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Hot springHautes-Alpes

Sources thermales du Plan de Phazy

Guillestre et Risoul (Plan de Phazy)

Dimensions
About 900 m altitude; water at 26–28 °C
Period
Antiquity (probable use; Roman baths vanished according to a single local page); 17th century (name ‘Plan Phazy’); 1783 (a military surgeon reports the waters); 1824 (La Rotonde); 1826–1846 (exploitation); 1860 (ministerial decree); 19 March 1935 (earthquake); 1980 (syndicate of the two communes); early 1980s (heated greenhouses)
What stands there
Temperature: Rotonde 27–28 °C, Suisses 26–27 °C (Envie de Queyras, Risoul, Nature et Source Chaude); 26 to 28 °C (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region); Wikipédia FR reverses the two springs and the flows. The flows vary according to the pages (Rotonde 70 to 80 L/min, Suisses 180 to 300 L/min according to most) and the conversions into m³/h on the local page do not agree. Date of the Rotonde: 1824 confirmed by five sources; the mention ‘under Charles X and Louis XVIII’ is dropped because these reigns do not overlap, except in September 1824. Roman baths: only the Envie de Queyras page asserts them, with no excavation cited; lacsdemontagne.fr says that the Romans treated their wounded there, without speaking of baths, and Wikipédia FR speaks of a probable use. Management: Wikipédia FR says that the département first managed the site (the Rotonde, built by the Département, was transferred to Guillestre in 1845 according to Risoul), then that the two communes disputed it before joint ownership. The origin of the name Phazy is discussed (Boniface, two versions); Barbein then La Salce: Envie de Queyras alone. Attendance figures: more than 400 patients a year after 1824 (Risoul, Le Petit Oiseau); about 20,000 visitors a year in 2018 (local press).

On the bank of the Durance, below Mont-Dauphin, hot water rises from the Durance fault at 26–28 °C, coming from a depth of about 1,000 m. It is rich in iron, which colours the rock red. The place lies near the Via Domitia, the Roman road; according to local websites, the spring was held to be sacred and known from Antiquity, and one page speaks of vanished Roman baths, without citing an excavation. According to the Queyras tourist office, it was called Barbein, after the rock, then La Salce; the name Plan Phazy appears in the 17th century, with two discussed explanations around Boniface. In 1783 a military surgeon of Mont-Dauphin drew attention to these waters. The Rotonde was built in 1824; more than 400 patients then came there each year, and a first commercial exploitation lasted from 1826 to 1846. In 1860 a ministerial decree authorised the medical use of the springs. On 19 March 1935 an earthquake dried up the springs and damaged the Rotonde; the water was found again a few metres away, where it still emerges. In the early 1980s the source des Suisses heated greenhouses below. Several projects for a thermal centre did not come to fruition, the last almost abandoned at the end of 2018. Four open-air basins are now freely accessible, but an order posted on the spot is said to forbid bathing in them: see access.

Envie de Queyras — Les sources thermales du Plan de Phazy ↗

Further reading

Getting there: Free and open site all year according to Envie de Queyras (page read on 22 October 2026, with an update of 2017), the Guillestrois and Queyras tourist office (sheet updated 30 July 2026) and the regional website, which do not specify whether bathing is allowed. Warning: according to a hot-springs blog (updated 10 August 2026), a municipal order posted near the Rotonde officially forbids bathing and the consumption of the water, citing insufficient water quality, the lack of protection of the basins and the fragility of the salt meadow. In 2018 the local press already reported a mayor's threat to ban access to the site. To be checked with the town halls of Guillestre and Risoul before bathing. Four open-air basins fed by the source de la Rotonde; unfiltered water, so not to be drunk. The Rotonde no longer receives bathers (craftsmen's market in summer). The springs belong to the two town halls. The water can damage swimwear. Coordinates: ‘Source de la Rotonde’ node in OpenStreetMap, a single spring (44.65836; 6.60373), about 3.6 km west of the centre of Guillestre according to lacsdemontagne.fr.

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 — Hautes-Alpes (16).