Thermes de Salins-les-Bains Grande Saline
- Location
- Salins-les-Bains, Jura, Bourgogne-Franche-Comte, France
- Water type
- sodium chloride
- Temperature
- 34 °C
- pH
- 7.3
Water profile
Stimulating — wakes the body and boosts circulation.
Loaded with major ions — the essential minerals (Ca, Mg).
Dense, salty water — you float without effort.
Thermes de Salins-les-Bains Grande Saline is built upon one of the most remarkable industrial heritage sites in Europe — the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, whose Salines de Salins source supplied the salt production complex designed by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux in the 1770s as a UNESCO World Heritage monument of Enlightenment utopian architecture. The chloride-rich brine springs of Salins-les-Bains have been exploited for therapeutic bathing since at least the 12th century, and the same salt source that made Franche-Comté's salt trade one of medieval Europe's most lucrative monopolies now feeds contemporary balneotherapy for rheumatic and skin conditions. Soaking in brine waters from springs that once funded the construction of Besançon's citadel, Franche-Comté's abbey churches, and the salt routes that crosscut Central Europe for a millennium is an experience of extraordinary economic and architectural heritage.