Lectoure

Lectoure in the Gers département of Gascony, one of France's most perfectly preserved medieval cities, draws from oligomineral springs beneath a hilltop episcopal city that has commanded the Lomagne plain from its fortified bluff since Gallic and Roman times, when it served as the capital of the Lactorates tribe and subsequently as a major Roman administrative centre whose bath complex, excavated in the nineteenth century, yielded an extraordinary collection of Bull Cult altars now displayed in the municipal museum. The thermal water of Lectoure, enjoyed within a long thermal tradition associated with relaxation at an establishment within the medieval city walls, offers a thermal stay in a setting of exceptional historical integrity where the cathedral, bishop's palace, ramparts, and medieval street pattern create one of the most complete and unaltered medieval episcopal cityscapes in southwestern France. The surrounding Lomagne countryside, known for its garlic production, its Armagnac, and the white cattle of the Gascony breed, provides the rich gastronomic and cultural context characteristic of France's most pleasurable regional spa destinations.