Baden bei Wien

The Romans knew the warm springs as Aquae Cetiae or Thermae Pannonicae. It was recorded as Padun in a deed of 869, and in the 12th century the castles of Rauheneck and Rauhenstein were built above the Helenental. Baden received its town privileges in 1480. It was sacked by Hungarians and by Ottoman troops more than once but flourished again each time.

Its great age began when Emperor Franz I spent every summer from 1796 to 1834 here with his family, making Baden the court's summer residence; the aristocracy followed, Metternich took a house, and the emperor and his chancellor prepared the Congress of Vienna here in 1814. A fire in 1812 destroyed much of the town, which was rebuilt to plans by Joseph Kornhäusel and is still called the Biedermeier town. Archduke Charles built the Weilburg Palace in 1820–25, Beethoven stayed a number of times, and the railway between Vienna and Graz brought thousands of Viennese to take the waters.

By the First World War Baden was Vienna's main resort, receiving about 20,000 guests a year, double its own population, and it served as a temporary seat of the Austro-Hungarian high command. A new casino in 1934 made it the leading spa in Austria. The Weilburg Palace was destroyed in the Second World War, and from 1945 to 1955 Baden was the headquarters of the Soviet forces in occupied Austria. In 2021 it became one of the eleven towns of the Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Site.

Baden's culture is that of the spa and the summer court. The town was the model for the setting of Johann Strauss's operetta Die Fledermaus, and its theatre life still centres on operetta, staged in the municipal theatre of 1909 and, in summer, under the glass roof of the Sommerarena. The casino hosts balls, readings and concerts as well as the Ave Verum international choir competition, and since 2018 the town has staged an open-air photography festival with the French town of La Gacilly each summer.

Beethoven is the best-remembered guest. He stayed in Baden a number of times and spent the summers of 1821 to 1823 in the house in the Rathausgasse where he worked on the Ninth Symphony; his nephew Karl attempted suicide at the Rauhenstein ruin in 1826. The actress Katharina Schratt, Emperor Franz Joseph's confidante, was born in Baden.

Wine is the other strand. Baden is the centre of the Thermenregion's wine country, and the town keeps up long-standing traditions of folk dancing, town music, the singing wine growers and several local costumes of its own. Most residents are Roman Catholic, and the town's churches and feast days mark the year.

Baden had 26,097 inhabitants on 1 January 2026, and it is the administrative seat of the Baden district. It lies in the commuter belt south of Vienna, and many residents travel to the capital on the Southern Railway or the Badner Bahn, the tram-train whose terminus is in the town. The A2 motorway passes the town.

The spa remains central to the economy. Fourteen springs, between 22 and 36°C and rich in mineral salts, rise mostly at the foot of the Calvary hill and are among the most sulphurous in Austria. They supply the thermal baths and clinics that bring guests for treatment and recreation. Tourism, the casino, the theatres, wine and local services provide much of the rest of the town's work.

Life is unhurried by city standards. The Biedermeier centre is busy with shoppers on weekdays and Saturday mornings, the Kurpark and the Doblhoffpark fill on fine afternoons, and in summer the outdoor thermal lido and the theatres draw the crowds. The town council, elected in 2025, has 41 seats shared among six parties, with the ÖVP the largest.

Baden eats as the rest of Lower Austria does: Wiener Schnitzel, goulash, dumplings, roast pork with sauerkraut, and in the cafés apple strudel, Sachertorte and Kaiserschmarrn, a shredded, lightly sweetened pancake. The coffee house tradition of Vienna carries on in the cafés of the Biedermeier centre.

The town's own speciality is wine. It sits at the heart of the Thermenregion, the wine country along the Thermenlinie at the edge of the Vienna Woods, and its vineyards cover the slopes of the Hartberg and the hills around. Nearby Gumpoldskirchen is known for its wine, grown from varieties such as Zierfandler and Rotgipfler.

The Heuriger is where this wine is drunk. A grower opens a tavern for a few weeks at a time, hangs out a bush to show it is serving and offers its own wine with simple food. The singing wine growers and the town's other old societies keep the wine tradition alive.