Spa & thermal wellness.
Where the water itself was the original draw.
Weilburg
A photogenic pocket-sized town in Hesse set on the Lahn river between the Westerwald and Taunus uplands, Weilburg was for centuries the residence of the Nass…
Karlovy Vary
Founded in the 14th century by Charles IV and built around a cluster of hot springs, Karlovy Vary is Czechia's most visited spa town, set at the confluence o…
Cauterets
This spa town and ski resort in the French Pyrenees, Cauterets sits along the Gave de Pau river within the Pyrénées National Park, surrounded by mountain sce…
Bad Ragaz
A spa and health resort in the canton of St.
Bad Reichenhall
Salt production with a history stretching back four thousand years defines Bad Reichenhall, a spa town in the Bavarian Alps of Upper Bavaria whose Alpine sal…
Alassio
A sandy-beached resort town on the Italian Riviera in Liguria, Alassio draws visitors year-round — as a bathing destination in summer and a health resort in…
Porretta Terme
Historic spa town in the upper Reno valley of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, Porretta Terme has been known for its thermal springs since Roman times and devel…
Bad Neustadt an der Saale
This walkable Bavarian spa town where the Franconian Saale and Brend rivers meet, Bad Neustadt an der Saale has a centre with several historic churches, café…
Plombières-les-Bains
A spa village in the Vosges whose thermal springs were first developed by the Romans, Plombières-les-Bains drew an extraordinary roll of visitors over the ce…
Castellammare del Golfo
A seafront town in Sicily's Trapani province, Castellammare del Golfo takes its name from the medieval fortress in its harbour — "Sea Fortress on the Gulf" —…
Ax-les-Thermes
Thermal spa village in the Ariège Pyrenees with more than sixty hot springs, Ax-les-Thermes also operates a winter ski area — Ax 3 Domaines, established in D…
Bagnères-de-Bigorre
Spa town in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, Bagnères-de-Bigorre sits in the valley of the Adour river and offers a café and restaurant scene that holds…
Jesenik
Home to the Priessnitz Medical Spa, founded in 1822 as the world's first hydrotherapy institute, Jeseník is a spa town in the Olomouc Region of Czechia, set…
Bad Langensalza
This German spa town in Thuringia where a walkable old centre of half-timbered buildings and a tall church tower rising above cobbled streets meets riverside…
Bad Windsheim
This small Bavarian spa town west of Nuremberg is the only therapeutic spa (Heilbad) in Middle Franconia, built around mineral springs that also supply sever…
Bilina
A spa town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of Czechia, Bílina is known for its mineral spring water, Bílinská kyselka, and a well-preserved historic centre prot…
Borkum
Germany's largest East Frisian Island by area, Borkum sits in the Wadden Sea off Lower Saxony and has built its economy almost entirely around tourism since…
Duszniki-Zdroj
A spa town in the Kłodzko Valley of southwestern Poland, Duszniki-Zdrój sits on the Bystrzyca River between the Orlickie and Bystrzyckie mountain ranges on t…
Leukerbad
Mountain spa and ski resort in the Swiss canton of Valais, Leukerbad is best known for its thermal springs, which reach temperatures of up to 51°C, and the m…
Salins-les-Bains
Salt has shaped Salins-les-Bains since the fifth millennium BC, and the town's historic saltworks — added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2009 as an ext…
Horn-Bad Meinberg
Home to the Externsteine — a striking formation of tall, narrow sandstone columns rising from the Teutoburg Forest — Horn-Bad Meinberg is a tiny city in the…
Alfama
Lisbon's oldest neighborhood, Alfama spreads across the hillside between São Jorge Castle and the Tagus river, its name derived from the Arabic for 'hot spri…
Yverdon-les-Bains
A thermal spa town on the southern shore of Lake Neuchâtel, Yverdon-les-Bains has been known for its sulphurous springs since Roman times, when it was called…
Fischen
This Bavarian mountain village in the Allgäu region holds recognized status as a health-climate spa resort (heilklimatischer Kurort), set in alpine terrain w…
Royal Tunbridge Wells
One of only three towns in England to hold the "Royal" prefix — granted by King Edward VII in 1909 — Tunbridge Wells in Kent built its reputation as a fashio…
Bad Salzuflen
Thermal spa town in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Bad Salzuflen has operated as a recognised Kneipp health resort since 2024 and draws visito…
Kurokawa Onsen
Forested valley in Kumamoto's uplands holds this atmospheric hot-spring village, where multi-storey timber ryokan line a modest river and visitors stroll the…
Lacco Ameno
Rebuilt after a devastating 1883 earthquake that destroyed most of its buildings, Lacco Ameno transformed from a fishing village into a thermal-spa resort on…
Krippen
A little fishing hamlet on the Elbe in Saxony's Saxon Switzerland region, Krippen holds official spa-resort status as a Kneipp health resort and sits in moun…
Nakusp
Tiny village on the shore of Upper Arrow Lake in British Columbia's West Kootenay region, Nakusp sits between the Selkirk and Monashee mountain ranges and is…
