The remarkable remains of the Roman Baths in Lugo were included in the National Heritage Site list in 1931. They are now found inside a Hotel Spa, on the banks of River Miño. You should contact reception to visit them free of charge.

The Baths were built when the city was founded in 15 B.C. Baths were very important in the Roman civilization, and the thermal spring here has outstanding healing powers, as indicated by the fact that it is still in use nowadays. This water contains sulphur, sodium and carbon, and comes out at 44 degrees celcius.

The most impressive section on these premises is the Apodyterium, the place where bathers took their clothes off. First, there is a great hall with a floor made of opus signinum-a mixture of pieces of slate and lime. At the back of this hall, there are two archways leading to twin rooms, both are vaulted and have slate floors. On the walls there are eighteen inset half-point lockers. The in situ slate quarries provided most of the building materials.

One can also visit another vaulted space, that was formerly a bathing room. These could be of three types: frigidarium, for cold baths, tepidarium, for warm baths, and caldarium, for hot baths. In later periods, the room mentioned above was turned into a Christian chapel, for the use of bathers; some wall pictures still remain from this period.



Somehow or other, the Thermal Baths in Lugo have been in permanent use, as can be seen in Medieval and Modern documents. 200 metres from here one can start the trekking path Miño aberto, río abaixo (Open Miño, Down the River), within the Biosphere Reserve "Terras do Miño" (Lands of Miño River).

+ info:
Roman Baths
Address: Hotel Balneario de Lugo. Barrio da Ponte, s/n
Telephone: (+34) 982 221 228
Opening time: If you want to visit the Roman Baths, please contact reception at Spa Hotel, open all round the year, except at Christmas.