Kneipp cure tradition

Bad Kreuzen: Golden moments in the Mühlviertel

It's getting more and more colorful! Clear air, soft light, a colorful landscape. It smells of chestnuts, acorns, mushrooms and moss. The forest, a feast for the senses.

(Bild: Getty Images)

Bad Kreuzen, located north of the Danube near Grein, boasts a centuries-old Kneipp spa tradition. Guests can expect refreshing and enjoyable hikes in Upper Austria's first hiking village.

Bad Kreuzen's most prominent spa guest is Anton Bruckner. When he visited the spa in 1867, he was a mental wreck. A lonely man who felt misunderstood. Bruckner has a compulsion to count. Whether windows on house facades, leaves on trees or chairs in halls. His doctor diagnoses a nervous disorder and prescribes a cold water cure. Otherwise Bruckner would go mad, he said.

Cold compresses, sour milk & a strict ban on work
At four o'clock in the morning, the patient is wrapped in cold, damp cloths. Then he walks to the nearby spring to drink plenty of it. Sour milk is served for breakfast. Bruckner is also strictly forbidden to work. The cure is good for him. He hopes to be cured. When he returns home to Linz, he is actually feeling better. But he would never get rid of his compulsion to count for the rest of his life. 

Upper Austria is Anton Bruckner's home. This year marks the 200th anniversary of his birth. The anniversary also brings the spa town in the Lower Mühlviertel back into the spotlight.

Hiking and Kneipp therapy - a boost for the immune system
Those who love cordiality without intrusiveness will also appreciate the atmosphere at the Curhaus Bad Kreuzen. It is the 1st Center for Traditional European Medicine (TEM). Here you can follow in the footsteps of one of the oldest cold-water spas in Europe and explore the charms of the Strudengau region by bike.

INFO

• Upper Austria Danube Tourist Board
  www.donauregion.at
  0732 77 72 888
• Austria's hiking villages
  www.wanderdoerfer.at
  04242 25 75 31
• Curhaus Bad Kreuzen: 1st Center for Traditional European Medicine (TEM)
  www.curhaus.at
  07266 6281

"TEM has been tested and practised for almost 3,000 years," emphasizes Friedrich Kaindlstorfer, Managing Director of the hotel. Well-known representatives include Hildegard von Bingen, Paracelsus, Rudolf Steiner and Sebastian Kneipp. Here in Bad Kreuzen, old methods have their place again: bloodletting, cupping, monastic medicine, medicinal plants, compresses, casts, baths and Celtic exercises.

Natural and wild Strudengau
So it is hardly surprising that guests set off hiking with a towel in their rucksack. On the Herzklopfen loop - 10 km from the Curhaus and back - hikers not only immerse themselves in the legendary, wild and romantic Wolfsschlucht gorge, but also in the Kneipp culture. In fact, Kneipp therapy is something of a boost for the metabolism and immune system. It promotes blood circulation and causes our body to produce more immune cells.

Numerous legends and myths surround the wild and romantic Wolfsschlucht gorge. The almost three-kilometer-long gorge of the Kasmüllerbach stream is located in the district of Perg.

(Bild: Tourismusverband Donau Oberösterreich Kuscheiart)

The coming year is also a reason to celebrate: Austria's hiking villages, experts in hiking vacations for 30 years and represented in almost all federal states, will be one hiking village richer. With the long-distance hiking trail, the 450-kilometre Donausteig, which runs along both banks of the river, the four hiking businesses, the Herzklopfen-Runde and the services, the Danube region with Bad Kreuzen was able to impress. Other criteria that were met: the hiking infrastructure with starting points, signage and hiking guides who regularly offer guided tours.

Here in Bad Kreuzen, you can even pre-order "Jausenpinkerln" snacks with regional delicacies and enjoy a picnic at a scenic resting place such as on a large stone in the Stillensteinklamm gorge. The gorge is an enchanting two-hour walk along babbling waters. Many families, couples and dog owners are out and about. It is particularly beautiful now, when autumn transforms the landscape into a colorful spectacle and gives us golden moments.