Strike off

On my wish-to-visit list of natural hot springs in Europe had been the Bagni di Craveggia.

A rather remote Italian hot spring, though not too difficult to reach, if only using the Switzerland route.

Run down and ruined it seemed. But partially renovated, for touristic curiosity; it's not a drive-in soak. Most shared photo material from here shows twin tubs (as above!), just beyond the ruins on the river bank. Best view to be had.

But where are the soakers?

Fact check:

1. It's not a hot spring, only 27-28°C; that's warmish in winter, luke warm in summer.

2. The ruins are not really ruins anymore.

Without much thought to all the info available on the Bagni de Craveggia, we set out on an early September afternoon, the sun already dipping beyond the mountains of the Onsernone valley.

Heading to the end of the road through the valley is a feat in itself. 

From the south Swiss town of Locarno one heads first north, then west up Onsernone valley, the road becoming alarmingly narrower as we pass through many smaller villages. Forty-five minutes after leaving Locarno we are in the small village of Spruga, end of the public road and where the bus returns. There's a small parking area, a good map and a number of trails diverging out beyond, below and above Spruga.

The easiest way to continue to the Bagni di Craveggia is to keep following the road, which is now pleasantly off-limits to motorized traffic. 

Half an hour later, you can take a bridge to cross the Isorno river:

From here it's quite straightforward: cross the bridge, walk up the other bank and from here a path drops into the back of the Bagni buildings: 

But you can also stay on the road. Then one ends on the river bank directly opposite the Bagni. No bridge here. To get to the baths, one needs to ford the rather swift flowing river.

Standing on the edge of Isorno river and looking back you see the two tubs and a number of buildings steps wise above here:

khan.kublai from the opposite river bank:

Sentieri della liberazione

Highlights

You can wander around the former buildings, renovation has made these ruins safe. 

The lowest level (where the bathtubs stand before) is the only interesting level. There's:

* a changing room (1); basically a corner with a door in front, 

* some older (unusable) tubs (following),

* a tap from where one can drink water, 

* a kneipp outdoor tub (following),

* some plaquettes describing the past set up and 

* a huge tub which holds the water from the source inside. Don't quite understand the reason of its existence.

Our curiosity quelled, we test the waters. 

The outside tub could contain thermal waters, but the low in and out flows suggest that the temperature is probably nowhere near the 27-28°C. A full body plunge confirms that these waters are hardly any warmer than the ambient temperature alas!

The inner tank though is closer to what one would expect. Besides the struggle to get in, the temperature is doable, though even at the stated temperature (above) it can't be really qualified as thermal at all.

Peace

I didn't come across many recent experiences, most findings though are published on walking trail sites. Such as this from Outdooractive:

'The hot spring Bagni di Craveggia can be reached from Spruga (Switzerland) walking on a blocked paved road for about 40 minutes and from Craveggia (Italy) through a mountain trail. This trail, along the “acqua e pace” itinerary, is difficult and requires hiking equipment: hiking boots, trekking poles, etc. The access is free and it takes about 4 hours to reach the hot springs. Visitors are requested to respect nature and security regulations.

The two new pools are always open from April until November. The road from Spruga is not cleaned during the winter'.

Tripadvisor reviewers note 4.5 stars from just 8 (German speaking) reviews. 

Google reviewers (125) give it 4.3 stars; again many German speakers, but in general a better choice of reviewers. Most though seemed disappointed the waters were not hot (enough).

There is an experience from before the renovations (travelettes, Nov. 29, 2011), nothing revealing.

A bit more background info. 

Starting off with the expansive Bagni di Craveggia Wikipedia entry, from which there's already quite a lot to share. 

A synopsis: back in the Middle ages, there was the first mention of the thermal baths, which then belonged to the federal area of Switzerland. Early 19th century saw the area ceded to Italy and in 1819 a six story hotel was built. Access remained poor until 1930, when the road over the last km's was built by the Swiss; access from Italy remained extremely poor. 

In the fifties of last century an avalanche obliterated most of the buildings. Only recently (2015) were the ruins renovated into what can be currently be seen.

The aforementioned peace probably refers to a WWII skirmish when towards the end of the war partizans retreated here over the river (to Switzerland) and were fired on by fascists, despite being on netral terrain.

My Switzerland has an article with a short briefing on the history:

'The bath house was built from 1818 to 1823, followed in 1881 by the hotel. The foundation walls are still visible today. Yet the Craveggia baths did not attract many visitors because of their remote location and perhaps also because the spring yields just 12 litres of thermal water per minute. In 1951 the baths were engulfed by an avalanche from the northern, Swiss side of the border and almost completely destroyed'.

Another then. Trippick:

'The Bagni di Craveggia hotel was opened in 1823 and was moderately successful before being destroyed in a fire in 1881. The hotel was rebuilt but this time was destroyed by an avalanche in 1951 and then allowed to fall into ruin until a couple of years ago the Bagni were finally restored.

The recent restoration is a clever amalgam of the old ruined stone building alongside sensitive modern touches such as two outdoor tubs hewn out of solid stone, wooden decking, glass and simple Kneipp therapy warm and cold baths. All the modern features are open to the elements and free to use. Next to the warm springs is a river which can be crossed by bridge lower down or forded in the summer.

At a height of nearly 1000 metres, the spring is south facing; it makes a pleasant picnic or sunbathing spot during the summer months'.

And with this, the list is one soak shorter.