Heilklimastollen Bad Bleiberg

Useful Information

Location:	Thermenweg 7, 9530 Bad Bleiberg. Near Villach, at Austrian the border to Italy. A10 exit 172 Villach West, follow Tiroler Straße towards town center, after 1 km turn right, after 800 m turn right onto Bleiberger Straße, 7 km to Bad Bleiberg, 1 km more to Nötsch. A2 exit 364 Hermagor, B111 towards Hermagor, turn right after after 4 km through Nötsch Im Gailtal 5 km to Nötsch. (46.6277503, 13.6743618)
Open:	All year daily 8-17. [2007]
Fee:	Heilklimastollentherapie EUR 39. [2025]
Classification:	Lead Mine Zinc Mine Speleotherapy
Light:	Electric Light
Dimension:	T=8 °C, H=100 %.
Guided tours:
Photography:	erlaubt
Accessibility:	ja
Bibliography:
Address:	Vivea 4* Hotel Bad Bleiberg, Thermenweg 7, 9530 Bad Bleiberg, Tel: +43-4244-90500. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1333	first documented mention of Bleiberg as a lead ore mining area.
1487 to 1495	oldest mining regulations for Bleiberg.
1951	Thermal water intrusion in the Rudolf pit.
1962	Completion of a pumping station at the Franz Josef tunnel to the surface.
1969	Thermal baths opened.
1978	Bleiberg officially granted the suffix 'Bad' (spa).
1993	Thomasstollen tunnel expanded and used as a therapeutic tunnel.
22-NOV-2003	Kurzentrum Bad Bleiberg (health resort) opened.
2014	Thermal bath closed due to continuous losses.
2021	Renovation of buildings and facilities by Vivea Hotels completed.

Geology

The Erzberg in Bad Bleiberg on the sunny side of the Bleiberger Hochtal valley stretches 10 km from Bleiberg-Kreuth and Kobesnock in the west to Kadutschen and Spitzeck in the east. It is part of the Gailtal Alps, which consist of a section of the Eastern Alpine limestone cover systems, a remnant that was not pushed northwards to form the Northern Limestone Alps. The deposit consists mainly of zinc blende and galena, a sedimentary Pb-Zn mineralisation in Triassic Wetterstein limestone.

Description

The Heilklimastollen Bad Bleiberg (Bad Bleiberg therapeutic climate tunnel) is a tunnel in the former lead mine, because, as the name Bleiberg suggests, lead was mined here in various mines. Another name is Heilklimastollen Rudolfsschacht (Rudolfsschacht therapeutic climate tunnel), Heilstollen Thomas (Thomas therapeutic tunnel) or, most recently, Vivea Gesundheitshotel Bad Bleiberg. However, this tunnel has been used for speleotherapy for decades. As early as 1993, after mining ceased in Bleiberg, the Friedrich and Thomas tunnels were developed and used as speleotherapy tunnels. Here, below the Rudolf shaft, it was the Thomastollen. Above it, the Kurzentrum Bad Bleiberg (Bad Bleiberg Health Centre) was built, a four-star hotel with 324 beds. What makes it special is that the tunnel can be reached from the hotel by lift. The health centre thus offered accommodation, wellness, various therapies and more. The so-called Höhlenkur (cave cure) included care by specially trained staff, including training in the tunnel for proper breathing.

The health centre now belongs to the Vivea Hotels, a chain of 10 hotels in Austria that primarily offer wellness and medical treatments. It is unclear exactly when they took over the hotel from the Kurzentrum, but they seem to have invested several million euros in the renovation, which was completed in 2021. Under the name Vivea Gesundheitshotel Bad Bleiberg, a complete wellness and health programme is offered. This includes massages, baths, nutrition, body wraps & wraps, gymnastics & workouts, electrophysical treatments, inhalations, whole-body cold therapy at -110 °C and more. The hotel also has a thermal bath fed by thermal water from the nearby Rudolfstherme. The thermal spa was established following a water ingress into the mine in 1951, the water being thermal water from deep underground. Soon afterwards, a pump line was constructed, followed by thermal baths, and the designation Bad Bleiberg. However, baths are expensive and later the municipality had to contribute a six-figure sum each year, which ultimately led to its closure. The thermal baths were sold for €1 to BLEIB BERG F.X. Mayr Retreat, which built a new wellness centre on the site. This shares the thermal water with the Vivea Health Hotel. However, as competitors, they are not allowed to use the healing tunnel and must instead use the Friedrich healing climate tunnel, 1.5 km away.

This is not a show mine, but exclusively a tunnel for speleotherapy, and it is not possible to visit this mine except for therapeutic purposes. The business model seems to be that you book a hotel room for a certain period of time, preferably one or more weeks, and then the doctor persuades you to recommends treatments. To our knowledge, it is possible to book a one-off visit, but this is not made easy. Furthermore, nothing is explained to you; the visit focuses on the therapeutic effect. Nevertheless, it is a historic mine that can be visited by tourists and thus basically meets the minimum requirements for a show mine.