Great spas of Europe make UNESCO World Heritage list

The healing power of water is at the center of every spa treatment. Seven mineral-rich healing springs bubble up in and around Bad Kissingen in Bavaria. You can bathe in the spring water, inhale it — or drink it. Freshly tapped water is available at this historic fountain bar with a foyer. It is served by fountain women who also advise the guests.

Pleasure has always been just as important as health. The desire to do something good for oneself led to a new form of tourism at the end of the 19th century. Aristocrats traveled through Europe and often spent weeks in one place. Tailored to their needs, sophisticated spa facilities, parks and hotels were created. Like the Kurhotel an der Lahn in Bad Ems in Rhineland-Palatinate.

European spa towns boasted entertainment galore, staging grand balls and artistic shows to amuse visitors. Throughout the summer months, aristocrats would come here to let their hair down and celebrate in style. Gambling — for example at Baden-Baden’s famous casino — was also hugely popular. Artists, musicians and poets like Fyodor Doystoevsky and Leo Tolstoy regularly joined the fun.

Special among Europe's spas are those in the West Bohemian Spa Triangle. Frantiskovy Lazne is the youngest and smallest of the three health resorts. It was only in the early 18th century that healing springs were discovered here. A hundred years later, Emperor Franz II had a magnificent spa built. Frantiskovy Lazne's reputation as a moor spa is legendary; it was one of the first in Europe.

The neighboring town Karlovy Vary is probably one of the most traditional health resorts in the world. Its springs were already used in the 14th century. 500 years later imperial personal physician Josef von Löscher made the place popular with an essay on the effect of healing waters. Karlovy Vary developed into one of the most fashionable health resorts in Europe.

The third spa resort is also glamorous and world-famous: Marianske Lazne. From the Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph and the British King Edward to Richard Wagner, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Frederik Chopin, they were all here. In the historic Hotel Nove Lazne with its 225 luxury rooms, you can still book the historic imperial cabin today.

Today nobody says healing water; the term "spa" is more common. Spa, like the Belgian town of the same name. Three hundred springs helped the place to a rapid career. In the 18th and 19th centuries, spa buildings, a spa hall and, of course, a casino were built next to the fountains. Spa became the meeting place of crowned heads of Europe, which is why it was soon called "Café de l'Europe."

Water from Vichy is known all over the world. Without exaggerating you can say it is the foundation of the city and its soul. Louis XV and later the Bonapartes were treated here, and Napoleon III made Vichy his summer residence. This led to the construction of mansions, hotels, and later a huge thermal center with a drinking hall and a colonnade (photo), an Oriental-style bath and an opera house.

Halfway between Pisa and Florence lies Montecatini Terme. It has only 20,000 inhabitants and is the largest and most elegant health resort in Tuscany. Guests can choose from an array of 200 hotels of all categories and three thermal baths. The most beautiful is the Stabilimento Tettucio Spa. The entrance area alone takes visitors back in time.

In the 19th century, during construction work in Bath, the remains of a Roman bath house, the origins of bathing culture in the English spa town, were discovered by chance. The ancient complex was uncovered and opened to the public. For hygienic reasons, it is no longer possible to bathe here. To do this, visitors have to go next door to the modern Thermae Bath Spa, which opened in 2005.

Baden also looks back on a 2,000-year-old tradition, which was founded by the Romans. Here too, of course, Baden bei Wien developed its own characteristic spa architecture. But there is also modern architecture to admire. The largest free-hanging glass roof in Europe spans the Römertherme Baden. Below it, hot sulfurous healing water splashes, supplied by 14 springs.