: Escape your everyday life in these thermal baths

It bubbles up warm from the earth, is mineralized, has a relaxing effect on muscles and joints, relieves rheumatism and allergies and stimulates the circulation: thermal water. Man has been using the healing power of water since ancient times. Nowadays in spectacular buildings designed by well-known architects. In addition to the great modern spa architecture, there are a variety of sauna options and spa treatments that guarantee one thing for every visitor to the thermal baths: they will feel more comfortable afterwards than ever before. Immerse yourself with us in the most beautiful thermal baths in Germany, Austria, South Tyrol and Switzerland.

Therme Bad Reichenhall: Float away from everyday life with alpine brine

At the southernmost tip of Bavaria, in the Berchtesgaden Alps, lies the town of Bad Reichenhall with 18,000 inhabitants – with the Rupertus Therme. This was opened in 2005 and is named after the patron saint of salt mining, Saint Rupert of Salzburg, which is only 25 kilometers away. The alpine brine, the local remedy, is fed directly from the salt works into the thermal baths and distributed to the active pools, the lounger pools and the steam baths. It cares for the skin, loosens muscles and joints and strengthens the immune system.

The 32 to 40 degree warm indoor and outdoor pools are divided between the “Therme & Wellness” and “Sport & Familie” areas and offer fantastic views of the mountains. In the integrated Laist salt center there are also treatments with Laist, the mineral-rich alpine brine mud. This helps with skin irritations, tightens and drains the tissue and strengthens the immune system.

• Opening hours: daily 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Tirol Therme Längenfeld: Aqua Dome in Ötztal

Futuristic building in the middle of the Tyrolean Ötztal: The Aqua Dome in Längenfeld is reminiscent of a UFO landing station due to its floating swimming bowls and a glass structure modeled on a mountain peak. In addition to the extraordinary architecture of the spa, there are twelve indoor and outdoor pools with 34 to 36 degrees warm water as well as a sauna world with its own sauna garden and seven saunas – including a loft, a gorge, an earth and a hay barn sauna. And of course the magnificent view of the mountains and glaciers of the Ötztal. In 2017 the Alpen Arche Noah children’s world was opened. Fun and action with the water fun park, slides with light and sound effects, play world, climbing and skill course and cuddle zone. Parents can relax carefree in the Aqua Dome, because childcare is included in the entrance fee to the thermal baths during the day.

• Opening times: daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. On Fridays, the thermal baths and sauna are open until midnight.

thermal bath Bad Aibling: dome architecture and moor ceremony

A mud bath for a good 200 years, a medicinal bath for more than 120 years, a thermal bath since 2007 and an allergy-friendly health resort since 2017: 60 kilometers south-east of Munich, the small Upper Bavarian town of Bad Aibling lures with its thermal baths – an architecturally exciting bathing landscape under eight domes. In this way, the beneficial effects of the thermal water can be experienced in different pools and basins – to the sounds of ethereal underwater music. The feel-good program includes various saunas, including a houseboat sauna on the Driftbach, as well as various steam baths, a hammam, indoor and outdoor whirlpools, infrared cabin and health therapies with local natural moor.

There are daily moor ceremonies in the moor dome steam bath, for which you have to register in advance with the sauna master. During the wellness treatment, thermal bath guests rub themselves in with moor. The moor components clay, sand, ash and earth create a peeling effect which, in combination with the humic acids, makes the skin soft and tender. For allergy sufferers, there is a graduation house in the spa garden, whose fine brine mist cleans the respiratory tract – and has a beneficial and healing effect.

• Opening hours: Monday to Thursday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. to 10.30 p.m., Saturday 9.30 a.m. to 10.30 p.m., Sunday 9.30 a.m. to 10 p.m

Therme Meran: connection with the South Tyrolean nature

Purist design made of glass, steel and wood: In 2005, the architect Matteo Thun from neighboring Bozen, who has been showered with design awards, placed an eye-catcher in the middle of the city center of Meran. The thermal bath is not only a visual delight, but also scores with adventure pools (15 indoor pools and ten outdoor pools in summer), spa and vitality center, saunas, steam baths (including the new South Tyrolean honey steam bath), fitness center, sports pool and one Thermal circuit with water lily pond in the park. And of course the panoramic view of the mountains of the Texel Group, the 2581 meter high Ilfinger and the Vigiljoch. The radioactive mineral water, which is used in the thermal baths for radon inhalations and radon baths, is also extracted from the latter.

The clinically tested mineral water is said to have a calming and pain-relieving effect, especially in the case of bone, joint and muscle diseases. People with varicose veins should be able to cure their vein problems. The thermal water is also said to have a positive effect on the respiratory tract and allergies. The connection with the South Tyrolean nature is also lived from the bistro to the treatments in the spa area: Mainly local raw materials are used such as sheep’s wool, grapes, apples, hops and malt. In the so-called sheep’s wool bath, the soft wool of the mountain sheep is placed on a water bed, on which the thermal bath visitor lies naked. Not only should rheumatic complaints be alleviated, but the immune system should also be strengthened.

• Opening hours: Monday to Sunday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

7132 Therme Vals: Ingenious miracle of space and light in Switzerland

Bathing reduced to the essentials, without artificial worlds of experience: more than 20 years ago, the Swiss star architect Peter Zumthor created a modern thermal bath from the old Vals spa complex in the Swiss canton of Graubünden – the 7132 thermal baths. Visually, it looks like a quarry from which blocks have been cut. The remaining blocks and the voids between them form the building. You have to imagine this unique, archaic-looking architecture something like this: Fifteen cuboids, each five meters high, up to five meters wide and up to eight meters long, form the thermal baths. 60,000 stone slabs made of Vals quartzite were used to encase the blocks. The roof panels are planted with grass and allow the exposed concrete blocks to blend into the landscape. Inside the blocks, visitors experience different encounters with the Vals healing waters.

In the pump room with the five stalactite fountains there is the Valser mineral water, which is considered a remedy for bladder diseases. A staircase leads down to the 35 degree warm sound bath in the pool area. The room, which is just three meters wide but five meters high, is also called the resonance room, spring grotto, rest grotto or grotto bath. The acoustics of the room are reminiscent of singing bowls and alphorns. The 7132 Therme is a miracle of space and light that has won 20 architectural awards.

• Opening hours: daily 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.