Digne-les-Bains
The town of Digne-les-Bains is in a most attractive setting at the meeting point of three valleys and surrounded by the mountains of the Préalpes
Digne-les-Bains - a spa resort with 300 days of sunshine every year
The town of Digne-les-Bains is in a most attractive setting at the meeting point of three valleys and surrounded by the mountains of the Préalpes, offering the best of Haute-Provence. It also has all the advantages of a town with numerous cultural, sporting and leisure facilities, against a magnificent backdrop of rocks and forests.
Dignes-les-Bains benefits from 300 days of sunshine annually and is renowned for the purity of its air. Its geographical situation in a natural trough at 600 metres altitude limits the effects of high temperatures. Digne-les-Bains has been a health resort since Roman times. It specialises in rheumatology, post-traumatic stress, ENT and respiratory tract disorders. The warm thermal water (49°C) containing chlorine, sulphur and sodium comes from hot springs far beneath the rock. It provides very effective relief for rheumatic pain thanks to its anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. Its healing effect is heightened by the clean, healthy climate of Alpes de Haute-Provence which has the lowest incidence of childhood asthma in France !
The thermal spas also offer programmes such as health and fitness, relaxation and getting back into shape, tone, shape and beauty through aquagym, keep fit, sauna, body and facial treatments, aromatherapy and balneotherapy with essential oils. Dignes-les-Bains is also a geological centre at the heart of the Réserve Géologique de Haute-Provence, the largest in Europe. Its Musée-Promenade is a wonderful place for a family outing with shady grounds, a Japanese garden, works of art, waterfalls, a fossil collection, tropical marine aquariums and a picnic area. And its Jardin des Papillons has over one hundred species of butterfly to observe with a nature guide.
Train des Pignes, Museum, places of interest, fishing, swimming, walking at Dignes-les-Bains
The Musée Gassendi has collections devoted to art, history and science and the Alexandra David Neel Foundation houses an exhibition recounting the life and work of the explorer who devoted her life to Tibet. The Botanical Garden features medicinal and culinary herbs of the region.
Other attractions to visit include the 17th century Gothic Cathedral of Saint-Jérome, the Cathédrale Notre Dame du Bourg, a listed building built during the 12th and 13th centuries of the Romanesque period, the Campanile de la Tour de l’Horloge (1412), the Grande Fontaine (19th century) and the old town. Digne-les-Bains is also the terminus of the famous Train des Pignes, the picturesque railway line which runs to Nice through an unbroken, breathtaking landscape of rivers, mountains and gorges.
Perched above the town, the Rocher de 9 Heures is home to an aerial Via Ferrata with a magical view over the town and the Val de Bléone. A few hundred metres from the town centre, the Plan d'eau des Ferréols is a free water park on the banks of the Bléone offering numerous leisure activities : swimming, crazy golf, play park, bikes, replicas of tugs and Mississippi paddle steamers, rock-climbing wall, boules alley, beach volleyball, trampolines, bouncy castle, mountain biking, dirt jump, fly fishing, etc.
Slightly upstream at Lac de Gaubert you will find a fishing school, free for children, (pole fishing, reel fishing) and a fishing platform for disabled anglers. Make the most of the great outdoors at the Golf des Lavandes, an 18-hole golf course covering 80 hectares surrounded by fields of lavender. Other attractions not far from Digne-les-Bains include the village of Courbons, with historical links to the Grimaldi family and superb views over the town, the Bléone Valley, Gaubert with its 11th century church and a cemetery set in rock, and Dourbes, a hamlet tucked away at the foot of a majestic rocky ridge.
"" After ‘taking the waters’, I go for a walk on one of the hills which surround the town followed by a swim in the lake and ending with a picnic supper while watching a magnificent sunset "". A spa client and regular Gîtes de France customer.
How to get to Digne-les-Bains
By road : autoroute A51 to Peyruis, then RN96; RN75 from Grenoble; RN202 from Nice.
By rail : station on the Train des Pignes line.
By bus : regular services from Marseille, Nice and Grenoble, shuttles from Aix-en-Provence railway station and Marseille-Provence airport.
During your stay in Alpes de Haute-Provence, discover La Palud-sur-Verdon"
Our selection of accommodations
Lodging
Les Sorbiers
in DIGNE-LES-BAINS - Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Lodging
Le Tauze
in DIGNE-LES-BAINS - Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Our new accommodations
Guest house
Le Vieil Aiglun
in AIGLUN - Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Group
Le Gîte des Monges
in AUTHON - Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Lodging
Le Pampéro
in DIGNE LES BAINS - Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
