Source de l'Hôpital et sources chaudes de Vichy

Vichy

Vichy is known above all for its drinking water, but its springs emerge lukewarm or hot, and in Antiquity the town was called Aquis Calidis, ‘the hot waters’, a name cited on the Peutinger Table. The source de l'Hôpital is one of the oldest: according to the tourist office, the construction of the present rotunda, in 1946, brought a Roman catchment to light. In the Middle Ages Vichy passed to the Bourbons in 1344, and a convent of Célestins was founded in 1410. Madame de Sévigné took two cures there, in 1676 and 1677. The daughters of Louis XV, Adélaïde and Victoire, stayed there in 1761–1762 and then in 1785, and Laetitia Bonaparte in 1799. A decree of Napoléon I had the park of the springs laid out in 1812. Napoléon III took five cures there between 1861 and 1866: casino in 1865, imperial chalets, église Saint-Louis. The temperatures vary according to the documents. In 1820 measurements gave 55 °C at the Hôpital and 38 °C at the Grande Grille; today the Hôpital is given at 34 °C and the Grande Grille at 39 °C. I found no explanation for this difference, nor whether the water of the Hôpital now emerges naturally or by borehole. On 24 July 2021 Vichy was inscribed by UNESCO with ten other towns, as part of the ‘Great Spa Towns of Europe’.

Getting there: The source de l'Hôpital emerges under a rotunda, 15 place de la Source de l'Hôpital; according to two tourist websites (dates not given), the pavilion is freely accessible and can be seen from the public space, but the tourist-office sheet (Vichy Mon Amour) gave it as ‘temporarily closed’ at the date of reading: to be checked before coming. The drinking halls of the Grande Grille, Chomel and Lucas, in the Hall des Sources (rue Lucas), are reserved for patients; the source des Célestins and the non-patient part of the Hall are open to all, free of charge (tourist guide consulted on 22/10/2026, date of its update unknown). Coordinates: ‘Source de l'Hôpital’ node in OpenStreetMap, close to those of ryo.co. The Grande Grille is about 450 m to the north.

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

Ambient sound