What to bring for eighteen days of treatment: bathing kit, paperwork, daily life — and what there is no point taking at all.
Three weeks is not a weekend: you either take far too much or forget the one thing that mattered. This list is built on what spa guests most often find themselves missing once they arrive.
Paperwork — sort this first
- The coverage agreement from your health insurance fund.
- Your health insurance card and proof of entitlement.
- Your top-up insurance card.
- Current prescriptions, including those unrelated to the cure.
- The booking confirmation for both your treatments and your accommodation.
- A means of payment that actually works: ask your host in advance. With us it is cheque or cash.
Photograph everything with your phone before you leave. It has saved more than one guest.
Bathing kit
This is where people get it wrong most often.
- Two swimsuits. This is the number one piece of advice: with only one, you set off every morning in something damp. Two lets you rotate.
- A robe — check whether your establishment provides or rents one.
- Non-slip pool sandals, essential.
- A swimming cap, often compulsory.
- Towels: careful, the baths and your accommodation do not provide the same ones. Check both. Our flats provide bed linen and bath towels; treatment towels are the establishment’s business.
- A large bag you will carry every morning.
- Something to tie back or dry your hair — you will come out wet.
Medication
Bring three full weeks of any treatment, plus a small margin. Finding an available doctor mid-cure, in a town you do not know, is possible but eats your time.
Add a small kit: your usual painkillers, plasters, moisturiser — thermal treatments dry the skin for a good many people.
Clothes
Luxeuil sits at the foot of the Vosges, and the climate is cooler and damper than most people expect, especially at either end of the season.
- March, April, October, November: warm layers, a genuinely waterproof jacket, closed walking shoes.
- May, June, September: lighter clothes, but keep a jumper and a raincoat — the evenings stay cool.
- July and August: light, with something for the evening.
In every case, bring comfortable walking shoes: you will make the trip to the baths daily, and many guests walk in the afternoons.
Pack a week’s wardrobe, not three — if your accommodation has a washing machine. Check that before you pack; it changes everything about the volume you carry. Both our flats have their own, with a tumble dryer.
Daily life
- Toiletries in family sizes: small formats cost more and you are staying three weeks.
- Laundry detergent, if your accommodation has a machine and does not supply any.
- A few store-cupboard basics if you are particular: coffee, tea, spices. The rest you buy locally.
- A water bottle: you drink a great deal during a cure.
Filling eighteen afternoons
This is the one everybody forgets. Treatments take the morning; the rest of the day is free, every day, for three weeks.
- Books, an e-reader, crosswords.
- Playing cards — you will not be the only one looking for a game.
- Something to write with, if the mood takes you.
- Your chargers, and an extension lead: there are never enough sockets near the bed.
- A guidebook or a map of the region, for the Sundays.
What there is no point taking
- Bed linen, if your accommodation provides it — check; ours does.
- Kitchen utensils: any decent holiday flat is equipped.
- A hairdryer: most places have one. Ask.
- Too many clothes: see above, a washing machine divides the volume by three.
The one question to ask your host before you close the case
Just one, but it decides half of what you pack:
“What exactly do you provide: bed linen, bath towels, washing machine, tumble dryer, hairdryer, basic supplies?”
With us the answer is: linen and towels provided with the beds made on arrival, a private washing machine and tumble dryer in the flat, a hairdryer, a full kitchen with oven and microwave. Which means, very concretely: a week’s suitcase is enough.
The full equipment list is on each flat’s page — the Grand Mistral for five guests, the Petit Mistral for three. If your dates are settled, ask us about a stay.