The largest modern thermal bath in the town carries its Roman name with deliberate intent. Opened in 1999 and named after the ancient bathing tradition that goes back to Aquae, the Römertherme Baden stretches across around 3,500 square metres of pools and wellness facilities, including a separate sulphur outdoor pool fed directly from the local springs. The most distinctive architectural feature is the central swimming hall, covered by what is reported to be the largest free-hanging glass roof in Europe, which floods the indoor pools with daylight throughout the year. The water itself comes from the Marienquelle, drawn from a depth of around 1,000 metres and emerging naturally at a temperature of around 35.3 degrees Celsius. A whirlpool, attraction pool, sports pool, and dedicated children’s pool round out the indoor offer, while the sauna and steam bath area includes a Finnish sauna, an outdoor pine sauna, a Roman steam bath, and a bio sauna with colour therapy.

A few minutes’ walk from the Römertherme stands one of the most distinctive spa buildings in Lower Austria. The Thermalstrandbad Baden is an Art Nouveau bathing complex that opened in 1926 to combine elegant architecture with the open-air bathing culture that became fashionable in the early twentieth century. The building combines indoor and outdoor pools, a wave pool, sulphur-fed thermal water, and one of the largest sand beaches at any inland bath in central Europe, all set within the carefully composed framework of a Wiener Werkstätte-style complex. The site forms part of the wider UNESCO designation of Baden as one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe, and the nostalgic feel of the changing cabins, deck chairs, and shaded pavilions still gives the place a quietly cinematic atmosphere on warm summer days.

A short walk west of the Kurpark, the gentle slope of Doblhoffpark opens out into a separate landscape garden built around a small lake, a Baroque villa, and a remarkable rose collection. At its centre lies the Rosarium Baden, one of the largest rose gardens in Europe, with around 30,000 individual rose plants representing more than 800 different varieties. The main bloom falls between mid-May and late June, when the parterres glow in countless shades of red, pink, apricot, yellow, and white, all carefully labelled for visitors interested in the history of rose cultivation. The annual Baden Rose Days (Badener Rosentage) in June and the autumn rose festival together draw enthusiasts from across central Europe. The lakeside paths and the surrounding villa park offer a quieter, more contemplative counterpoint to the busier corners of the spa centre.

Tucked into a quiet residential street in the centre of Baden stands one of the most evocative musical pilgrimage sites in Austria. Beethoven House (Beethovenhaus Baden) is the house in which the composer spent his summers in 1821, 1822, and 1823 while completing what would become the Ninth Symphony, including the Ode to Joy finale. Beethoven came to Baden repeatedly across the last decade of his life in the hope that the local sulphur baths would help his worsening deafness, and the rooms of the house have been thoughtfully restored as a museum dedicated to those summers. The exhibition combines original objects, period interiors, and modern multimedia presentations that explore his life in the town. Among the surviving Beethoven traces in his own handwriting is the quietly affectionate line, I would never have thought that I could be as lazy as I am here, written in a letter from Baden, which has since become almost a motto of the town.

The civic and cultural heart of the spa town is the Kurpark Baden, the wide spa garden that climbs gently up the slope above the centre. Long walking paths wind past a delicate music pavilion, ornamental flowerbeds, classical sculptures, towering plane and chestnut trees, and the Beethoven Temple, a small classicist rotunda that looks out across the rooftops of the town. The summer concert season at the music pavilion is one of the longest running open-air programmes of its kind anywhere in Austria. At the foot of the park, the Casino Baden occupies the imposing former Trinkhalle, a Drinking Hall building from 1886 originally built for spa guests to take the waters. The site of the building stands above one of the strongest sulphur springs in town, and the elegant interiors have been converted, since the early twentieth century, into what is today the largest casino in Austria, with roulette, blackjack, poker, slots, a fine-dining restaurant, and a programme of evening galas, balls, and cabaret throughout the year.

Baden’s main railway station sits about ten to fifteen minutes’ walk east of the historic centre, with the Hauptplatz, the Kurpark, the Casino, the Römertherme, and the Beethoven House all reachable on foot or by bike along largely flat, well-signposted streets. The Badner Bahn terminus at Josefsplatz is even more convenient, only three to five minutes on foot from the pedestrian zone. The historic centre is small, mostly pedestrianised, and easy to navigate, and the climb up through the Kurpark to the Beethoven Temple is gentle and walkable. Bike racks are available at the main station and along the central squares. Cycling infrastructure in and around the town is good, and the surrounding wine villages of the Thermenregion Vienna Woods are connected by signposted cycle paths for travellers wanting to extend their visit with a wine-region ride. For onward travel, the same lines connect back toward Vienna and the wider Danube region, so Baden works equally well as a one-day excursion or as a longer overnight detour from the EuroVelo 6.