Salt had been produced in Bad Salzungen since medieval times using eleven evaporation pans, but it was not until 1840/41 that a deep borehole revealed such concentrated brine that in 1848 permanent spa facilities were set up. Diseases of the mucous membrane from the nose to deep within the lungs can be alleviated and cured using salt-evaporation works, in which saltwater forms a mist as it trickles over bundles of blackthorn twigs.

Around the year 1560, when Hermann von Stein was the lord of the manor, therapeutic mineral water was discovered on his lands and Bad Liebenstein, the oldest spa resort in Thuringia, came into being. Duke Casimir of Saxe-Coburg's presence made it a spa for the aristocracy and at the beginning of the 17th century it became a truly fashionable resort. The spa centre with its clubhouse, theatre and pumproom in the form of a temple are well worth visiting. Keen gardeners should visit the rose gardens in Elisabeth Park.