Historic Thermal Baths in Europe You Can Still Bathe In

Plenty of Europe’s ancient bathhouses survive only as ruins, behind a ticket desk and a rope. The great Roman complex in Bath is a museum, and the Baths of Caracalla in Rome have been dry for well over a thousand years. Yet in a handful of towns the same hot springs that the Romans, Ottoman governors or Charlemagne used still feed working baths, and you can climb into the water yourself.

This guide covers eight of them. Each entry explains what is old, what you actually bathe in today and the house rules worth knowing, from swimsuit policies to single-sex days.

Historic thermal baths at a glance

• Most atmospheric: Rudas in Budapest, for its 16th-century Ottoman dome.
• Grandest 19th-century ritual: Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden.
• Free bathing: the riverside pools of Ourense in Galicia, subject to river levels and local rules.
• Mountain setting: Bagni Vecchi in Bormio and the pools of Leukerbad in the Swiss Alps.
• Swimwear: required in Budapest and in most main pools; German sauna and Roman-Irish areas are usually textile-free.
• Book ahead: weekends and evenings everywhere, and Bormio at almost any time.

1. Rudas Baths, Budapest

Budapest sits on more than a hundred hot springs, and the Rudas, at the Buda end of Elisabeth Bridge, is the place to feel the city’s Ottoman past. There was a bath on the site in the Middle Ages, but the present Turkish bath dates from the 1560s and is usually credited to Sokollu Mustafa Pasha, then the Ottoman governor of Buda. Its heart is an octagonal pool under a dome around 10 metres across, carried on eight pillars and pierced with small openings of coloured glass that throw spots of light on the steam.

Smaller corner pools sit at different temperatures, and a modern wing adds a rooftop pool looking across the Danube to Pest. The Turkish section has historically kept single-sex sessions on weekdays and mixed bathing at weekends, and late-night sessions run on some weekend nights; the timetable changes, so check before you go. Swimsuits are required throughout.

2. Széchenyi Baths, Budapest

Where Rudas is dark and intimate, Széchenyi is a yellow neo-Baroque palace in City Park, designed by Győző Czigler and opened in 1913. It is one of the largest bath complexes in Europe, with 18 pools in total, three of them outdoors. The outdoor pools are at their most memorable in winter, when steam hangs over the water and older locals play chess on boards set on floating ledges.

It is also the most crowded bath in the city, so arrive at opening time on a weekday and spend some time in the quieter indoor thermal halls. The famous Gellért Baths, with their Art Nouveau mosaics, closed on 1 October 2025 for a long renovation, with reopening expected around 2028 or later.

3. Friedrichsbad, Baden-Baden

The Romans called this Black Forest town Aquae, and their soldiers bathed here in the second and third centuries. The excavated remains of a Roman bath lie close to the Friedrichsbad under the old market square and can be visited as a small site museum. Baden-Baden later became the summer salon of 19th-century Europe, and in 2021 it was listed by UNESCO among the Great Spa Towns of Europe.

The Friedrichsbad, opened in 1877, is the building to bathe in. It runs a Roman-Irish ritual of 17 stations: warm and hot air rooms, a soap and brush massage, steam rooms and a sequence of thermal pools under a domed hall, ending in a cold plunge and a rest wrapped in warm sheets. It is textile-free and quiet; allow about three hours. For something more relaxed, the Caracalla Therme next door, built in 1985, has indoor and outdoor thermal pools where swimwear is worn, plus a separate sauna area.

4. Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme, Wiesbaden

Wiesbaden, on the Rhine west of Frankfurt, has been a spa since Roman times, and its hot springs still surface in the old town. The Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme was built between 1910 and 1913 on a site where the foundations of a Roman sweat bath had been found. Its architect, August O. Pauly, mixed Art Nouveau tiles, stucco and reliefs with a layout borrowed from ancient baths, and much of that decoration survives.

Today it is a small, calm Roman-Irish bath and sauna fed by the Adlerquelle spring, run by the city’s bathing company. It is for adults only (16 and over), textile-free on most days and has a women-only day each week. It also closes for a maintenance period each year, so confirm opening dates before making the trip.

5. Aachen and the Carolus Thermen

Aachen’s springs reach about 70°C, among the hottest in Central Europe. The Romans built baths here and named the settlement Aquae Granni, after a Celtic god of healing, and Charlemagne made Aachen his main residence partly for the water: his biographer Einhard records how much he loved swimming in the hot springs.

The historic bathhouses have gone, so the place to bathe is the Carolus Thermen, a modern complex that opened in 2001 on the edge of the Stadtgarten. It uses the same mineral water as the Roman and Carolingian baths, with indoor and outdoor pools in swimwear and a large textile-free sauna area. To taste the water, stop at the Elisenbrunnen, a neoclassical colonnade in the centre with a warm, sulphurous drinking fountain.

