Bad Schandau is a spa town in Germany, in the south of the Free State of Saxony and the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, at the mouth of the little valley of the Kirnitzsch. Bad Schandau lies east of the Elbe right on the edge of the Saxon Switzerland National Park in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains; the National Park Centre is located in the town. The original town centre nestled on the steep, towering sandstone rocks on the right-hand, northern bank of the River Elbe and squeezed in places into the narrow valley of the Kirnitzsch. A rural tram line, the Kirnitzschtal Tramway, accompanies the little river for several kilometres and offers access to the nearby walking area. Bad Schandau has a Lutheran parish church, a hydropathic establishment and a school of river navigation. The position of Bad Schandau in the heart of the romantic Saxon Switzerland has made it a place of importance, and thousands of tourists make it their base in summer.