Ardesia-Therme

The ARDESIA-Therme is the Kurmittelhaus of the moor bath of Bad Lobenstein, in the slate mountains of southern Thuringia beside the Thüringer Meer reservoir district. Its name is the Italian word for slate, and the material runs through the building as a motif. The house is certified as largely barrier-free and combines a thermal bathing hall, a sauna world, physiotherapy, cosmetics and a cure department under one roof.

The bathing hall is arranged as a set of basins at different temperatures: a large thermal pool at 32 °C, a warm pool with whirlpool at 37 °C, a cold pool at 20 °C, an outdoor basin with a current channel at 33 °C, and a children's pool. Bubbler loungers, neck showers, air and water jets and a waterfall named the "Lobensteinquell" are spread across the indoor and outdoor water, and a mobile lift lets guests with disabilities into the basins. Free aqua gymnastics is offered on Monday mornings and afternoons. The sauna world holds two classic Finnish cabins at roughly 80-100 °C, a Finnish outdoor sauna with a wood-burning stove at around 110 °C, a bio sauna at 60 °C, a steam bath at 55 °C, a tepidarium at 40 °C and a house speciality, the moor sauna, whose temperature climbs from 38 to 50 °C. Cooling is handled by a plunge pool at 20 °C and movement basins indoors and out at 17-22 °C; there is a sauna garden, a rest room, foot baths and Kneipp pours, and a sauna bar. Wednesdays from 17:00 are reserved for women.

The water itself comes from the Bad Lobenstein thermal spring, a borehole sunk to a depth of 1,833.5 metres and cased to 1,201 metres, with the pump set about 340 metres below ground level to keep the temperature stable. It yields 35 to 40 cubic metres a day at 21.4 to 21.8 °C, and a balneological assessment classifies it as an akratotherm — a weakly mineralised thermal water — used in bath therapy for complaints of the musculoskeletal system and the cardiovascular system. The bath is open Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 22:00 and from 09:00 on weekends and public holidays; the sauna runs 10:00 to 22:00 every day. A 1.5-hour bathing ticket costs 12.50 euros for adults and a day ticket 21.50 euros.