Gréoux-les-Bains

Overview

A spa commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in 2017 the 3rd-busiest thermal spa town in France by number of visitors (mairie de Gréoux-les-Bains). It left the Verdon Regional Nature Park in 2025, not having ratified the third charter — but remains a major gateway to the Verdon, where the lower gorges open out towards the Durance.

Hikes starting from Gréoux-les-Bains

• GR4 — Traversée du Verdon

Where to stay in Gréoux-les-Bains

≈ 260 listed places to stay (indicative · Booking · 2026-07-06)

Hotels, campsites and gîtes in Gréoux-les-Bains, with their real rating when available — no platform commission.

• Hôtel Spa Les Alpes Hôtel ★★★ 4,7 (640 Google reviews) Verified on site
• Hôtel Restaurant Spa Les Colonnes Hôtel 4,7 (640 Google reviews) Verified on site
• Hôtel Spa Restaurant Villa Castellane Hôtel 4,5 (897 Google reviews) Verified on site

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Services & shops in Gréoux-les-Bains

EV charging — in the village: Parking Ecocine Verdon (3 points) · Parking Ecocine Verdon (2 points) · Parking des Marronniers (2 points), network eborn. See the map of Verdon charging points →

Fuel: 1 petrol station in the commune. See live prices →

Food & groceries

• Spar
• Coccimarket
• Vival
• Fromagerie La Prairie
• La Flomagerie
• Cave de Régusse
• La Vinaigrerie de Haute-Provence
• Le Moulin de Gréoux
• L'Éclat Chocolaterie
• Confiserie Durandeu

Bakery

• Boulangerie des Marronniers – Le Fournil des Marronniers
• Plusieurs autres boulangeries-pâtisseries recensées dans le bourg — noms

Butcher

• Maison Platel – Boucherie-charcuterie-traiteur
• Boucherie-charcuterie Vidal

Pharmacy

• Pharmacie des Marronniers

Health (doctor, nurse…)

• Maison de Santé Pluriprofessionnelle de Gréoux-les-Bains / Centre médical de l'Étoile
• Dr Avril
• Dr Bec
• Kinésithérapeutes Philippe Coronel et Romy Gorgone
• Cabinet infirmier – Adeline Tassy, Laurence Chauchat, Mélissa Martoia
• Laurence Quintric

Fuel

• Station Total

Bank / ATM

• La Banque Postale
• Autres agences bancaires et distributeurs présents dans le bourg — enseignes

Post office

• bureau de poste, place des Aires

Tobacconist & newsagent

• Bar-tabac-presse
• Brasserie 8ème Avenue – bureau de tabac

Car garage

• Garage Renault

Spa, massage & wellness

• Spa Thermal de Gréoux-les-Bains
• Institut de beauté du spa thermal
• Spa Villa Borghèse
• Espace bien-être Odalys La Licorne de Haute-Provence

Services verified on 2026-07-07.

What to see, what to do

Château des Hospitaliers, known as the 'Château des Templiers'

The nickname 'des Templiers' is a confusion documented since 17th-century authors: no archive proves any Templar presence on this site. In 1307, Charles II, King of Sicily and Count of Provence, granted the seigneury of Gréoux to the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem; the castle then passed into the hands of Arnaud Duez (nephew of Pope John XXII), then of his daughter Briande and her husband Guillaume de Glandevez, lords until the 17th century, before the Clapiers and then Audiffret families (raised to a marquisate in 1702). Built for the most part between the 12th and 17th centuries (the earliest identified stones, from the 12th century, are thought to belong to a church), it forms a quadrilateral with a north façade adorned with an ogival doorway flanked by a square tower known as the 'Sarrasine' (Saracen) tower and a round tower. Bought back by the commune in the early 1980s, it today hosts art exhibitions, notably in its restored Salle des Gardes (guard hall).

Château de Lineau

This private estate was registered in its entirety by decree of 24 November 2023: the château itself, its terraces, dovecote, hydraulic network with water gallery, basins and wash house, avenue of plane trees, the agricultural buildings at the entrance to the estate, its gateway, enclosure and retaining walls, its steps, the ground of the plots, and the façades and roofs of the stable. A recent and broad protection (the whole estate, not just the buildings), which sets this château apart from the better-known Château of the Hospitallers. Detailed history not available online (the full file can only be consulted at the Médiathèque du patrimoine et de la photographie, Charenton-le-Pont).

