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December 12, 2013
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Europe’s largest thermal baths
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Leukerbad is a small mountain village in Switzerland, with just
1.500 inhabitants. At first sight, it looks a sleepy, motionless and
unexciting little town, but as soon as you notice the many
white steam clouds rising up against the blue sky, you realize
that there’s more going on here: Leukerbad houses Europe’s
largest thermal baths, offering as many wellness treatments as
there are days in a year. If you can’t relax here, you can’t relax
anywhere!
All good things start with a W in Switzerland: winter, warmth, wealth, water baths … and Wallis. Leukerbad
lies in the Rhône valley in the Swiss canton of Wallis (or Valais), in the southwestern part of the country, at
1.400 m altitude. A nice place to go skiing, snowboarding or hiking, but the greatest draw is right there in
the valley itself. Every day, about 62 hot springs fill up over 30 public and private pools, spas and bath
houses with 3,9 million liters of naturally heated and mineral rich water. All of that makes the town the
largest thermal spa resort in the Alps. Especially when visiting the outdoor pools, you’re in for a real treat:
the views of the surrounding Valais Alps are absolutely stunning.
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Leukerbad from up high, by ‚Gemmibahn’, at a height of 2.350 meters. All around you can see different
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mountains like the Matterhorn (the famous one), the Weisshorn (the prettiest) and the Dom (the highest – 4.545
meters).
Down in the valley
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A map showing the nearby hot springs in Leukerbad (Loèche-les-Bains in French)
Don’t forget your sunglasses! There’s an average of 300 days of sunshine per year in Wallis, that’s
more than any other Swiss skiing destination!
Leukerbad’s spa history goes back to Roman times, which makes this a tourist attraction of over
2.000 years old. Knowing that definitely adds something extra to the experience.
The water of the hot springs isn’t just used to heat the thermal pools, it also heats entire hotels and
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provides the town of electricity.
If you were to try out one wellness treatment every day here in Leukerbad, you’d need a whole year to
finish them all!
Showers, caves, bubbles and baths
The Alpentherme and Burgerbad: remember these names, because of all 30 spas in Leukerbad, these
are the two biggest. They’re so big that there’s a whole system of underground passages underneath the
town centre, allowing you to go straight from your hotel room to the thermal baths without even crossing
the street. In your hotel slippers and dressing gown! facilities, especially at the Alpentherme, are
amazing. Saunas at different temperatures and in different styles, different steam rooms, hot caves, pools
and showers, dozens of different massages, treatments and wraps, different styles baths with bubbles and
jets … You can go from Turkey to Finland or Ireland in thirty minutes.
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The outdoor pool of Burgerbad
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The outdoor pool of the Alpentherme
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The indoor Alpentherme pool
Outdoor Alpentherme pool
Fresh orange slices and a sauna
One of the most renowned spa options is the Roman-Irish treatment, only by appointment. You’re guided to
a separate spa area where you undergo a course of 2 hours of different saunas, steam rooms, massages
and baths, all strictly timed and placed in a certain order so that your body benefits the most from it. But
what I found the most impressive is the sauna village of the Alpentherme. It’s a whopping 300 m² and when
entering the room it’s like you’re walking around in an actual Swiss village, with small timber houses, a
fountain, cow bells and lanterns providing a warm and cosy light. I tried as many saunas as I could, like the
herbal sauna in a lovely converted barn, a Finnish sauna (90°c) in a cute Swiss Chalet, the steam bath in
a rustic Valaisian farmhouse and the stone sauna with a mill wheel. At one point I was even served slices of
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a rustic Valaisian farmhouse and the stone sauna with a mill wheel. At one point I was even served slices of
orange inside one of the saunas. Only when you taste the fresh fruit, you realize how badly you wanted it.
But when the attendants started fanning the air with a towel afterwards (and basically throwing the hot air
straight in your face), I had to get out. Too darn hot!
The Roman-Irish spa treatment
A few days of wellness in Leukerbad isn’t cheap. The famous ‘Promenade’ near the village square, where
most of the pools are situated, is dotted with three-to five-star hotels at your service, all up to impeccable
Swiss standards. But the nice thing about staying in one of these hotels is that you not only have access
to all public pools, but also to the private ones of your hotel. Fewer people, more you-time… There’s only
one thing prohibited here in Leukerbad, our guide tells us, and that’s stress!
The five star Lindner Hotel
Fliessen, strömen, treiben : all synonyms for ‚flowing’. The water flowing from this piece of art comes straight
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from a hot spring.
The Promenade
www.leukerbad.ch
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Read more from Chronological, Citylife, Nature, Switzerland
Europe’s largest thermal bath, Gemmibahn, Hot
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springs, Leukerbad, Loèche-les-Bains, pools, Rhône
valley, Roman-Irish bath, spas, valais, Valais Alps,
Wallis, Wellness
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9 Comments
Post a comment
weer een artikel + foto’s die doen dromen!
Stijn
Dec 12 2013
reply
Danku liefje
Fractions of
the world
Dec 12 2013
reply
What a place!!!
Beautiful shots.
Sreejith Nair
Dec 12 2013
reply
Mooie reminder voor mij over de pracht van Zwitserland, dank! Mooie beelden.
TravelLin
Dec 13 2013
reply
Dankjewel, altijd leuk om dat te horen!
Fractions of
the world
Dec 13 2013
reply
this place looks fantastic!!
Annie Japaud
Photography
Dec 31 2013
reply
Miss Footloose
Feb 3 2014
It all looks fabulous! Just woke up to more snow coming down here in the Eastern US
and I’m so tired of the winter. Wish I were sitting in one of those lovely bubble pools in
Switzerland. Instead I’ll be shoveling snow once again..
Mooie foto’s!
reply
Dankjewel In Belgium we’re having an extremely soft
winter… I wouldn’t mind a bit of snow!
Fractions of
the world
Feb 3 2014
reply
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