The Romans already knew about the hot sulphur springs at Baden, just south of Vienna, but it was in the early nineteenth century that the town became the summer playground of the Habsburg court. Emperor Franz I spent his summers here, and the aristocracy and the wealthy bourgeoisie followed, building elegant villas, parks and bathhouses in the Biedermeier style. Beethoven came to take the waters too, staying many times and working on his Ninth Symphony in a house that is now a museum. In 2021, Baden was listed by UNESCO as one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe, alongside Bath, Baden-Baden, Karlovy Vary and others.
Today, the spa still draws visitors, and the warm, sulphurous water, which smells faintly of eggs, is used in a large modern thermal complex. The town centre is compact and elegant, with a plague column, a theatre, a casino and the Kurpark, a hillside park with fountains, statues and a pavilion where concerts are held in summer. The town is surrounded by vineyards, part of the Thermenregion wine area, and the local Heurigen, rustic wine taverns, serve young wine, cold cuts and spreads.
The riding is very good. West of Baden, the Helenental valley leads into the Vienna Woods, with winding roads through forests and past castles, ruins and monasteries. The road to Mayerling, where Crown Prince Rudolf and Mary Vetsera died in 1889, and on to the Cistercian abbey of Heiligenkreuz, is popular with riders, with flowing curves and good surfaces. Further south, the Semmering pass and its UNESCO-listed railway offer more mountain riding. On weekends, expect plenty of other motorcyclists, cyclists and day-trippers from Vienna, and police speed checks.
Baden, with twenty-six thousand inhabitants, has everything you need: fuel, supermarkets, cafés, restaurants and hotels. Try a Wiener Schnitzel, a Tafelspitz, boiled beef with horseradish and apple sauce, or a slice of Sachertorte in one of the coffee houses. The local wines, Zierfandler and Rotgipfler, are rare white varieties found almost only in this region, and well worth tasting once the riding is done.