Thermal baths · November to March
Hot springs and spas: warm baths for winter
Few things are more tempting in winter than an outdoor hot bath while it’s cold outside. Spa towns with centuries of history, riverside pools and lagoons among lava fields: where to find them in Spain, in Europe and further afield.
Updated 21 October 2026 · How we make our guides
In Spain
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SpainOurense
Galicia’s thermal capital: springs of very hot water right in the centre, at As Burgas, and along the Miño pools and baths such as Outariz and A Chavasqueira, linked by a riverside path.
Things to do in Ourense -
SpainMontanejos
The Fuente de los Baños, a pool on the Mijares river between rock walls, with the water at about 25 °C all year round.
Things to do in Montanejos -
SpainVall de Boí
The Caldes de Boí spa, at the top of the valley of Romanesque churches listed as World Heritage, at the gateway to Aigüestortes National Park.
Things to do in Vall de Boí
In Europe
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HungaryBudapest
The city of spas: Széchenyi, with its outdoor pools steaming in the middle of winter, and Rudas, with its 16th-century Turkish bath and a rooftop pool overlooking the Danube. Gellért is closed for renovation until 2028.
Things to do in Budapest -
HungaryHévíz
The largest thermal lake in the world you can swim in, with warm water in winter too, surrounded by woodland.
Things to do in Hévíz -
Czech RepublicKarlovy Vary
Bohemia’s great spa town, with colonnades and thermal springs you sip from porcelain cups.
Things to do in Karlovy Vary -
United KingdomBath
The city of Roman baths, a World Heritage Site; you can visit the ancient ones, and for a dip there’s the Thermae Bath Spa, with a rooftop pool.
Things to do in Bath -
IcelandBlue Lagoon
Milky turquoise water among lava fields, near Keflavík airport; in winter, with luck, with the northern lights. Nearby eruptions have closed it on some days: check it’s open.
Things to do in Blue Lagoon -
PortugalAzores
In Furnas, on São Miguel island, pools of hot, iron-rich water such as Terra Nostra or Poça da Dona Beija, in a volcanic valley.
Things to do in Azores
Further afield
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TurkeyPamukkale
White travertine terraces with warm pools above the ruins of Hierapolis; in Cleopatra’s Pool you swim among ancient columns.
Things to do in Pamukkale -
JapanHakone
Onsen in traditional ryokan, among forests, with Mount Fuji peeking out on clear days.
Things to do in Hakone -
New ZealandRotorua
Geysers, boiling mud and thermal pools in New Zealand’s Māori heartland.
Things to do in Rotorua -
ChilePucón
Hot springs among forests and volcanoes and, a little over an hour away, the Termas Geométricas, with red walkways over a ravine.
Things to do in Pucón
Frequently asked questions
Which is Spain’s spa city?
Ourense, in Galicia, prides itself on being it: it has hot springs right in the centre, at As Burgas, and pools and baths along the Miño river, linked by a path.
Where can you bathe in hot water outdoors in winter?
In the outdoor pools of Budapest’s Széchenyi, in Iceland’s Blue Lagoon, in Lake Hévíz, in the pools of Furnas in the Azores, and in Spain at the Fuente de los Baños in Montanejos or the Miño pools in Ourense.
What is an onsen?
A Japanese hot-spring bath, often inside a ryokan, the traditional inn. You go in after washing thoroughly and without a swimsuit, and some don’t allow tattoos.
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More travel ideas
- Europe in winter: where to go
- Spain in winter: where to go
- Romantic getaways
- Where to see the northern lights
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Cover photo: A.Savin (FAL), Wikimedia Commons.