After the Drei-Talsperren-Marathon: Aue-Bad Schlema

The Route: Eibenstock → Aue-Bad Schlema → Eibenstock Logistics: Regional bus or rail connection, a short and low-effort trip suited to legs recovering from around 900 metres of mountain climbing. Marathon Month: September Duration: Day trip

Eibenstock ──(regional bus/rail, ~25-35 mins)──> Aue-Bad Schlema ──(regional bus/rail, return)──> Eibenstock

Aue-Bad Schlema is really two towns joined into one municipal identity: Aue, an old textile and mining town, and Bad Schlema, a spa quarter built on the unlikely foundation of a former uranium mine turned radon health resort. For a runner with one day to spare and legs still recovering from the Drei-Talsperren-Marathon's roughly 900 m of climbing, it offers a genuinely low-effort alternative to another hike, a short regional trip away from Eibenstock.

September in the Erzgebirge brings the same cool, changeable mountain-adjacent weather across this whole region, though Aue-Bad Schlema sits at a somewhat lower elevation than Eibenstock itself and tends to feel a touch milder.

The spa quarter and mining history

Bad Schlema's spa park (Kurpark) is flat, landscaped and built for exactly this kind of gentle recovery walk, with benches at regular intervals along its paths. The town's radon-based spa treatments, drawing on the same geological deposits that once made this one of the world's largest uranium-mining districts, are available at several of the spa hotels, though booking a specific treatment in advance is worth doing rather than assuming a walk-in slot.

The Bergbaumuseum "Im Schacht 371" (Mining Museum), a short walk from the spa quarter, gives an indoor, level look at the region's Wismut-era uranium mining history, a genuinely significant and unusual chapter of Cold War industrial history that most visitors to Germany never encounter. Entry runs approximately €6 (£5.15), worth confirming before visiting.

Aue's older town centre, a short further trip along the same valley, holds a more conventional Erzgebirge town character, with textile-industry heritage buildings and a compact, walkable core.

Return buses and trains to Eibenstock run at reasonably regular intervals through the afternoon; checking the current timetable before setting off avoids an unnecessarily long wait for the return leg.