Ussat-les-Bains

Ussat-les-Bains, part of the commune of Ornolac-Ussat-les-Bains in the Ariège département, draws from oligomineral springs in the deeply incised gorge of the Ariège River below the Cathars' last mountain refuge at Montségur, in a thermal station of great historical resonance where the subterranean chambers of the Lombrive cave, the largest natural cave open to the public in France, served as a refuge for the Cathar heretics fleeing the Albigensian Crusade before becoming the romantic setting for the thermal stay favoured by Chateaubriand and Lamartine in the early nineteenth century. The lightly mineralised spring water of Ussat is enjoyed within a long thermal tradition associated with relaxation and serenity at an establishment in a gorge setting of extraordinary dramatic beauty, where vertical limestone walls, the rushing Ariège River, and the spiritual heritage of Catharism create an atmosphere of concentrated historical and natural intensity unusual among French thermal destinations. The nearby cave paintings of Niaux, one of the finest Palaeolithic art galleries in Europe, and the medieval Cathar fortresses of the surrounding Ariège add archaeological and historical dimensions of exceptional depth.