Spa Thermal Springs

Spa, Liege Province, Belgium

Location: Spa, Liege Province, Belgium
Water type: iron-rich
Temperature: 7 °C
pH: 6.3

Water profile

Thermicity

Invigorating

7 °C

LowHigh

Stimulating — wakes the body and boosts circulation.

Mineralisation

Bio-active

LowHigh

Rich in active gases or metals — a strong mineral character.

Buoyancy

Standard buoyancy

LowHigh

Soft water — natural, classic buoyancy.

FerBicarbonatesManganèse

It is from Spa, a small town in the Belgian Ardennes, that the word "spa" itself derives, now synonymous with bathing establishments worldwide. Its waters were already noted in antiquity by Pliny the Elder, and the site's documented history opens in 1559 with a treatise on the "acid springs" of the Ardennes forest. In 1717 Tsar Peter the Great stayed here and credited his improved wellbeing to the waters of the Pouhon spring, now named Pouhon Pierre-le-Grand in his honor — an episode that launched the fashion for taking the waters at Spa among 18th-century European aristocracy.

More than three hundred cold springs, locally called "pouhons," rise around the town: naturally sparkling, iron-rich, bicarbonate waters typical of the Ardennes bedrock. Recognized since 2021 as part of the UNESCO World Heritage "Great Spa Towns of Europe," Spa carries on this wellness tradition born of local geology.

Insider tip — The town of Spa in the Ardennes gave its name to the entire global wellness industry, and its iron-rich pouhon springs have drawn European royalty, artists, and convalescents since the 16th century. The naturally carbonated chalybeate waters emerge cold from forested hillsides and are consumed for their digestive and circulatory properties rather than bathed in, distinguishing Spa from purely thermal destinations. The town's elegant 18th-century Pouhon Pierre-le-Grand pump room and the surrounding beech forest make a visit here as much architectural and historical as hydrological.

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