Thermes Chevalley

Thermes Chevalley stands at 10 route du Revard in Aix-les-Bains, roughly 300 m uphill from the town centre and within reach of the local bus line 3; an underground car park on three levels serves visitors. The operator, ValVital, runs two accredited cure orientations here, rheumatology and phlebology, and offers them singly or in combination. The rheumatology programme is aimed at spinal and limb osteoarthritis, inflammatory rheumatism, fibromyalgia and the after-effects of joint trauma; the phlebology programme, which the operator describes as exclusive to Chevalley, works on chronic venous insufficiency, oedema, skin trophic disorders and lymphoedema of the legs.

The water is the reason the site exists. Aix-les-Bains draws on two different boreholes: the Chevalley drilling, 2,200 m deep and delivering water at 71 C, and the Reine Hortense drilling, 1,100 m deep at 38 C. The operator classes the water as calcium bicarbonate, sulphated and sulphurous, and dates its use to Roman times. Treatments include thermal steam applications, muds, massage under thermal water, plain and hydrojet baths, the house Berthollaix technique and pools; more than 85 per cent of treatments are given individually and group sessions are capped at fifteen people, with a mixed team of physiotherapists, physiotherapy technicians, a nutritionist, sophrologist, relaxation therapist and gymnastics instructor.

Visitors without a prescription use the Spa Thermal inside the same building. Its Aqua-detente area combines heated thermal pools, hammams, saunas, a rest room and a solarium; the indoor basin is held at about 34 C, while the outdoor basin is heated and open in all seasons and varies with the weather. Entry is from age 12, with a family slot on Wednesdays for children from three, and saunas and hammams reserved for over-16s. Aquagym sessions of 30 minutes run on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays outside school holidays and are included in the entry price, and a baby-swimming hour for children aged four months to three years is held on Saturday mornings. The Cafe Thermae serves poolside from Monday to Sunday.