Les Bains du Couloubret

Ax-les-Thermes takes its name from its thermal waters, and the Couloubret is one of three thermal establishments still operating in the town today, alongside the Modèle and the Teich. The commune sits on more than sixty individual hot springs, with temperatures ranging from a mild 18°C to a fierce 77°C, the hottest natural waters recorded anywhere in the Pyrenees. The springs were already known in Gallo-Roman times, and gained lasting fame around 1260 when Roger IV, Count of Foix, founded a leper hospital here to treat crusaders returning from the Holy Land — the town's central Bassin des Ladres, fed directly by 77°C water, takes its name from that history. The water is heavy with silica, sodium and sulphides, giving it the pronounced sulphurous smell typical of the valley, and is used today mainly to treat rheumatism, sciatica and respiratory ailments.