Bad Vilbel


Bad Vilbel is a spa town in Hesse, Germany, famous for its many mineral water springs. Bad Vilbel is the largest town in the Wetteraukreis district and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area with its city center being located 8 km northeast of downtown Frankfurt am Main at the banks of the river Nidda.

History

Bad Vilbel was founded in 774 but much older artefacts were found in the area. In 1848 during railway works, a Roman villa was unearthed with a
Thermae and a Mosaic. A replica of this mosaic is presented in a modern exhibition in the spa gardens.

20th Century

The town Vilbel got the label "Bad" in 1948 for its numerous mineral springs. The health spa operations stopped in the 1960s but the mineral water industry connected more springs of the Wetterau by pipelines to the bottling plant of Hassia in Bad Vilbel.
The hessian government reform formed 1971/72 Bad Vilbel, Dortelweil, Gronau and Massenheim to the new city Bad Vilbel. Since 1997 great areas have been developed for living and business, like the residential area of Dortelweil-West or the commercial park Quellenpark between Bad Vilbel, Massenheim and Dortelweil.

Mayor

The Current Mayor is Sebastian Wysocki of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. He was elected in March 2022.
NamePartyTime
Thomas StöhrCDU2004-2022
Günther BiwerCDU1980-2004
Erich GlückSPD1968-1980
Georgh MuthSPD1955-1968
Kurt MoosdorfSPD1946-1955
Karl Bruder jun.SPD1945-1946
Joseph SeitzNSDAP1933-1945
Kurt MoosdorfSPD1928-1933
Bernhard RechthienSPD1919-1928

Transport

Bad Vilbel has four railway stations served by Frankfurt's local transport network. It has access to the A661 autobahn and the highway B3.
Furthermore, Bad Vilbel has several local bus lines called Vilbus connecting the city center to the neighborhoods. Additional connections to Frankfurt am Main with the local Frankfurt bus line 30 and with Offenbach am Main with the fast bus line X97.

Hessentag 2025 in Bad Vilbel

The 62nd Hessentag, the largest and oldest state festival in Germany, was held in Bad Vilbel from 13 to 22 June 2025, under the motto "Wir bringen Hessen auf die Bühne". Originally planned for 2020 but cancelled due to the COVID‑19 pandemic, Bad Vilbel hosted the event for the first time in 2025.
Over the ten days, the festival featured more than 1,500 free events and a total of 13,000 program points across cultural, educational, musical and sporting offerings. Visitors enjoyed concerts by artists such as Nina Chuba, Mando Diao and Ski Aggu in the Stadtwerke‑Arena and other venues.
The festival's "Treffpunkt Hessen" forum served as the central showpiece, where the Hessian parliament, political parties, associations and government agencies presented themselves. Highlights included an exhibition on climate, nature and regional products. On 14 June the "Day of Volunteer Emergency Responders" included formal recognition by the Minister‑President Boris Rhein.
Bad Vilbel attracted roughly one million visitors across the ten days, according to official figures.

Twin towns – sister cities

Bad Vilbel is twinned with:

Born in Bad Vilbel