A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa. Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits.
Hot Springs National Park is an American national park in central Garland County, Arkansas, adjacent to the city of Hot Springs, the county seat. Hot Springs Reservation was initially created by an act of the United States Congress on April 20, 1832, to be preserved for future recreation. Established before the concept of a national park existed, it was the first time that land had been set aside by the federal government to preserve its use as an area for recreation. The hot spring water has been popularly believed for centuries to possess medicinal properties, and was a subject of legend among several Native American tribes. Following federal protection in 1832, the city developed into a successful spa town.
A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are especially widespread in Europe and Japan. Day spas and medspas are also quite popular, and offer various personal care treatments.
The Gellért Thermal Baths and Swimming Pool, also known simply as the Gellért Baths, is a bath complex in Budapest in Hungary. It is part of the famous Hotel Gellért in Buda.
A hot tub is a large tub full of water used for hydrotherapy, relaxation or pleasure. Some have powerful jets for massage purposes. Hot tubs are sometimes also known as "spas" or by the trade name Jacuzzi. Hot tubs may be located outdoors or indoors.
Harbin Hot Springs is a non-profit hot spring retreat and workshop center at Harbin Springs in Lake County, Northern California. Named after Matthew Harbin, a pioneer who settled in the Lake County area. It is located about two hours northeast of the San Francisco Bay Area, in the United States. The facility was partially destroyed in the Valley Fire in September 2015, and was temporarily closed. In January 2019 it partially reopened, including the main pools and sauna, and a limited cafeteria service.
Berkeley Springs State Park is situated in the center of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, USA. The centerpiece of the Park is its historic mineral spa. These waters were celebrated for their medicinal or restorative powers and were generally taken internally for digestive disorders, or bathed in for stress relief. Native peoples visited these springs as did George Washington. Berkeley Springs is the only state-run spa in the United States and is operated by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources.
Banff Upper Hot Springs are commercially developed hot springs located in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, near the Banff townsite. Europeans first became aware of the springs in 1883. As it has been developed since, the hot pool is outdoors and while in the pool, visitors can look across the valley to Mount Rundle. It is located at 1,585 metres (5,200 ft) of elevation, which makes it the highest hot spring in Canada.
Hot Lake Hotel is a historic Colonial Revival hotel originally built in 1864 in Hot Lake, Union County, Oregon, United States. The hotel received its namesake from the thermal spring lakes on the property, and operated as a luxury resort and sanitorium during the turn of the century, advertising the medicinal attributes of the mineral water and drawing visitors worldwide. It is also the first known commercial building in the world to utilize geothermal energy as its primary heat source.
Scovern Hot Springs is a thermal spring system, and former settlement in the Kern River Valley of the Southern Sierra Nevada, in Kern County, California.
Castle Rock Springs was a resort Lake County, California built around a group of mineral springs, including one hot spring with relatively high volumes of water.
Howard Springs is set of springs turned into a resort in the 1870s in Lake County, California. The resort catered primarily to people interested in the curative powers of the mineral waters. Guests were accommodated in cabins or tents. At one time it had an official post office. The resort changed hands many times over the years, with various changes to the lodge, accommodations and bathhouses, until closing in 1970. For a period it was leased for geothermal exploration. Today it has reopened as a health resort.
Seigler Springs is a set of springs in Lake County, California around which a resort developed in the 19th century. In the 1930s the resort was expanded, and in 1947 an airport opened nearby. The resort declined in the 1960s. Part of it was separated out and became a residential subdivision, while part became a religious retreat. The 2015 Valley Fire caused great damage.
The Callaghan Apartments, also known as the Plaza Apartments and Hotel and the Plaza Hotel, was erected in 1918 in Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis, Wyoming. It was at one time one of six hotels catering to tourists using the Big Spring of Thermopolis, a hot spring reputed to possess curative properties. The hotel was erected by bricklayer James Callaghan, who obtained a 98-year lease on the site commencing on January 1, 1918. Callaghan made his own bricks in a kiln he built on the site, completing the Callaghan Apartments in June 1918. He employed several nurses and a masseur for his guests. In 1921 Callaghan sold the property to Dr. P.W. Metz who renamed it The Plaza.
Gilman Hot Springs, also known as San Jacinto Hot Springs or the Relief Springs, is a hot spring system in the Inland Empire area of Southern California. Located near Potrero Creek, the San Jacinto River, and California State Route 79, the springs system consists of "about half a dozen" springs named for the Mexican land grant Rancho San Jacinto Viejo.
Bimini Baths was a geothermal mineral water public bathhouse and plunge in what is now Koreatown, Los Angeles, California, US. It was situated just west of downtown, near Third Street and Vermont Avenue. Bimini Baths contained a natatorium, swimming pools, swimming plunge, Turkish baths, a medical treatment department, and bottling works.
Truth or Consequences Hot Springs is a thermal spring system located in the Hot Springs Artesian Basin area of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico in Sierra County.
The Buckhorn Baths Motel at 5900 East Main Street at the corner of North Recker Road in Mesa, Arizona was a small mineral hot springs resort which offered a bathhouse as well as both cottages and motel rooms for overnight stays. Beginning in 1936 as a gas station and store, Ted and Alice Sliger developed the property into a resort complex which opened in 1939 and was virtually complete as of 1947. It continued to operate until 1999, when the bathhouse closed, although the motel and "Wildlife Museum" continued until 2004.
Buckhorn Hot Mineral Wells also known as Buckhorn Baths, and Buckhorn Mineral Wells is a hot spring located seven miles East of Mesa, Arizona.
San Juan Hot Springs, also San Juan Capistrano Hot Springs, is a geothermal area in what is now Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, near Cleveland National Forest, in Orange County, California in the United States. The springs were used by the Indigenous peoples of the region, and were an integral part of the dominion of Misíon San Juan Capistrano. They were later developed and used, on and off for a hundred years, as a resort area of post-settlement Southern California. The 52 springs were designated Orange County Historic Landmark No. 38 in 1989.
