Cauterets - A Pyrenean mountain town

March 21, 2024

Wow - I love Cauterets!!! But what’s so special about it?

Cauterets is a thermal spa town and ski resort but the fact that it's a proper town, right up in the Pyrenees at 1000m and has a buzz about it that's more than just skiing and bathing. To me it has a depth to it that some ski towns I've visited don't have. Tourists mingle well in the town and we were made to feel most welcome, and specially in the sports bar 😆, possibly because we were a bit of a novelty being English - we only came across a couple of English speaking blokes in the 10 days we were there. The winding streets of tall, Napoleonic buildings are enchanting with residences, boulangeries, boucheries, thermal baths, an open market, bars, creperies, restaurants, ski shops and tourist-tat shops all come together to make a bustling place to be, especially near the Hotel Le Ville where we sat a few times people-watching with a coffee or beer in our hand.

I love the winding streets
and
balconies

Chris and I treated ourselves to a 2 hour pass here. Waters are a constant 33*

Also the cute residences

I imagine that's to do with it's long history, and on the first damp day, seeing as I love a bit of history and skiing was out, we did a self-guided history tour. Apparently there is evidence of prehistoric dwellers in the vicinity, and traces of Roman baths which reveals the importance of the thermal waters to the beginnings of this town. In the 11th century, the Abbot of Saint-Savin installed a pool called 'bain d'en-haut' and cabin houses were established and grouped around it. This was the beginning of the village of Cauterets which has eleven sources of thermal sulphuric waters.

Chris, Roxy and I took a walk up on a beautiful wooded path to one of the original bath houses, no longer in use, seen here.

Cauterets continued to become famous for it's 'special healing' waters and in the 19th century the 'golden-age' of spa towns transformed the town into a fashionable place visited by celebs of the time including Victor Hugo, the Queen of Holland and Napoleon III & Empress Eugenie.

Apparently the disgusting sulphur tasting waters were the reason a local sweet, the Berligtot was invented!

There are some beautiful buildings around the town which echo this era, including the thermal baths of César, the Grand Hôtel d'Angleterre and the Grand Hotel Continental. They look a bit out of place in a small mountain town these days but are impressive in size and grandeur..

Other thermal bath places, the casino building and square are still there too. These places held daily entertainments and doubled as an ice rink in winter for the rich and famous visitors and apparently it was the St.Tropez of the 1800s!

Square turned ice rink

2024

But Cauterets was only accessible by mountain path and so crazily a tramway was built in 1871 all the way from Lourdes to bring people to 'take the waters'. Sadly it's not there any longer, closing in 1970 as roads and cars took over. The wooden station and other smaller station stops are still features in Cauterets.

The thermal sources still remain the property of a syndicate of the neighbouring communes and the 'cure thermale' is still included in the treatments offered by the French Health system to those suffering from respiratory problems and rheumatism.

Centre du Rhumotolgie
Times change, however, and after world war II the popularity of the spa diminished. In the 60s, the resort reinvented itself with the construction of the ski station at the Cirque du Lys and has developed into a winter and summer sports hub.