Thermes de Marlioz

The Thermes de Marlioz stand in a wooded park of ten hectares on the southern edge of Aix-les-Bains, in Savoie. The water was noticed in 1822, when the chevalier de Gimbernat identified the Esculape spring; Joseph Bonjean analysed it in 1838, the Adelaide spring was put to work for inhalations in 1850, and the establishment in its modern form was built in 1861 by the owner Barthelemy Billet and the architect Alphonse Mottet. Napoleon III and the empress Eugenie were among the early guests. The house was enlarged from 1892, first renovated in 1927, and rebuilt entirely in 1981 behind the retained historic facade of the central block.

Marlioz works with sulphurous, calcic water that the operator describes as among the most sulphurous in France, rich in sulphur, calcium and magnesium. The current supply comes from a borehole called Hygie, sunk in 2023, artesian and delivered at 23 degrees, which the operator says is twice as mineralised as the Ariana source it replaced. The treatments are entirely respiratory and oral rather than bathing: nasal baths and irrigations, pre-laryngeal douches, gargles, humage, sprays, nebulisation and aerosols, collective steam inhalation, and drinking cures. The two approved reimbursed indications are the airways and ORL tract, and diseases of the buccal and lingual mucosa, the latter treated with local baths, gum douches and oral compresses.

Alongside the classic eighteen-day prescribed course the house sells six-day cures libres with medical supervision, one and two-day discovery cures, and packages combining treatments with a stay. It opens Monday to Saturday from 7:15 to 12:00 only, and closes for the winter: the published dates are 5 December 2026 for the annual shutdown, reopening 8 February 2027 and closing again on 4 December 2027. Since 2018 the estate has belonged to the Compagnie Francaise d'Hotellerie, and it now also holds two hotels, a restaurant and a separate day spa.