MEET EXTREMADURA
HEALTH TOURISM
VALDEFERNANDO SPA
CONTENTS:
TECHNICAL DATA
Name
Balneario de Valdefernando
Address:
Ctra. de Guadalupe, s/n. Valdecaballeros.
Telephone number:
+34 924 64 32 12 Fax:+34 924 64 32 35
Webside:
www.galeon.com/losencinares
E-mail:
losencinares@yahoo.es
Management:
Proturex S.L.
Location and access
From Valdecaballeros take the road towards the neighbouring town of Guadalupe. Some 2 kilometres down the road there is a well signposted turn-off which leads directly to the Spa, situated just beside the “Ermita de los Baños”, (the Chapel of the Baths).
From Badajoz, Mérida or Cáceres take the N-430 in the direction of Ciudad Real as far as the Puerto Peña dam. Here we turn off onto the road to Valdecaballeros, some 20 kilometres away.
From Madrid take the N-V motorway as far as Navalmoral de la Mata and turn off towards Guadalupe. From there take the road to Valdecaballeros, some 30 kilometres away.
Season
Open throughout the year.
Spa Opening Hours
Mornings from 09:30 to 13:30
Evenings from 16:30 to 19:30
Spa hall
A SHORT HISTORY
Well known and regarded locally, the area in which the present day Spa stands was frequently used centuries ago by local market gardeners who took advantage of the two springs which today supply the thermal centre with its water. A curious story has come down to us from the 19th century which tells of how in 1820 a farmer called Miguel Jiménez noticed the effect of the water on the skin of a goat which he had left to soak for a while, the animal’s skin peeled off entirely.
This incident led the locals to investigate the area’s waters which flowed from two springs and, as time went by, they were able to verify their surprising healing effect on certain individuals who were cured of their rheumatism, eye diseases and so on. The news spread and the number of users increased in such a way that even Pascual Madoz, in his Historic and Geographic Dictionary of Extremadura mentioned the virtues of the waters from the two Valdefernando springs, which were used to cure "illnesses of the eyes, rheumatism and other ailments, being very popular…”
In 1830 the healing powers of the Valdefernando site were affirmed in Valdecaballeros following an investigation by the Governor General and Privative Judge of the Royal Pastures of Guadalupe from San Lorenzo de El Escorial, under whose jurisdiction Valdecaballeros at that time fell. Years later the Spa would continue to be visited by a multitude of patients who came from all over Extremadura, Castile-La Mancha and Andalucia and who found lodgings in certain buildings in the area around Valdefernando and Valdecaballeros.
In recent years the enterprise of the Valdecaballeros Town Hall has led to Valdecaballeros possessing today a modern and welcoming centre which boasts a range of state of the art thermal treatment installations.
From 1999 the Valdefernando Spa installations have been modified and extended. There are currently two floors in which modern treatment techniques are applied, amongst which we should mention the thermal baths and jets, bubble baths, hydro massage, inhalations, massages, etc. This modern building retains the neo-Mudejar outline which it had at the beginning of the ‘90s, extensive landscaped gardens and a magnificent interior decoration in which there is a proliferation of horseshoe arches and beautiful nooks and crannies full of classical motifs.
Just a few kilometres away, the ancient Arab fortresses of Sajra-abi-Hassam and Venazarre crown the majestic peaks of what is today known as Puerto Peña. Nor should we forget that the names “Valdecaballeros” and “Valdefernando” suggest to us valleys which were probably already populated in the days when two of the most important Military Orders dominated the east of the Peninsula, the Order of the Temple and the Order of Alcántara. Even today from an ecclesiastical point of view this area forms part of the dioceses of Toledo. Just beside the Spa is the Chapel of the Baños, a place where the Virgin of Fatima and San Isidro are venerated. The Chapel is surrounded by small market gardens and oak groves which thrive in this area, so close to the García Sola Reservoir. The Valdefernando valley enjoys its own microclimate which sets it apart from the rest of the region.
Solarium
THE WATERS
These thermal waters have a temperature of 22ºC and contain chloride and sodium although they are also rich in bicarbonates, magnesium and calcium. They gush from a spring which supplies water exclusively to the Spa, with a constant flow of 21 litres per second. There is another spring beside the centre which supplies a fountain used by the local inhabitants for drinking water.
THERAPEUTIC PROPERTIES
Locomotor Apparatus Infections
Arthrosis, Arthritis, Rheumatism, Sciatica.
Alterations of the Circulatory Apparatus
Hyper tension.
Infections of the Nervous System
Neurosis, Nervous exhaustion, States of depression, Stress.
Other applications
Psoriasis.
FACILITIES AND THERMAL TREATMENT TECHNIQUES
The Spa contains a Doctor’s Surgery for those customers who come to take its waters, together with an RGN and attendant staff:
The Spa contains a Doctor’s Surgery for those customers who come to take its waters, together with an RGN and attendant staff. Scotch showers, Vichy shower, Pressotherapy, Inhalations,Mixed hand and feet baths, Manual massages, Thermal baths, Bubble baths, Hydro-massage, Equinoxe bathtubs, Atlantis bathtub, Thermal jet.
THE SURROUNDING AREA
Castiblanco, Guadalupe, Herrera del Duque, Navalvillar de Pela, Puebla de Alcocer and Valdecaballeros.
