The Great Spa Towns of Europe

Welcome to Spa, Belgium, the historic birthplace of modern thermal bath culture and the very origin of the word used around the globe today for wellness and healing. The name of this legendary town nestled in the lush Ardennes…

Our tour brings us to our first key landmark, the historic spring hall known as Pouhon Pierre-le-Grand, which represents the legendary origin and emotional center of Spa's thermal story. This site guards the town's most famous…

As we leave the spring hall and walk into the historic town center, we enter the lively urban heart where European high society once mingled. Following his imperial visit in seventeen eighty-one, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph the…

Leaving the town center behind, we arrive before the monumental Nineteenth-Century Thermal Baths building, an architectural masterpiece that represented the modern transformation of physical hydrotherapy. Constructed in eighteen…

Passing beyond the bathhouse, we enter the tranquil thermal parklands where we are met by the sweeping iron and glass structure of Galerie Léopold II. Built in eighteen seventy-eight, this covered gallery represents an…

Taking the funicular up the hill brings us to Les Thermes de Spa, a modern glass sanctuary that represents the ultimate contemporary reinvention of thermal hydrotherapy. Opened in two thousand four atop Annette et Lubin Hill,…

Our audio walking tour through the legendary Belgian town of Spa has now come to a gentle conclusion. Today, we have walked through the streets, spring halls, and parklands of the town that literally taught the world the meaning…