Hauts LieuxChapels, sanctuaries & legends

Hauts Lieux›All places›Vosges

Hot springVosges

Sources chaudes et Bain Romain de Plombières-les-Bains

Plombières-les-Bains

Dimensions
Water at 57 to 84 °C for 27 springs (Parc naturel régional des Ballons des Vosges)
Period
Roman Antiquity (basin of the Bain Romain); 1580 (stay of Montaigne); 1709 (drawing by Jacquot); 1856–1868 (cures of Napoléon III); 21 July 1858 (meeting with Cavour); 1861 (Thermes Napoléon); 1935 (hypocaust uncovered); 2020 (closure of the Calodaé centre); January 2025 (liquidation of the operator of the baths)
What stands there
Temperatures: 57 to 84 °C according to the Parc des Ballons des Vosges; the commune's leaflet speaks of 9 to 80 °C for all the exploited springs; a private guide gives 60–85 °C (not retained). The legend of the Roman soldiers' dogs is a tradition reported by the urban walk of the Petites Cités de Caractère, without an old text: written as tradition. The Fondation Napoléon confirms the Roman baths as a hospital of the legions of the Rhine, Joséphine, the stays of Napoléon III from 1856 to 1868 and the secret meeting with Cavour on 21 July 1858; another page of the foundation dates the first stone of the Thermes Napoléon to 22 July 1857. Status: BLE Lorraine (8 February 2025) writes that Calodaé has been closed since 2020 and that the Nouvelle Compagnie des Thermes is in judicial liquidation (end of January 2025, commercial court of Bobigny, 16 redundancies); Boursorama/AFP: liquidation ‘without continuation of the activity’ after a receivership opened on 14 November 2024; hotspringsguides (updated 21 September 2026, unreliable: mixes 2020/2025) says that Calodae and the Thermes Napoléon are closed and cites €7 M from the State in December 2025. The magazine Atrium (Petites Cités de Caractère, undated) says that Roman remains were visible in the steam room of Calodae. The pages of the Fondation Napoléon (‘les Thermes Napoléon fonctionnent encore’) are undated and contradicted by the 2025 press. Not verified with the commune or the tourist office (sites not accessible): to be rechecked. The present Bain Romain is covered by a concrete slab and cabins (1930s).

In a narrow valley of the Vosges, twenty-seven hot springs come out of the ground, up to about 80 °C. According to the leaflet of the urban walk, the Romans were the first to exploit them: they diverted the Augronne and built the Bain Romain, the largest basin, about 48 m long and 9 m wide, under the square of the same name today. A tradition tells that the dogs of Roman soldiers came back from a swim wrapped in steam, which is said to have led to the discovery of the waters; no old text is cited for this. In the Middle Ages Duke Ferry III had a fortress raised to protect the bathers. In 1580 Michel de Montaigne lodged at the auberge de l'Ange and drank up to nine glasses of water a day. In 1709 Amé Jacquot drew the Roman bath restored by Duke Léopold. Joséphine de Beauharnais took cures there, then Napoléon III, from 1856 to 1868. On 21 July 1858 he received Count Cavour there in secret: French aid to Piedmont against Austria was prepared there, in exchange for Savoy and Nice. A gallery dug between 1856 and 1861 to bring the hot water revealed Roman remains; the Thermes Napoléon opened in 1861. The Bain Romain yielded its hypocaust in 1935. Today, according to the press, the Calodaé centre has been closed since 2020 and the operator of the baths was liquidated in January 2025.

Petites Cités de Caractère — Balade urbaine à Plombières-les-Bains (PDF) ↗

Further reading

Getting there: The Bain Romain is on the square of the same name, in the centre of the village: the surroundings are public and the place can be seen from outside. The baths are closed according to the regional press: the Calodaé centre, which housed Roman remains visible in its steam room, has been closed since 2020, and the operator of the baths has been in judicial liquidation without continuation of activity since the end of January 2025; no reopening was found (last check on 22 October 2026, commune not consulted). The hot water is not for free bathing. Coordinates: ‘Bain Romain’ point in OpenStreetMap, confirmed on 22 October 2026; the exact position of the emergences has not been verified.

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

Sources chaudes et Bain Romain de Plombières-les-Bains
Bertrand Grondin · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Vosges (19).