Ways to explore
Hot springs & spas
Thermal baths, onsen, hammams and spa days. 104 picks across 81 destinations.
The best of the best
San FranciscoLands End & Sutro Baths
The city's wild edge, free forever — the coastal trail through cypress to Golden Gate overlooks, the Gilded Age swimming palace's ruins in the surf, shipwreck tides, and the labyrinth on the point.
Antigua GuatemalaPacaya Volcano Hike and Hot Springs
The easy volcano: a short guided hike over black lava fields on Pacaya, with views of Fuego and Agua, followed on the tour linked here by lunch and a soak in nearby hot springs.
Azores (São Miguel)Terra Nostra Park and Thermal Pool
A historic botanical garden in the Furnas valley, founded in 1775, with an avenue of ginkgo trees, hundreds of camellias and a big iron-rich thermal pool kept at about 40 degrees.
Bath & the CotswoldsThe Roman Baths
The reason Bath exists: a Roman temple and bathing complex built around Britain's only hot spring, still fed by steaming water and set beside the Abbey.
Black ForestBaden-Baden Thermal Baths: Caracalla Spa and Friedrichsbad
Baden-Baden has been a spa town since Roman times.
British Virgin IslandsThe Baths, Virgin Gorda
The BVI's signature sight: a tumble of huge granite boulders on the shore of Virgin Gorda, forming sea-filled grottoes you scramble through to reach Devil's Bay.
BudapestSzéchenyi Thermal Bath
The yellow neo-Baroque palace of bathing in City Park, with steaming outdoor pools, chess players up to their shoulders in hot water and a warren of indoor thermal pools and saunas.
Cyprus (Paphos & Limassol)Blue Lagoon and Baths of Aphrodite Day Trip from Paphos
A full day from Paphos to the wild Akamas peninsula, with a boat ride past sea caves and a shipwreck to swim in the turquoise Blue Lagoon, plus Latchi harbour, the Baths of Aphrodite and Polis.