Their stay in this area is confirmed by the tombstones and other remains of the ancient necropolis. The Slovenian name Dobrna appeared in 1155 in a document mentioning that the place belongs to the Krško church. The German name Neuhaus originally marked only the castle. This is first mentioned in 1257. It was built only shortly before, as research showed that it does not contain Romanesque elements, and ruins show Gothic elements of the building.

Dobrna was governed by the Dobrna knights, who pawned the estate in 1346 to the Krško Cathedral Chapter, and it passed into the ownership of the Ptuj lords in 1438. Otherwise, the Dobrna knights managed the castle until 1613, when the property was taken over by the family Gačnik. From that time, the folk tradition kept the narrative of a shocking event. In the year 1478, the castle lord Viljem of Dobrna grabbed his child in severe anger and slammed him into the wall with such force that he immediately killed him. When he realised what he did, he withdrew to the minorite monastery of Celje in penance.

Under the castle, a settlement began to develop, initially with wooden houses, and the development of the health resort those were replaced by masonry buildings, such as the chaplany in 1755 and in 1791 a new parish. The Dobrna spa was first mentioned in 1403. They have strongly interfered with the fate of the place and its development. Before heading for the path along Dobrna and its natural and cultural sights, let’s get to know the spa and its story.

The first certified spa owners appear in 1403, and are Andrej and Sigmund of Dobrna. In 1608, the nobles asked the provincial assembly for 600 fl. help for the construction of a new house, so that the guests with higher social standing could also use the spa. In 1613 Dobrna was bought by Hans Gačnik and later sold to his brother Matija, with whom a new era began for the spa. In 1624, he built the first spa building, and in memory of that he built a marble inscription board into the wall above the swimming pool, which is still there. It says: “This bathing place, in honor of the land, was built by the signed noble gentleman, otherwise it would remain abandoned further. This happened in 1624 when the owner of Dobrna was Matija Gačnik.