6. Bagni Vecchi, Bormio

High in the Valtellina, on the road from Bormio up towards the Stelvio Pass, the Bagni Vecchi cling to a rock face above the valley. Pliny the Elder mentioned Bormio’s waters in his Natural History in the first century AD, and the springs have been used ever since. The complex, now run as a spa under the QC Terme name, keeps a remarkable mix: two old bathing tubs carved inside a grotto, known as the Roman baths, and the Grotta Sudatoria di San Martino, a natural steam tunnel dug into the mountain in the 19th century, where the heat comes straight from the spring.

The highlight is the outdoor panoramic pool, hanging over the valley with views of the surrounding peaks. Swimwear is worn throughout, and it fills up at weekends and in ski season, so book online. The 19th-century Bagni Nuovi nearby is run by the same operator.

7. Leukerbad, Switzerland

Leukerbad, at the head of a side valley above the Rhône in Valais, has the largest output of thermal water in the Alps: around 65 springs, together delivering close to four million litres a day. There is evidence the Romans knew the springs, and from the Middle Ages the village was a destination for invalids who arrived on foot or by mule over the Gemmi Pass, which still rises in sheer cliffs behind the houses.

Nothing medieval survives in the bathhouses, but the tradition of long, communal soaks does. The Leukerbad Therme, the former Burgerbad, is the big public complex, with indoor and outdoor pools; individual pools have closed in turn for renovation in recent seasons, so check which are open. The Walliser Alpentherme, opened in 1993, adds a Roman-Irish bath and a sauna village.

8. Ourense, Galicia

Ourense, in inland Galicia, is the most unusual entry here because much of its thermal bathing has been free. The city grew around As Burgas, springs in the old town that emerge at about 67°C and were used in Roman times; a stretch of Roman-era structure survives beside the fountains. The As Burgas bathing pool has been closed since 2020, with plans for a paid reopening, but the steaming fountains themselves are always there to see.

The main bathing is along the Miño. A riverside path of about five kilometres links a string of open-air pools, including A Chavasqueira and Muíño da Veiga, plus the free pools at Outariz and a separate paid complex beside them. Rules for the free pools have changed in recent years and they close when the river floods, so check with the tourist office before relying on any of them.

Other historic springs, briefly

• Bath, England: you cannot bathe in the Roman Baths museum, but Thermae Bath Spa, a short walk away, uses the same hot springs, with a rooftop pool.
• Hévíz, Hungary: a warm, spring-fed lake used for bathing all year, with a historic bathhouse on stilts.
• Saturnia and Bagni San Filippo, Tuscany: free, natural sulphur pools in the open countryside, best at quiet hours.
• Bagno Vignoni, Tuscany: the village square is a large thermal pool, though bathing in it is not allowed; nearby spa pools take the same water.
• Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic: historically a drinking cure more than a bathing town; go for the colonnades and the springs you sip from.

Planning and bathhouse etiquette

Every one of these places is busiest at weekends, on public holidays and in the late afternoon. Weekday mornings are calmest almost everywhere, and in winter the outdoor pools are at their most atmospheric. Hot mineral water is tiring: keep soaks short, drink plenty of water and check with a doctor if you are pregnant or have a heart condition.

• What to pack: swimsuit, flip-flops and a towel or robe. Hire is usually available but adds up.
• Textile-free areas: in Germany and Switzerland, sauna and Roman-Irish areas are normally nude and mixed. Bring a large towel to sit on, and do not wear a swimsuit where it is not allowed.
• Single-sex days: some baths, including Rudas and Wiesbaden, keep separate sessions; check the weekly timetable.
• Jewellery: leave silver at home, as sulphurous water can tarnish it.
• Age limits: several historic baths do not admit children, or only above a set age.

Planning a bigger trip? See our guide to the 25 best places to visit in Europe, from city breaks to fjords.

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Frequently asked questions

Can you bathe in the Roman Baths in Bath?

No. The Roman Baths are a museum and the water is not safe for bathing. To bathe in Bath’s hot springs, book a session at Thermae Bath Spa, a few minutes’ walk away, which uses the same spring water.

Do you have to be naked in German thermal baths?

Not in the main pools, where swimwear is usual, as at the Caracalla Therme and the Carolus Thermen. Saunas and Roman-Irish baths such as the Friedrichsbad and the Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme are textile-free and generally mixed, apart from any women-only days.

Which Budapest bath is the most historic?

Rudas, with its 16th-century Ottoman dome and octagonal pool, is the most atmospheric historic bath currently open. Széchenyi, opened in 1913, is the grandest. Gellért is closed for renovation and is not expected to reopen before about 2028.