Bad Kissingen

I had my bathing suit with me just in case, even though I was visiting Bad Kissingen only for 3 hours between trains around noon in late August. 

The first thing you might want to know about Bad Kissingen is that it is located in the state of Bavaria, under whose auspices this town has developed. 

From the train station I walked north and first came across Wandelhalle. The main feature of this structure is the 90 meter long space (See Hubert's left photo), part of which also dabbles as a concert hall. To the side of this space in Wandelhalle is Brunnenhalle, with Rakoczy Spring, a spa water drinking facility.

To the directly north of this Wandelhalle is a rather small Kurgarten, where outdoor concert can also be held.

To the west of Kurgarten is Arkadenbau, which is also interconnected with Wandelhalle to the south and Regentenbau to the north. Arkadenbau is the oldest structure of the three, seit 1838, and today houses a large info center where I found a free, round souvenir badge (lower right photo). I was happy to find this and put it on my shoulder bag. It proclaims "Great Spas of Europe, We are World Heritage! Bad Kissingen," and also lists all names of the other 10 great spa towns. Arkadenbau also houses a concert hall called Rossini Saal. Rossini seems to be the best known composer associated with Bad Kissingen.

Today Regentenbau is accessible to anybody who pays 7 Euros entrance fee. The main feature of Regentenbau is yet another concert hall called Max Littmann Saal, named after the architect of Regentenbau. Both sides of this concert hall are lounge areas, called Grune Saal (Green Room) (See Hubert's right photo) and Weiss Saal (White Room). Grune Saal is probably best known of them all, and its Art Nouveau column is the symbol of the city of Bad Kissingen.

After admiring Regentenbau I decided to cross the river and walk through Luitpold Park back to the train station.

Walking through the large Luitpold Park, which seems to me the real Kurpark of Bad Kissingen, I came across a large structure called Luitpoldbad. As it turns out, the Neo-Resaissance Luitpoldbad (Top photo) was once the largest spa building in the world. (I asked myself which spa building had surpassed this, and the Széchenyi Bath in Budapest came to mind.) The north side of the building, originally Kursaal, today houses Spielbank (Casino). The rest of the building is nowadays mostly used for different purposes from the original purpose as a spa, but you can still see the relics from the bygone era. One of them is the striking Art Nouveau Grune Tressenhaus (Green Staircase) (lower left photo). Right by this staircase is one of the 236 bathing cabins with a wooden bathtub with heating mechanism (lower center photo). There are also some exhibition rooms, at the end of which is another highlight Eckrisalit. According to a woman I spoke to at this structure, the spa facilities have lately been converting to offices because after the state health insurance no longer covered spa treatment, the popularity of spa in Bad Kissingen declined. Still, according to wiki, Bad Kissingen is the second most popular spa town in Germany even today. 

Across the town center of Bad Kissingen is supposedly Kurtheatre, which I did not have time to visit.

I didn't even have time for lunch, but I have to say what a surprising 3 hours it was.

A few days later I noticed that the badge had fallen off my shoulder bag and gotten lost. 

As I visited Montecatini Terme in Italy a few months ago, which is another surprising spa town, and Bad Ems a day after Bad Kissingen, I have by now visited all 11 Great Spa Towns of Europe WHS. I would be writing a review on each of them if I had more time.