Kristall Kur- und Gradier-Therme Bad Wilsnack

Graduation Tower and Salt Lake in the Prignitz

The Kristall Kur- und Gradier-Therme is located at Am Kähling 1 in Bad Wilsnack in the Prignitz region, and it is among the Brandenburg thermal baths with the best train connection: The RE 8 runs hourly from Berlin, and it’s about a five-minute walk from Bad Wilsnack train station. Those arriving by car can park for free directly at the facility. Before the entrance stands the landmark of the complex, a 50-meter long and 7.5-meter high graduation tower, over whose blackthorn brushwood the brine trickles down and atomizes into the air. It was the first graduation facility in Brandenburg, access is free, and a promenade with seating niches leads all around. The brine itself comes from its own source at a depth of 1,018 meters, emerges at 39 degrees Celsius, and contains about 16 percent salt, as well as iron and iodine. Bad Wilsnack was an important pilgrimage site in the Middle Ages, and the Wunderblutkirche still characterizes the town center today. The thermal bath is located on the outskirts, from where it’s not far to the Elbtalaue floodplains.

Five Brine Levels, Salt Lake, and Eight Themed Saunas

Inside, the Kristall Kur- und Gradier-Therme categorizes its pools by brine content: 1.5 percent at 34 degrees Celsius under a skylight, 3 percent at 35 degrees Celsius, 5 percent at 36 degrees Celsius, plus a whirlpool and a parent-child area. Outside, a current channel and a pool with twelve percent brine await. The actual centerpiece is the salt lake: 600 square meters of water surface, 24 percent brine from its own source, 30 to 32 degrees Celsius warm, colorfully illuminated, partly under a dome, partly open-air with a sand beach and loungers. The salt lake also holds a mini graduation tower over which brine trickles. The sauna landscape features eight themed saunas between 70 and 100 degrees Celsius, five of which are outdoors in up to 300-year-old alpine huts, mills, and granaries. The Mega-Sauna Dome can accommodate up to 200 people and offers panoramic views of the Elbtalaue floodplains. The sauna surcharge is 4.50 Euros for two hours, the daily rate is 5.50 Euros. Indoors, a fog cave and a salt steam bath, each at around 45 degrees Celsius, complement the selection, along with an Ottoman hammam. A meditation grotto with about five tons of precious stones is also part of the facility.