Bad Überkingen

Bad Überkingen is embedded in the Swabian Alb with their white Jurassic cliffs and the dreamy valleys. Lying in the upper Fils Valley and surrounded by imposing growing beech groves and mixed forests, it offers an impressive nature backdrop and is an ideal destination for hikers who want to do something for their health.

History
Überkingen, which had been founded in the Alemannic times, belonged to the counts of Helfenstein in the medieval times. The Helfenstein area of influence reached from Wiesensteig through Geislingen up to Blaubeuren in the south and Heidenheim in the north east. In the second half of the 14th century, the Helfensteiners had to mortgage large parts of their domain to the mighty imperial city of Ulm.

At the end of the century, Überkingen belonged to Ulm and remained its possession until 1802 when it became Bavarian for a few years and then finally in 1810 became a part of Wuerttemberg. Ulm's famous doctors moved the council of the imperial city at the beginning of the 15th century to develop Überkingen to a spa location. A bathing house was built and spa operations were created which caused Michel de Montaigne, the French politician and moral philosopher, one and a half centuries later to place the "Bain fameux" Überkingen on the side of Baden-Baden.

The springs which are supposed to have been famous with the Romans have already been used in the 12th century and mentioned in documents for the first time in 1415. In 1928, Überkingen was granted the title of "Bad" and in 1971 the first mineral thermal movement bath in the region was opened. Thus Bad Überkingen belongs to the traditional spa locations of the Swabian Alb.