A Daytrip To Bad Homburg vor der Höhe – A Guide For Culture Lovers
A classic spa town with springs to sample and an old town to wander, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe makes an excellent daytrip from Frankfurt or further afield.
A Daytrip to Bad Homburg
On a recent(ish) trip to Germany – my second for the year after Berlin – I stayed in the suburbs of Bad Homburg. Or Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, to give it its full name. It wasn’t my first time in this part of the world, but on each visit I so much enjoy a daytrip into Bad Homburg that I wanted to share my experience with you, dear readers.
Bad Homburg vor der Höhe is one of Germany’s wealthiest towns, in one of its wealthiest regions. But why? Well, proximity to Frankfurt, Germany’s financial centre, is one obvious reason. But it goes back further than that, and that mouthful of a name gives us a clue:
Bad = Bath (as in there are mineral springs here)
Homburg = the town’s name before the extra bits were added
vor der Höhe = in front of the heights
So a spa town in a nice mountain setting, in this case below the Taunus range. We’ll come back to the town’s history in a moment, but suffice it to say that attracting the wealthy and fashionable to its mineral springs was a big part of the town’s success. It’s not alone in this regard: there are other spa towns around Frankfurt and the Taunus region including Wiesbaden and Bad Nauheim. Each has its own character so would also make a suitable day trip.
But Bad Homburg has a few things going for it in this regard. Thanks to Germany’s good public transport system it is easily reached from Frankfurt, for one. It’s also fairly compact (if you disregard my suggestion below for an outing further afield), and walkable. And the large park with several mineral springs makes for a fun activity as well as a healthy one. We’ll look at that first after reviewing a little more of the town’s history.
A Short History of Bad Homburg *
*I’m going to use the town’s shorter name, by which it is commonly referred to, from now on.
One interesting thing about Bad Homburg is that it was settled twice. There was some Roman activity through to the early Christian period. And then a gap until the late 12th century. The Romans were here for the springs. The Limes Germanicus (Germanic Frontier) passed by close to here, and today constitutes a UNESCO World Heritage site. More on this soon. But the Romans definitely discovered and used the mineral springs in what is now Bad Homburg, including for salt production.
You might expect the town of Homburg to be centred on these springs. But it was not. It seems that, after a gap of a few centuries, people came back to this area but built, as wise medieval people did, on the hilltop instead of down on lower ground. There are some very vague earlier references, but the first confirmed mention of Homburg was in the Eberbach Chronicles around 1180, talking about Wortwin (or Ortwin) von Hohenberch as the town’s founder. A 12th or 13th century burnt layer underneath Bad Homburg castle confirms this date.
It was in the 19th century that Bad Homburg really came into its own (although it didn’t get the ‘Bad’ prefix until 1912). The Elisabethenbrunnen (“Princess Elizabeth’s spring”) was rediscovered in 1834. The first spa building and a casino were built by the Blanc brothers in 1841-42. Homburg got a railway connection to Frankfurt in 1860. The result of all this was a fashionable spa town, ripe for the 19th century leisure and tourism boom. It was a favoured spot for Russian nobility: the Tsar and his wife came here and laid a foundation stone for an Orthodox chapel in 1896. Kaiser Wilhelm II made Homburg Castle his summer residence. And England’s Edward VII popularised the Homburg hat. Other guests included writers like Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.
Spa Town
Having established the importance of Bad Homburg’s mineral springs to its Roman and current settlements, let’s take a look at them in more detail. What does it really mean to be a spa town, and what can you see on a day trip?
A spa is a developed mineral spring. And a spa town is a type of resort town where visitors ‘take the waters’ for their apparent health benefits. The Romans loved this sort of thing, and we’ve seen Ottoman examples in Budapest. In their current Western incarnation, Bath is an early example with aristocratic patronage from the late 17th century. Hydrotherapy treatments can include ingesting the waters or bathing in cold or geothermal spring water. Because there was such a 19th century boom, many spa towns feature architecture from this period, particularly large spa hotels. Nearby Bad Nauheim is a little later and primarily Jugendstil in architecture.
Bad Homburg is no exception. Its large spa building dates to the 1840s. It’s in the Kurpark (‘Spa Park’), a pleasant landscaped park. Here visitors will find several different mineral springs, all with different properties. You can drink the waters directly from the drinking fountain, or fill a bottle to take away. But take note of the maximum suggested daily limits! And we also found that water quickly oxidises away from its source, becoming discoloured and cloudy rather than fresh and clear. Many of the springs have a strong taste based on their mineral content.
If you do anything in Bad Homburg, go to the Kurpark. Taking the waters is a unique activity, and a lot of fun (if not always tasty). It’s also the best place to understand the town’s 19th century development. The Kurpark still today oozes leisured sophistication. You can imagine aristocrats and middle class social climbers spending weeks here, enjoying tennis and tea parties between treatments. Those who are so inclined may also want to try out the Spielbank (casino).
Old Town
As lovely as the Kurpark is, however, it’s not a daytrip to Bad Homburg if you don’t see the rest of the town. So let’s take a look now at what’s in the Old Town. Bad Homburg has an interesting layout, and is compact enough for the central sights to be very walkable. It’s at this point that the “vor der Höhe” of the town’s name comes back into play. It’s not in the mountains, but it’s not flat, either. Bad Homburg Castle is at more or less the highest spot, but the Old Town has a few hilly streets and different levels to make it interesting.
