Gasteiner Heilstollen

Snapshot

Former gold mine tunnels in Böckstein, at the end of the Bad Gastein valley, now used for radon thermal therapy. Visitors enter the mountain by small train. Medically recognised since the 1940s. Nothing else in the Alps is quite like it.

The Story

The Gasteiner Heilstollen started as a gold mine. At some point in the early 20th century, miners working deep in the tunnels began noticing that their joint pain improved after long shifts underground. The warmth, the humidity, the radon gas seeping from the rock: something in the combination was doing something to the body.

Since the 1940s the tunnels have been operating as a formally recognised therapy centre. Patients arrive on small train carriages that carry them into the mountain, and spend timed sessions in galleries where the temperature holds between 37 and 41 degrees Celsius and the humidity is near total. The therapy is used for rheumatic conditions, arthritis, and chronic pain, and is prescribed under the Austrian, German, and South Tyrolean healthcare systems. A full course runs to 8 to 10 sessions.

None of this is unusual to the regulars who arrive from across Central Europe for treatment. To a first-time visitor from outside the region, the experience of riding a small train into an old gold mine deep inside an Alpine mountain, into warmth and near-darkness, is something that stays in the memory regardless of whether the joints feel better.

Individual visits without a medical programme are possible. Böckstein is at the far end of the Bad Gastein valley, approximately 90 minutes from Salzburg by car or train.

Visiting

Located at Heilstollenstrasse 19 in Böckstein, at the end of the Bad Gastein valley. Individual visits can be arranged without a medical referral; full therapy courses require prior medical consultation. Sessions last approximately 60 minutes. Admission charged. Bad Gastein is approximately 100 km south of Salzburg, around 90 minutes by car or direct train from Salzburg Hauptbahnhof. Check gasteiner-heilstollen.com for current booking details.