You can't see Leukerbad from Leuk station on the Geneva-Brig main line. In fact, we were almost there before I saw the spa resort, after a thrilling journey winding up the northern flank of the Rhône valley on a connecting bus. In a country full of wonderfully situated resorts, Leukerbad is hard to beat. I can see why Mark Twain waxed lyrical in A Tramp Abroad about the immense curving cliffs that form a semicircle behind the pretty town. The scale of the Gemmi pass and Daubenhorn mountain is awe-inspiring but never intimidating, perhaps thanks to the sunny position of the south-facing town.
Although many come for the scenery and walking trails, I had come to sample Leukerbad's greatest draw - thermal water from eight of its 65 springs. Its health-giving properties have been recognised since the 14th century, and today Leukerbad is the largest thermal spa resort in the Alps. I was astonished to find it's perfectly normal to see visitors walking through the largely car-free streets in dressing gowns. Water is used to heat the hotels, then the pools, after which, in winter, it's sent through pipes underneath the streets to keep them free of ice. It's then fed into the river to generate electricity before finally being discharged into the Rhône.
The town has 30 thermal baths, some of them part of hotels such as Les Sources des Alpes (00 41 27 472 2000, sourcesdesalpes.ch), which has indoor and outdoor baths, sauna, Turkish bath and solarium. I headed first for one of the two largest public spas, the Linder Alpentherme (00 41 27 472 1010, lindnerhotels.ch), a large complex that incorporates indoor and outdoor pools, a Roman-Irish bath, and private rooms for a host of treatments from acupuncture and Ayurveda to Thai thermal wrap. Some Brits are rather reticent about the idea of being naked in the baths - and while you are given a large towel, swimming costumes are forbidden. But because everyone sees it as perfectly normal and natural, with no hint of prurience, I did too.
I tried the Roman-Irish bath first, which combines a Roman spa with bathing in dry, warm air, according to Irish tradition. The surroundings are modelled on the inner courtyard of a Roman senator's villa. Underneath a domed roof, a large circular pool is surrounded by arches leading to a series of eleven stations of warm air, steam and thermal baths and saunas at different temperatures. After warm- and hot-air baths (reaching highs of 68C), I was given a mineral-mud body scrub followed by an aromatic soap-brush massage that left my skin feeling tingly clean. You're supposed to finish with a minute in the 18C frigidarium, but I retreated to the silencium relaxation and contemplation room for a welcome drink.
I next tried the Alpentherme's new sauna facility created in the style of a Valais village, with an inn serving (healthy) snacks and drinks. With four saunas spread across a mill, a farmhouse, a chalet and a barn, it's obviously hokey, but it's so well done - built in wood, stone and slate and imaginatively lit - that it works. A schedule tells you the times when an attendant adds essential oils to the coals, creating wonderful fragrances, then fans the air with a towel.
The largest spa is Burgerbad (burgerbad.ch), which is more about having fun in the water with a 120-metre water slide and pools for children and even babies, as well as 10 pools for grown-ups. What both spas share are the stunning views from the outside pools of the mountains that enthralled Twain, and Goethe before him. These exceptional facilities have given Leukerbad an unrivalled reputation for wellness; even the Swiss Olympic team come here for training advice and rehabilitation.
Feeling rejuvenated, I set off on the walk up to the Gemmi pass. Anything much under two hours is considered good, but the seriously fit look to do it in under one. Looking up at the sheer cliffs, I couldn't even see where the path could be. Built by Austrians in the 18th century as a trading route, the narrow track weaves into deeply recessed ravines as it zigzags its way up the cliff. If this sounds far too energetic, there's always the cable car. For those who want to spend more time on the Gemmi and Daubenhorn, there is a via ferrata (a mountain-side walkway) classified as extremely difficult. I left it at the Gemmi hike.
