7132 Therme
Peter Zumthor's quartzite baths, a modern classic of thermal architecture in the Swiss Alps.
Balnevia
- Bathing
- Indoor / Outdoor
- Accommodation
- Hotel on site
Completed in 1996 from 60,000 slabs of local Valser quartzite, Zumthor's bath is a sequence of stone chambers — fire, ice, flower, sound — lit through narrow slots, with an outdoor pool facing the valley.
Balnevia view
Why visit
This is the building that changed how thermal baths are designed. Bathing here is closer to visiting a cathedral than a leisure centre.
Recommendations
Hotels nearby
Explore places to stay near 7132 Therme.
The water
Thermal water
- Source
- St Peter spring
- Mineralisation
- Calcium sulphate mineral water
- Character
- Alpine mineral water from 1,000 metres below the Valser valley
Facilities
- Thermal pools
- Outdoor pools
- Indoor pools
- Sauna
- Relaxation areas
- Hotel
History
Vals' St Peter spring has been used since the eighteenth century; the 1996 bath is a listed monument, unusual for a building so young.
Practical information
Access is limited and often reserved for hotel guests; day tickets sell out. Silence is enforced in the bath.
Getting there
Train to Ilanz, then postbus to Vals — around two hours from Chur.
Location
Related places
More thermal baths in Switzerland
Bad Ragaz/Switzerland
Tamina Therme
A light-filled modern thermal bath fed by the Tamina Gorge spring.
Bathing temperature 36.5°C
Scuol/Switzerland
Bogn Engiadina Scuol
A mineral-water bath complex in the Lower Engadine, drawing on Scuol's carbonated springs.
Bad Zurzach/Switzerland
Thermalbad Zurzach
A Swiss thermal bath on the Rhine, fed by 40°C water found in 1955 while prospecting for oil.
Bathing temperature 36°C