Bad Honnef () is a

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. He ...

in Germany near

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

in the Rhein-Sieg district,

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

. It is located on the border of the neighbouring state

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

. To the north it lies on the slopes of the Drachenfels (“Dragon's Rock”) mountain, part of the

Siebengebirge The (), occasionally Sieben Mountains or Seven Mountains, are a hill range of the German Central Uplands on the east bank of the Middle Rhine, southeast of Bonn. Description The area, located in the municipalities of Bad Honnef and König ...

Overview

Bad Honnef is home to a mineral spring called the ("Dragon Spring") which was discovered in 1897. This discovery led to Honnef, as the town was called at the time, transforming from a

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

-growing town to a spa town, adding the prefix Bad to its name. The mineral spring has been used for both drinking and bathing. The villages of Aegidienberg, Selhof and Rhöndorf are considered to be part of Bad Honnef. During his term as first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (then West Germany),

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman who served as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Dem ...

lived (and died) in Bad Honnef, as it was near Bonn, then the capital of the republic. Also, German politician and leader of the Free Democratic Party Guido Westerwelle was born in Bad Honnef. Since the 1980s Bad Honnef has developed into an important place for conferences in Germany. Because of the close proximity to the still internationally important Federal City of Bonn, many federal institutions are located in Bad Honnef. The head office of the Nationalpark Siebengebirge project was also planned to be in Bad Honnef; however the project was rejected in a referendum on 27 September 2009. Bad Honnef has the highest purchasing power of all towns in North Rhine-Westphalia; its percentage of millionaires is also one of the highest.

Mayors

Twin towns – sister cities

Bad Honnef is twinned with: *

Berck Berck (), sometimes referred to as Berck-sur-Mer (, literally ''Berck on Sea''), is a commune in the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais. It lies within the Marquenterre regional park, an ornithological nature reserve. Geography Situa ...

, France * Cadenabbia (Griante), Italy *

Ludvika Ludvika () is a bimunicipal city and the seat of Ludvika Municipality, Dalarna County within the country of Sweden, with 14,498 inhabitants in 2010. Overview The conurbation of Ludvika extends over the border of Smedjebacken Municipality, where ...

, Sweden *

Wittichenau Wittichenau (German) or Kulow ( Upper Sorbian) is a bilingual town in the district of Bautzen in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Schwarze Elster, 6 km south of Hoyerswerda. This small municipality is situated ...

, Germany

Notable people

Curt Haase Curt Haase (15 December 1881 – 9 February 1943) was a German general (''Generaloberst'') in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He commanded the III Corps during the Invasion of Poland and France. He later commanded the 15th Army in German-occu ...

(1881–1943), general in World War II *

Boris Papandopulo Boris Papandopulo (February 25, 1906 – October 16, 1991) was a Croatian composer and conductor of Greek and Russian Jewish descent. Ha-Kol (Glasilo Židovske zajednice u Hrvatskoj); Djela hrvatskih skladatelja Židovskog podrijetla u Beču; s ...

(1906–1991), composer and conductor * Franz Brungs (born 1936), football player and coach *

Peter Frankenberg Peter Frankenberg (born 1947 in Bad Honnef, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) is a German researcher, professor and politician ( CDU). Prof. Dr. Peter Frankenberg was Minister of Science, Research and the Arts of the state of Baden-Württemberg (' ...

(born 1947), professor and politician (CDU), minister in Baden-Württemberg *

Peter Hintze Peter Hintze (25 April 1950 – 26 November 2016) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the German Bundestag from 1990 until his death in 2016. From 2013 until 2016, Hintze was one of the six ...

(1950–2016), politician (CDU), 2013–2016 Vice-President of the Bundestag * Guido Westerwelle (1961–2016), politician (FDP), Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany (2009–2013)

References

External links

*
Stadt Bad Honnef

International University of Applied Sciences, Bad Honnef

Physikzentrum Bad Honnef

{{Authority control Populated places on the Rhine Spa towns in Germany Districts of the Rhine Province