Welcome to bagnères-de-bigorre

Bagnères-de-Bigorre is located in the middle of the Hautes-Pyrénées, at 550 meters high, at the foot of the Pic of the South and the legendary collars d' Aspin and of Tourmalet.

At the same time sub-prefecture and place chief of canton, the city covers 12.600 hectares for 8790 inhabitants.

This is the first thermal spa of the department. It accomodates more 8000curists each year. Bagnères and its architecture characteristic of the thermal cities are surrounded by an ECRIN of preserved nature. This environment, in which perdure a traditional agriculture, joins together multiple possibilities of discovered at the same time sporting and family.

The Field of Tourmalet offers more than 100 km of tracks. This is the greatest skiable field of the French Pyrenees.

Bagnères-de-Bigorre proposes each year of the sporting and cultural appointments impossible to circumvent: the festivals has High Voice or Piano Peak, the Meetings High-school girls of Video, the concerts, the theatre… but also the Tour de France, the International ones of tennis or the famous matches of Rugby.

The town of Bagnères maintains an industrial know-how which dates from last century. Thanks to the support of the Community of communes High-Bigorre, it accomodates a dynamic fabric of SME centered on the aeronautics, mechanics and the electricity.

The village of Bagnères offers very pleasant walks. Many houses attract the attention by their frontages or their architecture. Places and gardens also encourage with the relaxation.

Also do not miss the visit of the three museums of the city, which will lead you to discovered natural spaces of Bigorre, with the illustration of old arts of life and with a voyage among the painters of the beginning of the 19th century.

Several monuments take part in the interest of the visit:

• The tower of the Jacobins. It is the old belfry of the church of the preaching friars, only element of this monument arrived at our days, and built in XIIIrd century.
• The house Jeanne d' Albret, XVIth century, visible from a small square very close to the tower of the Jacobins.
• The Gothic church Saint-Vincent, the XIVth century.
• Some vestiges of the cloister Saint-Jean(in particular the gate which belonged to the church of the same name, built in the XIInd century).
• Large thermal baths of the XIXth century, always in activity.

"Aquensis, la cité des Eaux" offers 3,000 m2 completely dedicated to well-being and to the various pleasures of thermal springs.

The history of Bagnères-de Bigorre is summarized by its former name, "VICUS AQUENSIS", given by the Romans who already knew how to appreciate the virtues of the town's warm waters.

The history of the city was written around the natural ressources in thermal waters.

"Aquensis, la cité des Eaux", is a link between past and present of this Pyrenean town which is the 1st health resort of Hautes-Pyrénées.

This new realization of the City of Bagnères-de-Bigorre, opened in July, 2003, is in the continuity of this story rooted in thermal waters.

Installed in the 19th building of the Casino, "Aquensis, la cité des Eaux", realized by Toulouse architect Luc Demolombe, benefits from a unique glass and wooden architecture, mixing with great elegance architectural heritage and modernity.

In the heart of a case of clear wood, the hammam, the care cabins and the others infrastructures are splendidly highlighted by an original architecture which sets up the site as a real Cathedral of the Well-being.

The neighbourhoods are rich in goals of visit. The towns of Lourdes and Tarbes are each one with less 20km. In the south, the natural park of the Pyrenees is an inexhaustible source of walks and excursions. Remarkable sites:

• Caves of Médous (at 3km). They are visited in the boat, for a magic spectacle and enchanter.
• The abbey of Escaladieu (at 15km). A superb Cistercien unit of XIIe century, opened with the visit all the year. Spectacles and exposures are also regularly programmed there.
• The Pic of the Midi (at 25km). This high scientific place, devoted to the astronomy because of the exceptional purity of the atmosphere, welcomes the visitors in its museum of the altitude, highest of Europe