Church of Notre-Dame-des-Ormeaux

Built in the 14th-15th centuries, restored in 1973-1975. It preserves two notable paintings: an Assumption attributed to Jacques Macadré (around 1615) and a Swoon of the Virgin by Honoré Morenon (1697).

Chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Œufs

Chapel first mentioned in 960, built for the most part in the 12th century and restored in the 1960s. It owes its name to an old fertility rite, practised until the 1930s: women who wished for a child would climb to the chapel with two eggs, eat one on the spot and bury the other at the foot of the building, before coming back to dig it up on 8 September (the Nativity of the Virgin). The pilgrimage itself has not disappeared: every year still, the procession up to the chapel takes place on Easter Monday and in early September, escorted by the Bravadeurs, with a Mass at 6pm followed by a parish meal — organised by the parish of Gréoux-les-Bains and the 'San-Bastian' group.

Thermal baths (Chaîne Thermale du Soleil)

The waters, sulphurous, calcic, sodic and magnesian, rise naturally at a constant temperature of about 42°C; their thermal use goes back to Roman times (1st-century troglodyte baths, a Roman pool uncovered on the site). The modern establishment was taken over in 1961 by Adrien Barthélémy for the Chaîne Thermale du Soleil, which has run it ever since. Attendance: 815 spa patients in 1953, about 2,500 in 1962, and 35,485 medically supervised treatments given in 2017 (making it the 3rd-busiest spa town in France that year). The present-day baths, rebuilt after the destruction of the Grand Hôtel des Bains and the former establishment in the winter of 1967-1968, treat rheumatology and respiratory conditions, and have offered, for some years now, post-breast-cancer rehabilitation treatments.

Gréoux-les-Bains Casino

A casino of the Partouche group, in the village.

Malakoff Gorges and the Saint-Sébastien caves (roches Bleues)

The Malakoff gorges, near the Gréoux dam, are listed by the tourist office among the sites worth seeing near the village (a detailed description of the site — access, route — could not be found online; to be verified on site or with the tourist office before publishing more precise information). Traces of Neolithic occupation have been found on the commune's territory at the Saint-Sébastien caves (Hallstatt-culture fibulae).

History of Gréoux-les-Bains

The thermal springs were developed as early as Roman times (1st-century troglodyte baths, a Roman pool found on the site). A castle motte was raised in the 11th century (the Aurabelle site). In 1307, Charles II of Provence ceded the seigneury to the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem — the origin, often distorted into a Templar legend, of the castle's nickname. A priory, Saint-Pierre-hors-les-murs, was then a dependency of the Abbey of Montmajour. The village was pillaged during the Wars of Religion, then again on 3 December 1800 by royalists. During the coup d'état of 1851, 25 inhabitants of Gréoux were brought before the mixed commission. During the Second World War, an internment centre operated from January 1942 in the Grand Hôtel and the Hôtel des Bains; 12 Jews were arrested at Gréoux before being deported. The 1859 suspension bridge was destroyed in August 1944 and rebuilt in the early 1950s. After a marked rural exodus in the 19th-20th centuries, the commune has undergone strong demographic recovery since 1960, driven by the rise of modern thermal tourism (the establishment was taken over in 1961 by the Chaîne Thermale du Soleil) and then by tourism more broadly.

Events & highlights

Pilgrimage of Notre-Dame-des-Œufs — Easter Monday and 8 September

Procession up to the chapel escorted by the Bravadeurs, Mass at 6pm followed by a parish meal — a tradition that carries on, in a now devotional form, the site's old fertility pilgrimage.

Season of themed events ('Gréoux en Corse', 'Gréoux de Janeiro', 'Gréoux en Provence'…) — April to November 2026

A cycle of themed weekends (Gréoux en Corse in mid-April, Gréoux de Janeiro in late July, Gréoux en Provence in mid-August, then the Gréoux Jazz Festival in September, L'Automne Musical in October, and the Foire aux Santons in late October-early November) organised by the resort — exact dates to be reconfirmed each season before publishing further detail.