Heritage
A Thousand-Year Legacy
The name Alhama comes from the Arabic al-hamma, "the hot waters" or "the thermal baths". It also gives the village its name — a village set at 520 metres on the slope of the Sierra de Gádor, overlooking the Andarax valley.
The water rises from the ground at 46 °C, steadily, all twelve months of the year. It is a mineral water —sulphated, calcic and magnesian— used for its properties since Roman times, and which still feeds the Balneario de San Nicolás today. This hot spring is the very reason a village exists here: local life has revolved around it for more than two thousand years.
What time has left behind
The traces of water
The first baths were raised in Roman times, beside the spring itself at the foot of cerro Milano. From those centuries comes the Lady of Alhama, a marble sculpture found in 1984 that shows how much these waters were already prized in Antiquity.
It was the Arabs who moved the baths some 300 metres, to the site they occupy today. The geographer Al-Idrisi mentioned the place in the 12th century, when bathing was at once hygiene, medicine and social life.
On that heritage stands today's Balneario de San Nicolás, in operation since 1877 over a ground floor already existing in 1772. In 1928 its waters were declared of public utility, and throughout the 20th century the building was renovated into the spa visited today.
How to visit
Experiencing the baths
Practical information
- Location
- Calle Baños, at the foot of cerro Milano · 520 m altitude
- The grounds
- Free access all year round
- The bath
- The thermal experience is enjoyed at the Balneario de San Nicolás, which draws on the spring
- Best time
- All year — the water surfaces at 46 °C steadily
To experience the water: Wellness · Arab Baths · Hydrotherapy