The architectural history of the Sdbahnhotels is fascinating to read. Due to their location between glaciers and palm trees, they were exemplary for the founding of numerous health resorts. These include the high-altitude region of Semmering, Toblach (Dobbiaco) in the South Tyrolean Dolomites and the Adriatic spa town of Abbazia (Opatija), all places that are closely interwoven with Austria's railway history. Austria's tourism history began with the international crowds of guests from all parts of the Habsburg monarchy who visited the hotels along the new railway line before the First World War. This richly illustrated and opulently furnished book offers the reader not only an architectural and cultural-historical picture of old Austrian health resorts, but also an interesting socio-political overview from the fin de sicle to the present day. The scientific processing of the residence-like Sdbahn hotels presented here was urgently required, since more and more great hotel ensembles from the Belle poque are being destroyed worldwide. In order to spare the fairy-tale Sdbahnhotel am Semmering this fate, the author also uses international examples to show various new uses of old grand and palace hotels in order to preserve monuments.