Bad Homburg: the spa town that gave the homburg hat its name

Bad Homburg is the town that gave the homburg hat its name, and, according to Wikivoyage's guide, a casino that inspired Monte Carlo's. It is a spa town just outside Frankfurt in Hesse, Germany, with a castle, an old town and thermal springs. The guide says it also has the highest per capita wealth of any German city today, and its motto is Champagnerluft und Tradition, "champagne air and tradition."

The Kaiser-Wilhelms-Bad in the Kurpark. Photo by Dontworry (CC BY-SA 3.0).

From market town to spa

The town was formally recognized as a spa only in 1912, which let it add "Bad" to its name; for most of its history it was just Homburg. Historic research shows it has existed since the late 12th century, as a minor noble residence and market town for most of that time. Mineral springs discovered in the 19th century changed that, and spa facilities and a casino were built in the 1840s. The guide says the Homburg casino directly inspired the one in Monte Carlo, which the Monegasque prince ordered built "in the German style."

The rich and famous came, and the German imperial family made the town its summer residence and invited many relatives, among them Edward VII of the United Kingdom. The guide says Edward bought a simple, versatile felt hat in Homburg that left a lasting influence on men's fashion, and it came to be named after the town.

The Kurpark

The guide calls the Kurpark, a large park near the center, the main attraction. It has mineral water fountains, monuments, the Kaiser-Wilhelms-Bad, a small golf course, the casino, a big pond and a garden for blind people. The Kaiser-Wilhelms-Bad, a palatial therapy house, was built between 1887 and 1890. In front of it the Kaiserbrunnen, known as "Der Sprudel," bubbles up in a pit; its acidulous sodium chloride water is fizzy and used for both bathing and drinking. Other springs have different characters, and the guide says one, the "sulfur spring," tastes and smells bad enough that only die-hards drink from it.

The older Thai-Sala. Photo by Zairon (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Two Thai pavilions stand in the park. The first Thai-Sala, or Siamese Temple, was inaugurated on May 22, 1914, in the presence of Prince Mahidol of Siam, and in 2007 King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit gave the town a second one. A Russian Chapel, built in 1896 for Russian spa guests who wanted an Orthodox church, stands nearby.

The Russian chapel. Photo by Alexander Hoernigk (CC BY 3.0).

The guide suggests walking through the Kurpark in one direction and along Louisenstraße, a long pedestrian shopping street about 700 meters long, in the other.

Castle, old town and beyond

The Landgrave Castle's White Tower is a remainder of an earlier medieval castle and the town's landmark. A small old town of half-timbered buildings lies near Rathausstraße, and from the Ritter-von-Marx-Brücke, whose western end has two attractive towers, there is a rooftop view of it. Museums include one on the history of the motorcycle brand Horex, which was headquartered in the city, and a hat museum in the Gotisches Haus, a hunting lodge that is an example of Gothic revival. The Hirschgarten is a game reserve with deer, and the Taunus Therme is a day spa.

The main gate of the Saalburg. Photo by Ekem (public domain).

Nearby, the Roman fort of Saalburg stands close to the Limes, the World Heritage Site that marked the border between the Roman Empire and free Germanic lands.

Getting there

Bad Homburg has no long-distance trains. Visitors take a local train or light rail from Frankfurt or its immediate surroundings: the main station is served by the S5 line and regional trains, and Gonzenheim station is the terminus of Frankfurt's U2 line. The town has a network of 24 bus lines, and day trippers from Frankfurt in groups of two to five may find a group day ticket cheaper.

Sources

• Wikivoyage, "Bad Homburg" (https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Bad_Homburg), by its contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; changed here: rewritten and condensed in hubnx's own words, with listings, prices, phone numbers, hours, maps and edit links left out. Photos, each under its own licence: Dontworry (CC BY-SA 3.0), Zairon (CC BY-SA 3.0), Alexander Hoernigk (CC BY 3.0), Ekem (public domain).