Bad Staffelstein
The Eden Treasure:
There is a place in Franconia that – quite objectively – fulfils almost all wishes for a dream holiday destination: Bad Staffelstein. The historical town at the Upper Main scores highly with a rich historical background, world-class sights, one of the most beautiful nature landscapes in the whole country and also as a health spa and wellness location with Bavaria’s hottest and strongest thermal salt water.
Triumvirate
Bad Staffelstein is located right in the middle of the “Gottesgarten am Obermain” (the Upper Main Eden). To the left stands the splendid Banz Abbey, built by the Dientzenhofer brothers, on the spur of a hill, to the right the radiant baroque pilgrimage church Vierzehnheiligen (the church of the Fourteen Holy Helpers), Balthasar Neumann’s famous masterpiece from the 18 th century. Each year, thousands of believers pray for the advocacy of the 14 Helpers in the unique basilica. Between the two impressive structures runs the region’s lifeline, the Main, and above everything, the striking Staffelberg mountain rises up, where once a Celtic oppidum stood. In his “Frankenlied” (“Song of Franconia”), Victor von Scheffel described the landscape wistfully as “the broad pasture divided by a shining stream” and longingly wished that he could grow wings: “Ich wollt’, mir wüchsen Flügel”.
Adam Riese
In 1492, at the transition of the middle ages to the modern era, Bad Staffelstein’s most famous son was born: Adam Ries(e), the proverbial master of arithmetic and mathematics. His arithmetic books gave ordinary people an understanding of the meaning and application of mathematics in many areas of everyday life.
Wellness Centre
In the modern wellness centre, Bad Staffelstein shows a completely
different side of itself. Here, health-conscious visitors discover the multiple
award-winning Obermain Therme thermal baths with the hottest and strongest
thermal salt water in Bavaria. The unique combination of different minerals is
extraordinary, the minerals in the water surpass almost one hundredfold the
minimum value for recognition as spa water. Almost 3,000 m² water surface,
divided into 25 indoor and outdoor pools and a natural lake, as well as the
15,000 m² SaunaLand sauna are waiting to be discovered. The finest wellness pleasure
awaits visitors in SaunaLand, which was awarded with five stars as a premium
sauna by the German Sauna Association.
Spa Park
A true home of relaxation is the adjacent spa park. Here, visitors can take a walk and breathe in the quality Bad Staffelstein salt water which has been converted to steam in the graduation house – a real treat for lungs and the respiratory tract. In the summer, concerts and performances on the idyllic lake stage and in the small bridge theatre, surrounded by green, allow for carefree cultural pleasure.
Leisure Time
Cyclists and hikers enjoy to the full the gentle hilly landscape of the Upper Main valley on our perfectly marked pathways – including the Mainradweg (the bikers’ route on the Main), which has been recognized as a quality route – and experience again and again the overpowering view of the “Staffelstein Triumvirate” of the Staffelberg mountain, Banz Abbey and the Pilgrimage Basilica of Vierzehnheiligen (the Fourteen Holy Helpers). In Summer, visitors are invited to bathe in the Blue Flag-accredited lake. Beyond this, there are also opportunities to sail, surf and fish in another lake and to canoe in the Main. In the Aqua Riese waterpark you don’t have to rely on the weather and have a perfect destination for sport, play and fun in the water. And the forest climbing park beyond Banz Abbey is a special challenge for both children and adults.
Indulgence
Even in Franconia, the strip of land with Europe’s greatest concentration of breweries, it is extraordinary: no fewer than ten (!) breweries in the municipal area of Bad Staffelstein in the Upper Main valley compete for the favour of beer lovers. Most of them are small house breweries, which brew their smooth beer only to sell in their own pubs and beer cellars – but of a high quality and with an unsurpassable variety of tastes, which can only be brought about through careful craft and the love of pleasure. Guests enjoy the beer in rustic restaurants and beer gardens – preferably along with Franconian dishes and hearty snacks. And the honest, handmade specialties of the local bakeries and butchers such as homemade sausages and bread from wood-fired ovens are in a class of their own. Simply typically Franconian.