Trbovlje
A Slovenian mining town in the Central Sava Valley known as the birthplace of Laibach, the industrial music group, Trbovlje sits along the Sava River in moun…
Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste
Walled medieval village in the French Pyrenees, Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste sits on the Tech river close to the Spanish border and belongs to the Les Plus Beaux…
Kudowa-Zdrój
One of Europe's oldest spa towns, Kudowa-Zdrój sits in the foothills of the Table Mountains on Poland's southwestern border with the Czech Republic, where it…
Bad Aussee
This spa town at the confluence of the three source streams of the Traun River, Bad Aussee sits at the heart of the Styrian Salzkammergut in the Austrian Alp…
Jonzac
A spa town in the Charente-Maritime since 1986, Jonzac sits on the Seugne river in the heart of Cognac wine country, with a café and restaurant scene that pu…
Eger
Eger is a Hungarian wine town whose Egri Bikavér (Bull's Blood) red is known well beyond the country's borders, set among vineyards in the hills between the…
Premia
This tiny thermal spa village in the mountains of Piedmont's Verbano-Cusio-Ossola province, Premia sits in the Valle Antigorio, a branch of the Val d'Ossola,…
Ainsworth Hot Springs
Founded in 1883 by steamboat operator George Ainsworth, this little historic village on the shore of Kootenay Lake in British Columbia draws visitors to its…
Mittenwald
Violin-making has defined Mittenwald for centuries, and this small Bavarian Alpine town near the Austrian border carries that tradition alongside dramatic mo…
Slanic-Moldova
A Romanian spa town set in forested hills, where an ornate early-20th-century pavilion with twin onion-domed towers and formal hedged gardens signals its her…
Supraśl
Spa town on the Supraśl River in north-eastern Poland, with a small centre that holds several historic churches and a café scene alongside clean air and a mi…
Bad Staffelstein
This small spa town in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, sits along the Main river and is anchored by three landmarks: the Basilica of Vierzehnheiligen, designed by…
Stolberg
This tiny historic town in the southern Harz mountains of Saxony-Anhalt, Stolberg holds several churches and a handful of cafés and restaurants for a settlem…
Chaudes-Aigues
A spa village in the Cantal department of south-central France, Chaudes-Aigues — whose name translates as "Hot Waters" — has been known for its thermal sprin…
Vouzela
Modest municipality in Portugal's Viseu district, Vouzela sits alongside the water and within easy reach of the thermal spa town of São Pedro do Sul, just a…
Ratzeburg
Surrounded by four lakes and connected to the mainland only by three causeways, Ratzeburg is a small island-town in Schleswig-Holstein whose old town sits en…
Althofen
One of the oldest continuously inhabited mountain settlements in Austria, Althofen is a compact spa town in Carinthia's Sankt Veit an der Glan district, with…
Orhangazi
A town in Bursa Province sitting on the western shore of Lake Iznik, with the Sea of Marmara close to the north and mountain ranges on both sides.
Bad Sooden-Allendorf
This small spa town in Hesse straddling the Werra river, Bad Sooden-Allendorf drew its wealth from salt-brine extraction for centuries before reinventing its…
Garessio
This pocket-sized Piedmontese village in the Ligurian Alps known for its mineral water, Aqua San Bernardo, which drew spa visitors at the turn of the twentie…
Zunil
This highland town in Guatemala's Quetzaltenango department, Zunil sits on the bank of the Salamá River and is known for its volcanic thermal baths, includin…
Graglia
This tiny Piedmontese village whose communal territory takes in the Mombarone peak and Lake Ingagna, Graglia is best known for the Sacro Monte di Graglia, a…
Reichenau an der Rax
A small Austrian market village at the foot of the Rax mountains on the Schwarza river, Reichenau an der Rax is recognised as a health-climate spa resort.
Aizuwakamatsu
Aizuwakamatsu, the main city of the Aizu region in Fukushima Prefecture, carries a warrior history stretching back a thousand years, most vividly associated…
Termini Imerese
This Sicilian coastal town on the Gulf of Termini Imerese, with a compact historic centre dense with churches, Roman ruins, and thermal baths fed by volcanic…
Weiskirchen
This small Saarland town in Germany's Hunsrück uplands, where a fountain-fed lake edged with purple wildflowers sits below a church steeple and grand civic b…
Beppu
Beppu, on the eastern coast of Kyushu's Ōita Prefecture, is one of Japan's three great hot spring cities, known above all for the Hells of Beppu — a collecti…
Bad Hindelang
This Bavarian health resort in the Allgäu Alps near the Austrian border, Bad Hindelang has built its identity around a sulphur spring used for cures since th…
Bad Freienwalde
This spa town in Brandenburg's Märkisch-Oderland district, Bad Freienwalde has held official recognition as a moor-bath health resort since 1925 and sits at…
Lava Hot Springs
This pocket-sized Idaho resort town on the Portneuf River draws visitors to its natural hot springs, which feed pools suited for bathing, and to a turbulent…