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Hot springPyrénées-Orientales

Bains de Dorres (source de la Cerdagne)

Dorres

Dimensions
About 1,400 m (1,397 m according to Wikipédia CA; about 1,450 m according to the tourist office); sulphurous water at 38–39 °C in the pools, about 41 °C at the emergence according to the Font-Romeu tourist office
Period
Roman period (according to Wikipédia CA, no excavation found); end of the 9th century (village given to Radulf, future bishop of Urgell); 12th century (Guillem d'Edorres, probable lord of the village); 14th century (village in the royal domain)
What stands there
Temperatures: 38 °C (Viquipèdia CA), 38–39 °C in the pools (Tourisme Pyrénées-Orientales, 2026 prices, and Tourisme Occitanie), about 41 °C at the emergence (Font-Romeu), 40 °C (france.fr), 38 to 42 °C (bathing guide); another tourist-office page says 42 °C with a caption ‘50°’, judged unreliable. The flow varies depending on the sources (200 or 350 litres per minute). Origin of the water: all the sources speak of a natural emergence; only a news website without a source (journee-mondiale.com) writes ‘drawn from more than 80 m’, as well as continuous use since the 1st century and stones of the 12th century: not retained. Nothing makes it possible to say whether it is a spring vent or a shallow catchment. The Roman period: Viquipèdia CA (read at the first check, not found at the second) and promotional texts (france.fr ‘baths attested since the Roman period’); no archaeological publication found. The facts about the village come from Wikipedia EN. The village already has its entry: Église de Dorres et Vierge noire de Belloc, 600 m away.

In the woods of the Cerdagne, near the village of Dorres, a sulphurous water comes out of the mountain at about 38 to 41 °C and fills basins cut into granite blocks. According to the Catalan online encyclopedia (Viquipèdia), the oldest remains, a pool and the remains of a kitchen, would date back to the Roman period; no published excavation was found, and the name ‘Bains romains’ is above all a commercial name. Two old granite bathtubs, sheltered under a small canopy, are still visible. According to the Pyrénées-Orientales tourist office, the inhabitants also treated their sick animals there. The Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana mentions only a small thermal establishment, linked to that of Escaldes, without a date. The village is better known: it is mentioned at the end of the 9th century, when it belonged to Sunifred, who gave it to his nephew and godson Radulf, future bishop of Urgell. In the 12th century a Guillem d'Edorres was its probable lord; from the 14th century it formed part of the Crown domain. A bathing guide adds that the water rises through a fracture in the granite. The pools are in the open air and open summer and winter, with a view of the peaks of the Catalan Pyrenees.

Tourisme Pyrénées-Orientales — Bains de Dorres ↗

Further reading

Getting there: Paying, developed baths: adult €6, child aged 3 to 11 €4 (Tourisme Pyrénées-Orientales, 2026); open every day from 9 am to 7:30 pm from 1 January to 15 November and from 23 November to 31 December 2026 (opening hours not guaranteed). The pools are chlorinated (since 2025 according to a bathing guide updated in 2026); the two old granite bathtubs may still be fed with unchlorinated thermal water. Access by the route des Escaldes, car park near the hotel El Balcó, then a short walk down. Coordinates: average of the OpenStreetMap source (42.48493; 1.94654) and Wikipédia CA (42.484994; 1.9471), within 50 m of each other; the route point of the Tourisme Occitanie website (42.48471; 1.94249) is about 350 m to the west, probably the entrance or the car park.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

See it on the map OpenStreetMap Directions

Ambient sound

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In the same department

All places — Pyrénées-Orientales (32).