Thermal Destination
Dax
Dax · France
In the pine-scented Landes of south-west France, Dax is the country’s leading thermal town — the Roman Aquae Tarbellicae, where some 60,000 visitors a year still come to take the warm spring water and the celebrated healing mud that made the place famous in antiquity.
Aquae Tarbellicae and the legionary’s dog
The Romans founded the town around the hot spring of La Nèhe under Emperor Augustus, naming it after the local Tarbelli tribe; legend says its fame began when a legionary’s old, lame dog was abandoned on the warm muddy banks of the Adour and returned home healed. Dax became one of the twenty-one cities of Roman Aquitania, its waters and mud prized for easing rheumatism. Over the centuries Aquae was worn down to Acqs, and finally to Dax.
France’s first thermal town
Dax welcomes around 60,000 curists each year, more than any other spa town in France, for treatments centred on rheumatology and circulation.
Its signature is pelotherapy using the péloïde — a unique living mud of Adour silt, hot spring water and a blue-green algae found only in Dax’s springs — applied warm to soothe aching joints.
Roman Dax
The Fontaine Chaude and the ancient ramparts
At the heart of town the Fontaine Chaude pours out 64 °C water on the presumed site of the Roman baths, while a surviving stretch of the 4th-century Gallo-Roman city wall still traces the outline of ancient Aquae Tarbellicae.
Plan your visit
Good to Know
How to reach Dax by TGV, the mild climate and what to see in the Roman town and the Landes.
Travel information →Where to Stay
Hand-picked hotels and thermal resorts close to the Fontaine Chaude.
Hotels in Dax →Booking
Browse bookable Roman thermal spa travel packages for Dax.
View packages →Local Tourism Information
Office de Tourisme et du Thermalisme du Grand Dax
Tel. +33 5 58 56 86 86
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