Bad Hall, Part II:
Imperial Spa Town Goes 20th Century
This development was accelerated in 1882, when the Kremstalbahn railway was opened. It linked Bad Hall with the World, drawing Viennese aristocracy such as Gustav Mahler, who gave his debut as a conductor at the Kurpark of Bad Hall in 1880. Bad Hall was a fashionable place, the fin de siecle loved spa towns and so what used to be a village in a remote corner of Upper Austria could rival jet-set towns like Bad Gastein, Bad Ischl or Baden.
WWI, the economic crisis of the interwar years and WWII led to a deep fall of Bad Hall. Only after 1948 the town gradually recovered. Initially by investing into modern spa facilities (spa tourism was now called "wellness" tourism in Austria and still goes by this odd Anglicism); later by consciously re-discovering the 19th century origins of Bad Hall.
Today, Bad Hall is a combination of historic spa town and modern wellness heaven; it has a reputation for being old-fashioned (but not as much as Bad Ischl) and more expensive than other spa towns in Austria. On the other hand, the facilities tend to be more classy and in exchange for families with noisy brats that prefer the Thermenland in Styria, you get the patina of Austria′s Imperial past (and a clientele that often looks like it had experienced it first hand).
Things to See in Bad Hall: The Main Attractions
In terms of sightseeing, Bad Hall has the attractions one would expect from a decent Imperial Spa Town: The Tassilo Quelltempel is a folly that was built around the oldest iodine brine spring, one of those mentioned in Kremsmünster′s documents of 777 A.D. The folly looks like a temple and the spring it houses is still used for the spa.
There is a Kurhaus (pump hall), the Landesvilla, the Musikpavillon (music pavilion for open-air concerts) with the matching Kurpark, the Stadttheater Bad Hall (theatre) and the so-called Forum Hall, a building that houses three museums: A town museum, a museum of doors (yes, doors) and a museum for crafts. Appropriate for a spa town, Bad Hall has several concerts during the warmer season. They are called Kurkonzerte and are produced by the local orchestra. Opportunities for sports include golf, swimming (obviously), hiking and tennis.
Attractions nearby Bad Hall include Kremsmünster, the towns of Steyer and Kirchdorf; the National Park Kalkalpen, the Traunsee region with Altmünster, Gmunden, Traunkirchen and Ebensee; Enns and further on Linz. The surroundings of Bad Hall are scenic and well suitable for hiking or walking. Getting to Bad Hall by public means of transport is relatively easy, train and bus links are well developed. Note that the main spa of Bad Hall has recently formed an umbrella brand, the "Eurothermen", to which the spas of Bad Schallerbach and Bad Ischl belong, too.
Return to "Bad Hall - Part I"
Back to: "Upper
Austria
Sightseeing Guide"
Sightseeing by Austrian Province
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Further Reading
Wikipedia on Bad Hall, Upper Austria
Official Website of Upper Austria
