The Story of Berneck’s Spa

Berneck lies in the valley of the Ölschnitz and the White River Main, surrounded by seven wooded hills, which protect it against harsh winds.
During the Romantic period, numerous noblemen, scholars and poets visited Berneck and added to its reputation – in addition to Jean Paul, Tieck and Wackenroder, previous visitors included Margravine Wilhelmine, Alexander von Humboldt, Nikolaus Lenau and Joseph von Eichendorff – all of whom were impressed by the idyllic and romantic town.

This caused the first wave of early tourism and alerted the citizens to a new source of income. Early tourists recognised the benefits of the town’s obvious attributes, such as the pure air, unspoilt nature and the grazing goats, the source of wholesome whey.

In 1857 Berneck became known as the “whey and herbal spa”. The number of spa guests rapidly increased and so there was a constant expansion of the facilities and services available in the town. The generous endowment in 1898 by the entrepreneur Wilhelm Rother was of great importance for the further development of the town’s health industry. A former spa guest and a Kneipp enthusiast, Rother bequeathed the town more than half a million gold marks, to be invested into the town’s spa facilities after his death.
These funds helped finance the building of a new, larger spa centre and a new colonnade.
Rother’s dream – the introduction of the Kneipp cure in Berneck – was only fully realised by 1930.
With the opening of the municipal Kneipp baths on May 25, 1930, began an important period in Berneck’s spa industry. Very quickly, many Kneipp centres opened, in parallel with the construction of new clinics and guesthouses.

American troops arrived in April 1945, at the end of the Second World War, without hostilities, and the infrastructure remained virtually intact. Quickly the Kneipp cure came back on track, and in 1950, the town was awarded the title “Kneipp spa”.
This was and is Bad Berneck today, still the only spa town of its kind in northern Bavaria.