Hot springs When in Aachen, do as the Romans did!

Your desk is snowed under, your diary’s awash, your car’s overdue a service and there’s a mouse starving to death in your fridge. Time to duck out and chill, surely!

Hot springs

  • Aachen has the hottest springs in western Europe
  • the water is up to 70° C
  • the high sulphur content lends it a characteristic smell
  • spring still in use to this day: the Kaiserquelle, Rosenquelle, Landesbadquelle and Schwertbadquelle

Go on – do like the Ancient Romans did, and Charlemagne (Karl der Große) himself. Pamper yourself in the Carolus Thermen – the modern-day incarnation of Aachen’s famous hot springs.

Oriental bathing rooms, sauna facilities and thermal pools both indoors and out: pure balm for body and soul. Here you have space to relax, recharge your batteries and let your cares drift away.

These 30+ sulphurous water springs, the hottest ones north of the Alps, with a multitude of minerals and trace elements are what to this very day has given the city the name “Bad Aachen” (Aachen Spa). The healing properties of this water are exploited at three health clinics in the city’s Burtscheid district.

Aachen´s name is based on the hot springs

In fact, water is the basis for the Aachen’s very existence – and its name, derived from the Latin “aqua” or the medieval Franconian word “ahha”, both meaning water.

The springs have determined the course of Aachen’s history for centuries, drawing people in since Celtic times. Well before Charlemagne’s day, the Ancient Romans relaxed in the largest Roman baths in western Germania. Indeed, it was due in no small part to the hot springs that Charlemagne declared Aachen his favourite palace court.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, anyone who was anyone came to take the waters in Aachen – from Casanova to the Russian Czar. Income derived from the springs saw buildings erected and helped the formation of whole sectors of industry including the cloth trade for which Aachen was once famous.

Today, the water from some springs flows underground, supplying the Carolus Thermen, the health clinics and several of the city’s fountains. However, it doesn’t promote just health, but beauty too – as an ingredient in cosmetic products.

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External links

Where the wellness customer is kingWellness services in Aachen – the health & beauty city (German only) The Carolus ThermenWellness with real thermal water Aachen's thermal springs on WikipediaThings you should know about Aachen's thermal springs (German only)