Balneario de Corconte

Balneario de Corconte is a thermal bath and spa hotel at Corconte, on the boundary between Cantabria and Burgos in northern Spain. The operator places it at the foot of the Ebro reservoir, where the river reaches its greatest width, and states that guests can see the water from their room window. It runs as a seasonal spa hotel: the site's booking notice announces that the balneario reopens in March. The thermal centre works by appointment only, and its treatment list is published in three parts — crenotherapy, thermotherapy and massage, with facial and body treatments charged separately.

The water

The operator describes the water of Corconte as an exquisite table water of weak mineralisation (mineralización débil) which rises from the spring in extremely pure and aseptic conditions at an altitude of 837 metres and a temperature of around 10 degrees, containing up to 24 elements in balanced proportion. The site publishes an analysis attributed to the CNTA laboratory of the Ebro: a dry residue at 180 degrees of 362, chlorides 170, bicarbonates 51, sulphates 18.2 and calcium 15.5, listed without the unit being restated. The operator states that, drunk, the water produces a wide-ranging diuretic response suited to disorders of the kidney and urinary tract, and that in balneotherapy its topical action is effective against dermatological conditions, chronic rheumatism, back pain and respiratory complaints. The house presents itself as a balneario of long curative tradition.

Baths and treatments

Under crenotherapy the site lists a 30-minute bath in the pool, in mineral-medicinal water at 37 °C and without movement, which the operator describes as neurosedative and relaxing. Shorter applications follow: a 15-minute bubble bath with pressurised air injection, a 15-minute hydromassage bath, additive baths with seaweed, aloe vera or milk, vanilla and cinnamon, an eight-minute thermal jet, a ten-minute filiform shower directing fine jets at different levels of the body, and a ten-minute steam sauna or Turkish bath. Thermotherapy includes a parafango pack applied at 45 °C, self-heating marine mud and wraps of green algae, marine muds or forest fruits. The massage list runs from relaxing and circulatory massages to a Vichy shower massage, draining pindas, bamboo therapy and hot volcanic stones.

History

The site tells the local tradition of a shepherd from Reinosa who turned his old horse loose in the pastures and found it restored, tracing the recovery to the spring it had been drinking from. According to the operator the spring became popular locally early in the 19th century, giving rise to a rudimentary "Casa de Aguas", and the water began to be sold commercially from 1878. The decisive impulse came early in the 20th century from a new owner, Juan Correa, who bought the land after his wife's sudden cure; the original inn became the "Hotel de la Fuente" and finally the present Gran Hotel Balneario, inaugurated in 1922.

Hotel and dining

The operator advertises large rooms with large beds, a bright dining room seating more than two hundred, a quiet lounge and a cafeteria, and holds events, weddings and meetings. It addresses offers to guests over 55 and takes part in the Spanish social thermalism programme. On cancellations it states that those made more than 72 hours before arrival carry no penalty, that after that the hotel may charge the full value of the first night, and that a no-show or an early departure is charged in full. The address given is Comarcal CL-630 km 2, Valle de Valdebezana, in the province of Burgos, which the operator puts 40 kilometres from the Alto Campoo ski station and 25 from the source of the Ebro.