Balneario de Graena

Balneario de Graena is a thermal bath at Los Baños y Graena, in the Guadix district of Granada province, below the northern face of the Sierra Nevada, and is run as part of the Relais Termal group. The operator places it in the municipality of Cortes y Graena beside the valley of the river Alhama, about nine kilometres from Guadix and some fifty from Granada. The site describes the establishment as among the oldest thermal baths in Spain, its waters known to the Romans and the buildings marked by the Moorish period, and lists a thermal area, a four-star hotel and a restaurant on the same site. The surrounding country is known for its inhabited caves, which the operator treats as the area's defining feature.

Thermal water

By composition, the operator states, the waters are sulphated, calcic and magnesic, with a variety of other anions and cations in smaller quantities such as sodium, potassium and iron. The site sets out what it calls their principal properties: by chemical composition the operator states that they are antispasmodic, sedative, anti-inflammatory and muscle-relaxing, and in inhalation applications that they thin and help clear mucus and act as a bronchodilator, which it describes as effective in conditions of the upper airways. According to the site the waters were declared of public utility in 1869.

History

The operator relates that the Romans knew the properties of these waters but that it was the Arabs who left their indelible mark on the bath. The site states that Queen Isabella the Catholic recommended bathing here in her Ordenanzas of 25 March 1495, and that in the fifteenth century the physicians of the Hospital Real in Guadix used the waters to treat patients.

Thermal circuits

Two circuits are published. The site describes the Relaxing Arab Circuit as beginning with a bath in the warm pool and continuing through the walking corridor, the steam room, a bath in the hot pool and the nebuliser, ending with a few minutes in the rest room. The Toning Arab Circuit, according to the site, starts in the hot pool, continues through the walking corridor and the steam room, then the Scottish shower. Appointments must be booked at reception in advance, a cap and swimming costume are obligatory in the basins and circuits, and the site states that treatments are supervised by a medical team through a health questionnaire.

Hotel and dining

The operator describes the Hotel Balneario de Graena as a four-star hotel standing next to the old bath building, whose facilities it says have been completely renovated. According to the site it was inaugurated in 2016 and has 59 rooms, among them six adapted rooms, one junior suite and eleven attic rooms, together with a cafeteria, a restaurant, terraces and large social lounges. The kitchen is described as traditional and market-based, with seasonal produce and some dishes typical of Andalusia.

Opening hours

The site gives the spa as open Monday to Saturday from 8:30 to 14:00 and from 17:00 to 20:00, and on Sundays from 8:30 to 14:00.