Balneario de Panticosa, Gran Hotel

About Balneario de Panticosa, Gran Hotel

By the ULTIMATE Ski Resorts Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

The Gran Hotel opened in 1896, in the belle époque, at the Balneario de Panticosa, 1,636 metres up in a high valley of the Pyrenees beside the Ibón de Baños lake. Rafael Moneo renovated it with the Casino, keeping the original façade; its 42 rooms share a dark-marble thermal spa, the larger Termas de Tiberio is a few steps away, and El Lago serves a tasting menu with views over the lake.

A belle-époque spa in the mountains

The Balneario de Panticosa sits at 1,636 metres at the end of its own road above the village of Panticosa, around the mountain lake of Ibón de Baños. The Gran Hotel opened here in 1896; the architect Rafael Moneo renovated it, together with the Casino, keeping the original façade. The skiing of Formigal-Panticosa is down the valley.

The Espacio Termal Gran Hotel

The hotel’s own spa is in dark marble and uses the spring water of the Fuente de Tiberio. Its circuit of about an hour runs through a vaporarium, a large pool and a cascade pool of warm spring water, a cold Swedish cube and a post-thermal rest area. It is open daily, 11:30–20:30, with last entry at 19:30, by booked time slot, and it is for guests over 18. Massages and treatments are booked by email.

A privileged enclave at 1,636 metres, in the resort’s words.

The Termas de Tiberio

Next door, the Termas de Tiberio is the balneario’s larger thermal centre, built in soft, rounded forms with 26 treatment cabins. Its circuit includes a central pool with jets and a geyser at 33.7 °C, an aromatic pool, a tranquillity pool open to the outdoors at 27.4 °C, an outdoor pool with hydromassage at 34 °C, where you can look up at the stars, a Finnish sauna at 70 °C, a hot-stone room, a vaporarium, an igloo, a frigidarium and a solarium with mountain views. It is open daily, 09:00–21:30, in booked sessions, with family sessions for children aged 3–11.

Rooms

The Gran Hotel has 42 rooms. Standard rooms measure 25 m² and Superior rooms 30 m², with a bathtub and Anne Semonin toiletries; Junior Suites measure 45 m², with a living room and mountain views. The house also has a café, a reading room, a library and piano room, and a billiard room.

Eating and drinking

El Lago, in the Gran Hotel, serves the author tasting menu of executive chef Rubén Pertusa, with an optional wine pairing, behind big windows over the Ibón de Baños. The Cafetería Gran Hotel serves coffee, tapas and wine. Around the balneario, the Hotel Continental has La Brasserie for grilled meats, a buffet and a lobby bar for cocktails, and La Fontana on the main square cooks Italian.

Our advice: book a Junior Suite for the mountain view, ski Formigal-Panticosa by day, and reserve an evening session at the Termas de Tiberio for the outdoor pool under the stars, then dinner at El Lago.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Balneario de Panticosa, Gran Hotel before you go.