Bad Gastein

Bad Gastein is unlike almost any other Alpine resort. Grand Belle Époque hotels and villas cling dramatically to steep mountainsides around a waterfall that crashes through the centre of town, creating something closer to a faded European spa city transported into the Alps than a conventional ski village. Its thermal springs attracted emperors, aristocrats and artists for generations, before many of its monumental buildings slipped into decline. That faded glamour has become part of Bad Gastein’s appeal, and a new generation of architects, artists and hoteliers is now restoring historic buildings without erasing their patina.

Food and drink are becoming part of that revival. Traditional Austrian inns and mountain huts still provide Kasnocken, schnitzel and Alpine comfort food, while younger chefs and independent restaurants are introducing a more contemporary approach to regional ingredients. Salzburg’s brewing traditions are never far away, but natural wine, good coffee and increasingly ambitious hotel bars and restaurants are changing the social landscape. Few things feel more Bad Gastein than an aperitif on the terrace of a grand old hotel with the waterfall thundering somewhere below.

Bad Gastein’s most interesting hotels are central to the destination’s extraordinary comeback. Belle Époque landmarks, abandoned sanatoriums and Mid-Century buildings are being restored and reinvented with contemporary art, bold interiors and a deliberately less conventional interpretation of Alpine hospitality. At DNA Hotels, we curate the places where architecture, food, history and mountain culture come together—hotels that capture Bad Gastein’s irresistible combination of grandeur, decay and creative reinvention, without turning it into another perfectly polished ski resort.