14 Best destinations for hot springs and natural spas

Centred on Bordeaux and the Basque coast, this region is France’s undisputed spa capital, home to 30 of the country’s 170 spa resorts. The region’s unique sub-soils enrich the water with mineral salts and trace elements. Being the world’s biggest region of fine wines, it’s the go-to place for innovative wine-themed treatments.

Magical Bali has hot, natural springs scattered across the island; just look for the Hindu temples built by them to source the ‘holy’ water. There’s a mix of private retreats and public facilities ­– like the fine public one at Banjar. It’s wonderfully zen spot for a soak, amid lush landscapes, rice paddies and colourful Hindu architecture.

Many people are surprised that they can’t bathe in the town’s Roman Baths, but the Thermae Bath Spa is the modern equivalent of the attraction that gave the town its name.

It opened in 2006 with a showpiece rooftop pool, steam rooms and the intimate Cross Bath and therapy rooms specialising in thermal water massages. Bath’s natural thermal water – the same used by the Romans – is used throughout.

Known as the ‘City of Spas’, Budapest has more thermal and medicinal water springs than any other city – 118 in fact, providing over 70 million litres of thermal water a day. Although used by the Romans, spa bathing didn’t become an integral part of Budapest culture until the 16th-century Turkish occupation.

Today there are 15 public thermal baths (and many more private ones), notably the Szechenyi, a vast golden palace of steam pools and artesian water baths.

Set at the northern end of the Napa Valley, this region is rich in geothermal mineral waters and naturally-occurring hot springs. It’s famous for its mud baths, which have been used for thousands of years to treat health and skin problems. The mud originates from mixing the local volcanic ash with hot spring water. Its most famous spa, the Calistoga Spa Hot Springs Resort, has operated there since 1900.

With dozens of active and dormant volcanoes oozing hot springs and even rivers, and well-developed tourist infrastructure, Costa Rica is one of the best places in the world for geothermal pampering.

There’s a big choice of things to do. In locations like Volcán Tenorio and Rincon de la Vieja, it is still possible to find natural hot rivers flowing in pristine rainforest. Others in locations like Arenal have been diverted through man-made pools – set in designated day spas.

At the highest end are luxury geothermal spa hotels (usually open to guests only), where volcanic spring water flows directly into the spa or even into your personal in-room bath or plunge pool.

At 423m below sea level, the Dead Sea marks the Earth’s lowest elevation on land. The sea is a natural collection point for salts and minerals, with salinity up to ten times that of ocean water – so dense that swimmers float on its surface, while animals and plants struggle to flourish (hence the name).

The sea’s mineral-laden waters ease discomfort from arthritis, soothe fiery skin conditions like acne and eczema, heal allergies and boost circulation so helping with detoxing.

They’ve been revered for their magic healing properties for thousands of years – King Solomon, the Queen of Sheba, Cleopatra and King Herod all came to bathe here. No surprise then that the Dead Sea is home to some world-class spas today.

The surrounding desert’s reputation as a spa mecca isn’t just fluff: the area is full of mineral-rich hot springs that people have visited since Native American days. And no destination in the desert has capitalized on that better than this town, 15 minutes north of Palm Springs, where spas pump in the therapeutic waters that are naturally heated to nearly 150-degrees for those looking for a luxurious way to soak their cares away.

Like many Nordic nations, Icelanders are obsessed with bathing in the great outdoors – only here, they have the advantage that many of their favourite swimming spots are as warm as a bath.

Iceland is littered with natural hot springs, or ‘hotpots’, a by-product of the violent volcanic activity that’s continually roiling just beneath the island’s rocky crust. Some, like the Blue Lagoon and Myvatn Nature Baths, are very well-known – but there are hundreds more ‘hot pots’ hidden away deep in the countryside or along the coast which are known only to locals.

Bathing in the hot, mineral-rich waters is said to be good for the body and the mind. The naturally warm waters are especially rich in sulphur and silicate minerals – believed to be beneficial to skin conditions like psoriasis.

This a spectacular volcanic island in the Bay of Naples is a dedicated spa destination, boasting thermo-mineral pools, steam holes, rich volcanic mud and dozens of natural springs. Many of the island’s resorts operate as day-parks and the focus is primarily therapeutic rather than pampering. One for the spa aficionados.

New Zealand sits on a geothermal fault line, making it prime country for bubbling, geothermal hot springs ­known in Maori as waiariki. Although found across both islands, the Central Plateau region of the North Island, underlain by the Taupo Volcanic Zone, is particularly good, especially near Rotorua.

Japan is a mountainous country, jam-packed with volcanoes – and where there are volcanoes, there are hot springs. The underground geothermal activity heats water, that rises to the surface creating warm (even boiling), mineral-rich pools of water – fantastic for bathing in, if the temperature is right.

It’s estimated that Japan has over 3,000 hot springs – known as onsen – across the country. Good for health, especially skin, relaxing and sociable, it’s not surprisingly, then, that over the centuries a soak in an onsen has become an integral part of Japanese life and culture.

Many naturally occurring onsen have been converted into indoor (noten-buro) or outdoor (roten-buro) pleasure baths. They can be public or private facilities and sometimes contained within your hotel or ryokan.

For the real deal, you need to get out of the major cities to the natural sources of water. Public hot baths in cities, known as sento, don’t quite hit the spot.

This small region in southwest Colorado sits over the Mother Spring aquifer – the world’s deepest aquifer. Public hot spring bathing pools abound here, all filled with mineral-rich thermal waters that soothe the skin, muscles and joints. Local indigenous people have used them for centuries for healing; now you can soak away surrounded by the rugged San Juan Mountains.

Tuscany is full of natural hot springs or terme, many of which date from Roman or even Etruscan times and whose waters, originating from deep within the earth’s crust and emerging at around 35°C-37°C, have long been known to have therapeutic properties.

Each spring has a different combination of minerals and gases, so different terme are said to be beneficial for different conditions. Carbon dioxide boosts the immune system, for example, and sulfur-rich water is believed to benefit muscular and arthritic pain.

Hotels, some with day spas, have been developed around many of these springs, and while some are fairly modest, others have turned into luxury spa resorts offering first-class accommodation and a myriad of treatments (both medicinal and cosmetic) to compliment the thermal waters.