Bains de Gazost
- Location
- Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre, France
- Water type
- bicarbonate
- Temperature
- 24 °C
- pH
- 7
Water profile
Stimulating — wakes the body and boosts circulation.
Loaded with major ions — the essential minerals (Ca, Mg).
Soft water — natural, classic buoyancy.
In the Gazost valley, not far from Lourdes, the sulfurous Hount Pudio spring rises, known for its chlorine, sodium and sulfur content, and likely used since Roman times. For centuries, villagers made only modest, local use of these waters. Then in 1868, a lawyer from Argelès named Hector Sassère bought the rights to the spring and launched an ambitious project: piping the water 21 kilometers away through a cast-iron conduit to the neighboring valley.
Since 1885, the Gazost waters have been collected and carried by aqueduct to supply the Argelès spa establishment, a bond so strong that in 1896 the town officially renamed itself Argelès-Gazost in the spring's honor. The original Gazost site remains today the quiet catchment point behind an entire Pyrenean spa tradition.