Photo by Threeohsix, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
🇵🇹 Portugal · Estremadura (Oeste, Leiria District)
Photo by Threeohsix, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
🇵🇹 Portugal · Estremadura (Oeste, Leiria District)
♨ Temperature
34°C
⛰ Altitude
—
⚗ pH
6.9
💧 TDS
—
🌊 Flow rate
—
📅 Established
1485, by Queen D. Leonor
✓ Verified on 2026-07-30
Hospital Termal Rainha D. Leonor, in the town of Caldas da Rainha (literally 'the Queen's hot springs'), traces its founding to 1485. According to the traditional account, around 1484 Queen D. Leonor, wife of King João II, came across local people bathing in foul-smelling waters near a road; after reportedly using them herself to treat an ailment and recovering, she founded a hospital there the following year and established a settlement to support it. The water is hypersaline, sulphurous, sodium-chloridated and calcium-sulphated, emerging at about 34°C with a pH of 6.9. The town grew up around the spa and flourished in the 19th century as thermal tourism became fashionable among the wealthy.
Founded in 1485 by Queen D. Leonor, consort of King João II, after a traditional account of her discovering and being healed by the local sulphurous waters around 1484. It is often described as one of the oldest thermal hospitals still standing in the world, and the surrounding settlement grew into the town of Caldas da Rainha, which gained village status in 1511 and city status in 1927.
Phone+351 262 240 012
Websitewww.cm-caldas-rainha.pt/
AddressLargo Rainha D. Leonor, 2500-176 Caldas da Rainha, Portugal