A bottle of Vichy Catalan sold anywhere in Spain comes out of a hill in this town. A few streets away, five public fountains give the same thermal water away for nothing.
Caldes de Malavella is a town in the comarca of La Selva with three separate thermal springs, each feeding its own bottling plant. The Romans were already bathing in them, and the water still surfaces far too hot to touch.
What is there to see in Caldes de Malavella? A guided route at 3 euros on the second and fourth Sunday of the month, five free public thermal fountains running at 56 to 60 degrees, two historic spa hotels, and Roman baths on Puig de Sant Grau dating from the first century.
Getting there, and what to pair it with
Caldes de Malavella sits on the Girona line, in Girona province and the comarca of La Selva, so it is reached by train and without a car.
That is the difference from Caldes de Montbui, the other thermal town with a similar name, which has no station at all and is reached by Sagalés bus in around 45 minutes. The full map of what is reachable without a vehicle is in Catalonia without a car.
For anyone building a trip around thermal towns, that station decides it: Caldes de Malavella becomes a stop on a line rather than a dedicated expedition, and 1 ticket covers a second destination on the same run to Girona.
The same line runs on to Girona itself, so the two stops combine into one long day or a weekend. Where this sits among the shorter escapes is in the best villages near Barcelona.
Five fountains that cost nothing
Thermal water here is not locked inside hotels: it runs from street fountains and can be drunk without paying.
The main ones are the Font de Sant Narcís, the most accessible of them, the Font dels Bullidors, the Font de la Mina, La Granja and the Font de la Vaca. They are spread across the old centre and cover a morning on foot, with the Font de Sant Narcís the easiest of the 5 to reach.
Next to the Font dels Bullidors stands Casa Rosa, a modernist summer residence, which places the whole set in the same period when Barcelona’s middle classes discovered these towns. Five public fountains give more free visiting than the other thermal towns manage: in Caldes de Montbui the free part is looking at the spring, and here it is drinking at five separate points.
A morning here, in order
Everything worth seeing sits inside the old centre, so the plan is a walk rather than a schedule.
- Arrive by train on the Girona line, in the comarca of La Selva.
- Font de Sant Narcís first, the most accessible of the public fountains.
- Roman baths at Puig de Sant Grau, in the old town, dating from AD 40.
- Font dels Bullidors and Casa Rosa, the modernist summer residence beside it.
- Guided route at 3 euros if it is the second or fourth Sunday.
Done without the spa, the whole visit costs 3 euros, or nothing at all outside route Sundays. Where that sits against a day inside the city is in the daily travel budget.
Three hills, three springs, three brands
The town does not have one spring but three, and each one feeds a different bottling plant. No other town in Catalonia concentrates that many.
| Hill | What surfaces there | What is bottled |
|---|---|---|
| Puig de les Moleres | Font de la Mina, or Raig d’en Mel | Malavella |
| Puig de Sant Grau | Sant Narcís and Bullidors fountains, Roman baths | San Narciso and Imperial |
| Puig de les Ànimes | the Vichy Catalan spa spring | Vichy Catalan |
Puig de les Ànimes holds the Vichy Catalan complex, the largest thermal establishment in Catalonia, on the site of some of the earliest Roman baths. Puig de Sant Grau carries the most visited fountains and the Roman remains open to the public, and Puig de les Moleres feeds the Font de la Mina.
Three bottled water brands from a single municipality of La Selva explain its size: water here is an industry, not a souvenir. Balneari Prats works with water channelled from the Font de la Mina.
The Roman baths date from AD 40
The Romans built baths at two points in the town, on Puig de les Ànimes and Puig de Sant Grau, in the middle of the first century, between AD 40 and 50. The Sant Grau remains, according to the Ajuntament de Caldes de Malavella, are the ones open to visitors and sit inside the old town.
What makes this town different is that the Romans picked the same two hills where the bottling plants still stand. The location of a 21st-century mineral water plant was chosen by somebody in the first century.
