Urbex: Hotel Thermale aka Hotel Des Theremes, France - June 2014

Reflections of Hotel Thermale

History

The Abandoned Hotel Thermal aka Hotel Des Theremes is a derelict hotel rotting away somewhere in France. The hotel complex is quite large and we only managed to explore one of the main buildings, what appeared to be accommodation area and recreational areas. The complex specialised in ‘healing baths’ targeted towards the elderly. I understand that nearby hot springs were used to provide some of the water used to bath the elderly customers and these springs were said to have had special healing properties. I’m unsure exactly when the buildings closed but by the looks of the decay and the very limited documents left behind my best guess would be the late 1990 to early 2000’s. The site also houses an apparently active laundry service of some description with several large white lorries parked outside and chimneys venting steam on a regular basis. There was another large building across from the one we photographed that looked really interesting featuring large sweeping curved walls, we are unsure of what was inside but the building also appeared abandoned.

Our Visit

Visited this abandoned hotel with Matt Kriegaffe Hampshire, Scott Darby of Darbians Photography and Andy K of Behind Closed Doors, we arrived late in the day after a relatively unsuccessful morning we had very little time to explore this place before we were due to leave for our train home. Sadly it took us longer to find a way inside than we had to spare so after a quick chat we decided to miss our departure time and go for a later shuttle. I’m really glad we made that choice as this place was a lot more impressive from the inside than it looked from its dreary grey concrete exterior. Once inside we were almost immediately greeted by 2 long rooms, the first featuring a large circular skylight reflecting nicely in puddles of water on the floor. Next door was a beautiful long blue ballroom or dining room with mirrors at either end and decorative ceiling plaster. Then came the main staircase in the entrance hall going up 3 levels with a red carpet covering it was pretty photogenic.

On the first floor we accidentally stumbled across a large nesting area for well over 100 bats which after a few flew past us we left well alone :). Other than the grand features downstairs and in the main entrance there was a lot of empty corridors and empty bedrooms at this place striped over all their contents and fixtures. One or 2 bathrooms remained and we found what appeared to be a chapel that was unfortunately sealed off from the building we had access to.

All in all a pleasurable explore around this place, well worth the 2 hour delay we had getting home! Enjoy the photos:

Hotel Thermale – Skylight

Hotel Thermale – The Main Staircase

Hotel Thermale – Lockers

Hotel Thermale – The Blue Room

Hotel Thermale – Batman Corridor

Hotel Thermale – The Main Staircase

Hotel Thermale – Handle

Hotel Thermale – Bathroom

Hotel Thermale – The Blue Room

Hotel Thermale – The Main Staircase

Hotel Thermale – Lockers

Hotel Thermale – The Main Staircase

Hotel Thermale – Reflections

Enjoyed the report of this place? want to see more? Then head on over to Behind Closed Doors for Andy K’s perspective: Hotel Thermale and don’t forget Scott Darby’s shots at: Hotel Des Theremes

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