The Landes department is an ideal destination for a thermal cure. No need to leave for 3 weeks for a conventional cure. You can easily stay just one day and enjoy a mini-cure during your vacation. Where to take a thermal break in the Landes? Le Saint Martin campsite tells you everything you need to know about thermalism in the Landes.
Dax and Saint-Paul-lès-Dax, France's leading thermal spa resort
The thermal history of Dax dates back to Roman times. According to legend, a Roman legionary, stationed in Dax, threw his dog suffering from rheumatism into the waters of the Adour. Thanks to the peloid, the sedimentary mud that would make the city of Dax famous, the dog was cured!
Today, Dax can boast of being the leading thermal spa resort in France, with nearly 60,000 spa-goers each year. Designed by architect Jean Nouvel in 1992, the Thermes de Dax are the flagship of thermalism in the Landes. La Fontaine Chaude, or Nèhe spring, is the other symbol of the thermal resort. Built on ancient Roman baths, the fountain gushes water at 65 degrees!
The capital of French thermalism also includes Saint-Paul-lès-Dax, where you can enjoy, for a few hours, the benefits of thermal water at Sourcéo: 4,000 m2 entirely dedicated to relaxation and well-being.
Also read on the campsite blog: What to do and see in Dax to combine tourism and spa treatments?
Eugénie-les-Bains, France's first slimming village
The charming thermal resort of Eugénie-les-Bains, south of Mont-de-Marsan, owes its name to Empress Eugénie de Montijo, wife of Napoleon III. She used to come here to "take the waters" during her frequent stays in Biarritz.
Rich in calcium, magnesium, sodium, sulphides, and thermal plankton, the Eugénie springs — the Impératrice spring and the Christine Marie spring — are at the heart of the resort's thermal activity. They treat rheumatic conditions, metabolic disorders, and urinary problems. The thermal establishments also offer slimming, anti-aging, and anti-stress cures, as well as detox programs.
Préchacq-les-Bains, a thermal resort that doesn't lack (re)sources
20 km from Dax, at the gates of Chalosse, the thermal resort of Préchacq-les-Bains owes its reputation to the "Trou de Madame," of which only a few vestiges remain today. These first thermal baths were operated as early as 1610 by the Duke of Sully, minister to King Henry IV. Located about 1 km from the current thermal establishment, this ancient hot and sulphurous spring was still very renowned at the beginning of the 20th century.
Beyond the medical and therapeutic orientations in rheumatology and respiratory conditions, the thermal baths of Préchacq-les-Bains now offer relaxation days with balneotherapy and thermal spa, hydromassage and remineralizing baths, and applications of natural mud from the alluvium of the Adour.
Saubusse-les-Bains: the Landes, cocooning style
Between Dax and Hossegor, along the Adour, the small village of Saubusse-les-Bains is renowned for its sodium chloride thermal waters and its natural vegetomineral muds. The "La Rouillère" spring has been known since ancient times.
In addition to treating pathologies in rheumatology and phlebology, the thermal complex of Saubusse offers mini-wellness cures. People come here to be pampered for a few hours or more. The program includes: local mud application, aquabiking, hydrojet, hydromassage, Landes massage, Californian modeling. All in the heart of wild and preserved nature, amidst the Barthes of the "Petite Camargue landaise".
photo@Romaineolas, CC BY-SA 3.0