The two historic spas
Balneari Vichy Catalan occupies the old Puig de les Ànimes estate and is the largest thermal complex in Catalonia. Its origin has a name and a date: the physician Modest Furest i Roca noticed in the 1870s what the spring water did to livestock, and the entire business grew from that.
Balneari Prats is the other, working with water piped from the Font de la Mina. Both buildings mix art nouveau and neoclassical forms, in the manner of late 19th-century spa architecture.
The two sit at opposite ends of the same resource. Vichy Catalan draws from Puig de les Ànimes, where Roman baths stood in the first century, while Prats takes the Font de la Mina on Puig de les Moleres, the spring that also supplies the Malavella plant. One town, 3 hills, 3 bottled brands and 2 spa hotels.
Neither publishes all its rates, so calling ahead is the only reliable route. Circuit prices across these towns cluster in the same band, which the La Garriga guide sets out, and the wider comparison is in thermal spas near Barcelona.
The guided route runs two Sundays a month
The tourist office runs the Fonts i Patrimoni route at 3 euros per person, departing on the second and fourth Sunday of each month.
The route, according to La Selva Turisme, covers the old town, the thermal fountains and the Roman baths, and runs through 5 historical layers of the town: palaeontological, Roman, Romanesque, medieval and modernist. Enquiries go to turisme@caldesdemalavella.cat, and 3 euros buys the lot.
Set against the other thermal towns, this is both the cheapest guided route and by far the most frequent, running twice as often as La Garriga with its single monthly Saturday.
For a visitor that changes the planning problem. La Garriga has to be timed to one specific Saturday, and here two Sundays a month means a weekend trip has a fair chance of landing on one without rearranging anything else.
Frequently asked questions about Caldes de Malavella
Can you drink Vichy Catalan water for free in the town?
Yes, at no charge. Five public fountains stand around the old centre: La Granja, Font de la Vaca, Font de la Mina, Font dels Bullidors and Font de Sant Narcís, the last being the easiest to reach. The water arrives well above bath temperature and needs cooling before use.
How old are the Roman baths here?
They were built between AD 40 and 50, on two separate hills: Puig de les Ànimes and Puig de Sant Grau. The Sant Grau remains are the ones open to visitors and sit inside the old town rather than on a fenced-off site.
How many springs does the town have?
Three, and each one supplies a different bottled brand. Malavella comes from Puig de les Moleres, San Narciso and Imperial from Puig de Sant Grau, and Vichy Catalan from Puig de les Ànimes. No other Catalan town concentrates three.
When does the guided route run?
Twice a month, on the second and fourth Sunday, departing from the tourist office and bookable at turisme@caldesdemalavella.cat. It is called Fonts i Patrimoni, takes in the Roman baths and the thermal fountains, and costs 3 euros a head.
Can you reach it from Barcelona without a car?
Yes, on the Girona line, in the comarca of La Selva. That sets it apart from Caldes de Montbui, the other thermal town with a similar name, which has no station and is reached only by Sagalés bus.
Which day not to come
Caldes de Malavella never closes, but the guided route leaves only on the second and fourth Sunday of the month, 24 departures a year. Any other day the town is walked on your own.
That matters less here than elsewhere, because the best of the place has no ticket desk and no opening hour: the 5 public fountains and the Roman remains sit in the street, free at any hour. This is a town where the heritage is drunk rather than queued for.
Where the day does decide is in the other two thermal towns. In Caldes de Montbui the Thermalia museum closes on non-holiday Mondays and the municipal baths rest Monday and Tuesday, so a long weekend can find both shut. In La Garriga the route is one Saturday a month and the visitor centre opens only at weekends outside the season.
If you land on a closed day, the plan that survives is the same in all three: fountains, Roman baths and spa, none of which follow a municipal calendar. Journey times for the line are in the train day trips guide.
Route calendar, fountain names and the dating of the Roman baths were cross-checked on 21 August 2026 with the Ajuntament de Caldes de Malavella and the La Selva and Catalunya Termal portals.
The public fountains never close and never charge.