Spa town

This article is about a town around a spa. For other uses, see Spa (disambiguation).

The statue of "The crutchbreaker" in the spa town Piešťany (Slovakia) – a symbol of balneotherapy
Print of Spa, Belgium, 1895
Ikaalisten Kylpylä, a spa center in Ikaalinen, Pirkanmaa, Finland

A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits.

Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. He became interested in the curative properties of the hot mineral waters there and in 1676 wrote A discourse of Bathe, and the hot waters there. Also, Some Enquiries into the Nature of the water. This brought the purported health-giving properties of the waters to the attention of the aristocracy, who started to partake in them soon after.[1]

The term spa is used for towns or resorts offering hydrotherapy, which can include cold water or mineral water treatments and geothermal baths.[2]

  1. ^ Burns, D. Thorburn (1981). "Thomas Guidott (1638–1705): Physician and Chymist, contributor to the analysis of mineral waters". Analytical Proceedings. 18 (1): 2–6. doi:10.1039/AP9811800002.
  2. ^ "Healing Waters; Investigative Files (Skeptical Briefs June 2005)". Archived from the original on 24 October 2007. Retrieved 3 February 2008.