A large open-air thermal pool ringed by loungers and parasols, seen from above In the hot water

Terme dei Papi monumental pool

Viterbo

The water comes out of the ground hot and crosses a monumental open-air pool, winter included. You get in, and that is the whole plan — except on Saturday, when the pool stays open and you swim under the stars.

Before you go. Closed on Tuesdays for maintenance.

How the day goes

  1. Arrive, change, get in: the heat comes out of the ground here, not out of a boiler.
  2. Float about doing nothing in particular, open sky above you, for as long as you feel like it.
  3. Get out for a break, then back in; Viterbo itself, walls and papal palace, is there if you want more than water.
  4. On Saturday the pool stays open after dark and you swim with the night over you.

It is a day of doing nothing, warm and wet, not a day of sights — if you came for Viterbo's monuments, do those first and come here afterwards.

Where it is

Viterbo at its real position from Rome, with everywhere else we list behind it — so you can see how far out this one is.

Viterbo, and where it is from Rome Viterbo drawn at its real position relative to Rome, about 91 minutes by car. The faint dots are the other places we list, so you can see how far out this one is. 91 min Rome Viterbo

Open it where the roads are

Takes you to Viterbo — the town, not the meeting point. Check with the operator where exactly to turn up: their own page is linked further up.

Getting there

A car turns this into a whole day instead of an errand

  • 1 h 31drive from the middle of Rome
  • 108 kmeach way
  • 3 honce you are there

  • Rent a car for the day

    The day stays yours: you leave when you want, stop where you want, and come back when the light goes.

    • You pick it up in Rome and drop it back in Rome
    • No timetable to build the day around
    • The stops on the way are the good part, and they need a car

    Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Localrent, and anything about that booking goes through them.

    See prices on Localrent

  • Have a driver take you — nothing to do but soak

    Our pick for this one

    You come out of the water warm and slow, which is a bad state to drive back in.

    • Picked up where you are staying, dropped back there
    • No parking to find and no ZTL to worry about
    • You can come out of the water and just sit

    Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Welcome Pickups, and anything about that booking goes through them.

    See prices on Welcome Pickups

Also around Viterbo

Steaming hot-spring cascades over white rock beside an old stone mill In the hot water

Bullicame free hot springs

58°C out of the ground, free, 209 metres from the bus stop, and no changing room.

Free — nothing to pay

Booked by phone

See the day
Steam rising from natural hot pools In the hot water

Tuscia Terme thermal park

Five hours in thermal water up to 58°C and nothing else to plan that day.

€12 per person

Books on tusciaterme.it

See the day

More in the hot water

Steam rising from natural hot pools In the hot water

Acque Albule thermal pools

Six pools at a steady 23°C, and the station is right behind the park.

€16 per person

Books on termediroma.org

See the day
Terraces of white travertine formed by thermal water In the hot water

Sulphur pools in the Sabina hills

Sulphur pools open till 18:30, and the operator publishes the train to get there.

€12 per person

Books on Terme Sabine di Cretone

See the day
Steam rising from natural hot pools In the hot water

Thermal park and day spa at Stigliano

Five hours in a thermal park, and cold weather is the reason to go.

€25 per person

Books on termedistigliano.it

See the day
An outdoor thermal pool with steam rising off the water In the hot water

Apitherapy in the beech wood

A wellness session in an apiary set inside the beech forest of the Simbruini park, built on apitherapy practices: bee humming, api-aromatherapy and api-sound.

See the day

About getting back: The town bus between the baths and Viterbo station is not checked yet: we hold the last train, not the ride to it.

One thing we have not resolved: The ticket shop is on a subdomain that blocks our crawler: the price page is verified, the checkout URL is not.

Checked 2026-08-08 · termedeipapi.it/piscina-monumentale

Photograph by Emanuel Carfora, Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 3.0. Not this place: it shows what the day looks like, and will be replaced with the operator's own photograph or ours from the field.

Links marked affiliate pay us a commission — you pay the operator's own price and we never take your money. How we rank