50.49° N · 5.87° E
The Ardennes spa town, a World Heritage Site: the Thermes with views, the Pouhon water, the springs in the forest and the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
Part of Thermal getaways
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Thermal baths · 3 h · €35 on weekdays · €37 at weekends · from age 15 · booking recommended
Spring · 20 min · free · natural iron-rich water and the Golden Book of Spa
Museum · 1 h · every day from 13:00 to 17:00 · in Queen Marie-Henriette's Royal Villa
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
The baths open all year and are the perfect autumn and winter plan; go on a weekday, when it is cheaper and there are fewer people. From March to November there are tours of the circuit on set dates. Avoid the weekend of the Formula 1 Grand Prix, at the end of summer, when the area fills up.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
By car, Spa is about an hour and a half from Brussels along the E40 and E42, exit 8. With a car you can reach the forest springs, Lake Warfaaz and the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, about 15 minutes away, and the hotels on the outskirts, which have free parking.
For Spa, fly to Brussels-Zaventem (BRU) or to Charleroi (CRL), with direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities. From Zaventem it is about an hour and a half by hire car along the E40; by train, about two hours from Brussels with a change at Pepinster. Liège has an airport, but with hardly any passenger flights from Spain.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
Spa works for older teenagers: the baths admit ages 15 and over, and a quarter of an hour away is one of the most famous Formula 1 circuits in the world, with behind-the-scenes tours.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: A family hotel in a typical Spa villa 500 metres from the centre, with large free parking and a bicycle store.
Why we like it: A seven-room hotel in a former Austrian chalet on the southern hillside of Spa, 1.2 km from the centre, with free parking.
Why we like it: Rooms above the Le Grand Maur restaurant, with stay packages and seasonal dinner in Spa.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: a salad or a pasta dish on the terrace; the Espace Lunch buffet, €35, by reservation
What to order: a wood-grilled cut of meat, the house speciality
What to order: the seasonal menu of the day
Map
The places to stay and services on the map are the ones for the way you travel. Turn on the layers you want and tap a point to see its details.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
50.65° N · 5.58° E
By planeCar-free
50.35° N · 5.46° E
By carBy plane
50.00° N · 5.72° E
By carCar-free
50.13° N · 5.19° E
By planeBy carCar-free
Tips
The baths are cheaper from Monday to Friday, and the late entry, from 17:30, costs €31.
Without a booking you may be left outside on busy days.
And short swimming trunks: long ones are not allowed.
Spa is the town that gave its name to all the spas in the world. From the sixteenth century kings, tsars and writers came here to drink its ferruginous waters, and since 2021 it has been part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe, a World Heritage Site. Today it is a quiet little Ardennes town, surrounded by forests and springs, with a modern thermal baths at the top of the hill and, a quarter of an hour away, the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. It is the most convenient thermal getaway from Brussels.
By car, about an hour and a half on the E40 towards Liège and the E42, exit 8. The baths have parking for €2 for up to five hours.
By train, about two hours with a change at Pepinster; the station is in the centre and the baths are on the hill above. Without a car you reach the baths and the centre, but not the circuit or the springs in the forest.
The main plan is the Thermes de Spa: 800 m² of indoor and outdoor baths, saunas and hammams, with the town at your feet. Three hours cost €35 on weekdays and €37 at weekends; the minimum age is 15 and it is best to book. Have something to eat on the terrace of the Panoramique 325 brasserie, open also to those who are not bathing.
In the centre, the Pouhon Pierre-le-Grand holds the most abundant spring, of sparkling, iron-rich water, and the tourist office; try it, it tastes of iron. Ten minutes away, the Museum of the Water Town, in Queen Marie Henriette's villa, shows the Jolités, the lacquered objects typical of Spa, and is open every afternoon from 13:00 to 17:00.
Outside the centre, the Sauvenière spring, the oldest, is the starting point of the promenade d'Orléans through the forest, and Lake Warfaaz makes for a quiet one-hour walk.
If you like Formula 1, the Spa-Francorchamps circuit is about 15 minutes away and runs guided behind-the-scenes tours, with the paddock, the podium and the Race Control room, for €16. Only on set dates from March to November: check the calendar and book.
La Source de la Géronstère, in the forest, roasts its meats over wood and is open every day; it is the Sunday lunch. Le Grand Maur is the seasonal dinner, Tuesday to Saturday.
To sleep, La Villa Blanche is a typical villa 500 metres from the centre with free parking; L'Ecrin d'Ô, a seven-room chalet on the hillside, only for over-12s, from €145 a night; and Le Grand Maur has rooms above the restaurant.
The baths and the centre fit into a day from Brussels. With a night you add the circuit and a walk in the forest, or you go on to Liège, 40 minutes away, or to Durbuy, an hour away.
Questions
€35 for three hours on weekdays and €37 at weekends and on public holidays, in 2026.
No, the minimum age is 15.
By car, about an hour and a half on the E40 and E42; by train, about two hours with a change at Pepinster.
The baths, the Pouhon Pierre-le-Grand, the Museum of the Water Town and a spring in the forest, such as the Sauvenière.
Yes, with a guided tour on set dates from March to November, for €16 for adults.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/belgium/spa
