Bad Gastein

A spa town strung along the upper Gastein valley in the Hohe Tauern, where the valley separates the Ankogel Group in the east from the Goldberg Group in the west. The centre stands at the Gastein waterfall, about a thousand metres up, among a set of grand hotel buildings. Bad means spa, and the name records what the place has always been. The Tauern Railway runs through the valley from Schwarzach im Pongau through its tunnel to Spittal an der Drau, which puts Vienna, Linz, Salzburg and Graz within a direct train.