For a visit to the Old Town, I suggest starting with Bad Homburg Castle (Schloss Bad Homburg in German). This was once the residence of the local nobles, the Landgraves of Hesse-Homburg. One of them, Frederick II, replaced most of the castle in the 1600s, with more additions in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its White Tower is a landmark visible from the countryside around Bad Homburg. You can visit some parts of it, but it’s also home to the State Palaces and Gardens of Hesse and does have a somehow office-y feel.
From the castle, head downhill to explore the rest of the Old Town. There are the castle gardens, including an orangery. You may spy the Hexenturm, or Witch’s Tower, which makes a good next stop. You get nice views from the nearby bridge. As the focus of Homburg moved to its mineral springs, the many lovely half-timbered houses of its Old Town began to suffer from neglect and fall into disrepair. Luckily, the government eventually stepped in to purchase and preserve them. And a good thing too that all that history was not lost: for instance Rind’sche Stiftsstraße 16 dates all the way back to 1505. The best way to take it all in is by having a good wander around.
And it’s not quite the Old Town, but just behind Bad Homburg Castle you will find the Church of the Redeemer. It’s in a Romanesque Revival style with a neo-Byzantine interior, and dates to 1908.
Cultural Institutions in Bad Homburg
For a town with a wellness rather than a cultural focus, Bad Homburg doesn’t do too badly for museums and cultural institutions. You won’t be able to see everything on a daytrip, but I would suggest adding one to round out your itinerary.
I have already mentioned one institution you may wish to visit: Bad Homburg Castle. It’s not all open to the public, but what there is seems to be modern, and accessible in English. There’s a gallery introducing the noble family who lived here, and a journey through formative periods in history. Find out more here.
Nearby is the institution we chose for our day out in Bad Homburg, the Museum Sinclair-Haus. It’s part of the Stiftung Kunst und Natur (Art and Nature Foundation) so has thematically appropriate exhibitions. The house, built in 1708, was threatened with demolition by the 1970s because of its state of dilapidation. It opened in 1982 in its current guise, renamed after Isaac von Sinclair, a writer and diplomat who was born in the house.
There are one or two more museums, like the Automuseum Central Garage which displays cars and motorbikes. And we will read more about a trip out to Saalburg below. For a real outlier, I would propose getting a bus to Kirdorf and exploring the Kirdorfer Feld. A hiking area with great views of Bad Homburg and Frankfurt, it also has an Apfelbaummuseum, or Apple Tree Museum. If you weren’t aware, the seeds of every apple will grow fruit that is different than its parents. So preserving different varieties is a lot of work. Don’t expect any interpretation or an actual museum, but it’s very pleasant to walk around the small orchard on a sunny day and then take in the views from a park bench.
Getting Out: Roman Saalburg
Just before we wrap up in Bad Homburg, I would like to propose a short excursion for those who really want to get the most out of their daytrip. The excursion is to Saalburg, a Roman fort which was once part of those frontier fortifications we discussed back at the start. It is really not very far from Bad Homburg, and is the most completely reconstructed Roman fort in Germany.
The interest in, and professionalisation of, archaeology happened mostly in the 19th century. It was then that research on the Saalburg site began. Those early archaeologists were a confident lot, however, so had no issue when in 1897 Kaiser Wilhelm III ordered the fort’s reconstruction. What results tells us as much about 19th century scholarship and approaches to the past as it does about what Saalburg was like under the Romans.
The spot Saalburg is located in has always been part of trade routes and a strategic location for defence. No wonder the Romans built here. They started off with simple earthen enclosures around 90 CE, then a wood and earth fort for around 160 men. It continued to develop, before being deliberately abandoned in the 3rd century and subsequently used as a quarry.
There’s a lot of exhibition space here, with archaeological finds as well as reconstructions and a games room. Get here early (or book?) for the restaurant to try some Roman flavours and recipes! And have a look at the excavated vicus, or civilian settlement, outside the walls. This included a Mithraeum and extensive bath complex. Saalburg is a short drive from Bad Homburg, or there is a regular bus to take you there and back.
Final Practicalities
We’ve now looked at a lot of things to see and do in Bad Homburg. What else do you need to know before planning your own daytrip?
Firstly, how to get there. The S5 Strassenbahn (tram) from Frankfurt comes straight here, so is your best bet. And a dayticket, if it covers the right zones, will allow you to use local buses as well. Or the station is walkable from the town centre and Kurpark.
We haven’t actually spoken much about the town centre. There is a nice pedestrianised shopping street running through Bad Homburg. A nice idea would be to get some picnic food from Delicatessen Lautenschlager on Louisenstraße and head to the Kurpark. Or there are weekly market days, and nice Eiscafés (ice cream cafés) to sit outside in fine weather. If you want a more substantial meal, our top tip is Weingarten zur Reblaus with a hidden outdoor courtyard.
Whatever your preferences, or the time of year you visit, there is plenty to see and do in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe. From Roman history to 19th century water cures, from castles to art and nature, there is something for everyone. No wonder this pleasant spot has been popular for such a long time.