Les Bains du Mont-Blanc

The thermal water of Saint-Gervais was discovered in 1806 at Le Fayet, in the Arve valley at the foot of the Mont Blanc massif, by a local doctor named Gontard, and by 1824 the young spa was already drawing some 600 bathers a season. On 12 July 1892, the rupture of a glacial water pocket high on the mountain sent a devastating flood down the valley that destroyed nearly all of the original thermal baths; the establishment was rebuilt afterward and went on to become recognised for treating ENT conditions and severe burns. The water itself, naturally captured at 39°C after a journey of centuries through rock, picks up sulphur, magnesium, boron, silicon, copper and manganese along the way, and is credited with soothing, healing and anti-inflammatory properties. Les Bains du Mont-Blanc is the spa's indoor-outdoor bathing circuit, set against direct views of the glaciers, and the operation has been run under the Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc brand since the L'Oréal group acquired it in 2016.