Obermain Therme

The Obermain Therme is a thermal brine bath in Bad Staffelstein in Upper Franconia. Its water was found on 7 August 1975, when a test drilling begun that May struck hot, strongly mineralised water in the Rotliegend at a depth the operator gives as more than 1,300 metres; the brine emerged at 52 °C with a nine per cent mineralisation. A published analysis of the source water lists 114,382.54 mg of dissolved minerals per litre, dominated by chloride and sodium. For bathing the brine is diluted with Keuper water drawn from 200 metres, to 3.5 per cent in most pools and 1.5 per cent in the activity pool. After a decade of provisional bathing in a temporary hall, the present building opened in 1986; the bath marks its fortieth anniversary in 2026.

The bathing hall and garden, marketed as the ThermenMeer, hold close to 3,000 m² of water spread over 25 indoor and outdoor pools plus a natural swimming lake. Indoors are a 270 m² vital pool and a 170 m² adventure pool with a grotto and swim-out channel, both at 34 °C, a 50 m² brine pool at 36 °C filled with the undiluted 12 per cent brine, a small warm pool and two whirlpools. A steam room at 45 °C, a second steam room in the therapy wing and a brine inhalation room adjoin them. Outdoors the vital and adventure pools are repeated at 34 °C, joined by a 375 m² activity pool at 28 °C, a cascade of three 20 m² whirlpools at 36 °C and Kneipp basins running at 3 to 14 °C.

The separate SaunaLand covers a wooded garden. Indoors are the Valo light bath, the Suola and Ruusu saunas and a steam bath; outdoors stand the Kivi, Nurmi, Suuri, Kelo, Järvi and Banja saunas, a wood-fired Maa sauna reaching 100 to 105 °C and a Sauna der Stille, together with a 127 m² outdoor brine pool at 36 °C and a jade-green natural bathing lake with a 540 m² swimming area 1.35 m deep. Three rest houses, a media lounge, a restaurant and a bar serve the area, which the Deutscher Sauna-Bund has certified at its highest five-star Premium grade.

The complex also contains a therapy centre with an ISO 9001 certificate, wellness and cosmetic departments and a motorhome park; a graduation tower in the adjoining Kurpark uses the same brine in the open air. The ThermenMeer opens daily from 8 to 21, the SaunaLand from 9 to 21, both until 23 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with admission ending an hour before closing.