Bagneres de Luchon

Bagnères-de-Luchon, also referred to as Luchon, is a spa town and a commune in the Haute-Garonne département, in southwestern France. Bagnères-de-Luchon is located 87 m. S.S.W. of Toulouse, at the end of a branch line of the Southern railway from Montréjeau. The town is situated at the foot of the central Pyrenees in a beautiful valley at the confluence of the One and the Pique.

Bagnères-de-Luchon is celebrated for its thermal springs. The springs, which number forty eight, vary in composition, but are chiefly impregnated with sulphate of sodium, and range in temperature from 62 to 150 Fahrenheit. The discovery of numerous Roman remains attests the antiquity of the baths, which are identified with the Onesiorum Thermae of Strabo. Their revival in modern times dates from the latter half of the 18th century, and was due to Antoine Mégret d'Etigny, intendant of Auch.

Within the town today (2006) a more modern entrance to the baths sits alongside the older buildings. The bathing experience consists of repeated spells within a hot, sulphurous atmosphere in caves that run approximately 100 metres inside the Superbàgneres mountain, and in a cool swimming pool within the entrance building.

Bagnères-de-Luchon is celebrated as a fashionable resort. Of the promenades the finest and most frequented are the Allées d'Étigny, an avenue planted with lime-trees, at the southern extremity of which is the Thermes, or hot baths. The road is lined with bars and restaurants.

Superbagnères, located on the territory of the commune, to the south-west of the town, is a ski resort. Historically it was connected to the town by a railway, but today it is connected with a gondola. Each cabin holds up to four people and takes about ten minutes to reach the summit, running in the summer as well as the winter. It's not possible to ski back down to Luchon, except in times of exceptional snow for talented locals who know the woods.