The city owes its reputation in part to its thermal water with multiple virtues. Sedative, analgesic, balancing and relaxing, it makes Néris-les-Bains a city conducive to well-being. And for lovers of relaxation, a thermal-leisure center "Les Nériades" offering exceptional rejuvenation thanks to indoor and outdoor pools, sauna, hammam, and cabins dedicated to unique treatment programs based on thermal water, etc. Also conducive to relaxation and walks with its 17 hectares of flowered and wooded parks, the resort offers a wide variety of landscapes to discover. Furthermore, a rich preserved architectural heritage allows you to travel through more than 2000 years of history: Antiquity with its Gallo-Roman swimming pools and the arenas, the Middle Ages with the Saint-Georges church and the Merovingian necropolis., and especially the Belle Époque with the theater, the Casino, the Thermal Baths or the numerous villas, and many other discoveries...
In the Gallic era, the mysterious divinity which manifests itself through the bubbling from the source, will take a name, that of the god Nerios, but the Romans were probably the first to exploit the thermal waters of Néris-les-Bains. From the 1st century, the town was urbanized in the style of Rome. Baths, swimming pools, villas, aqueducts, amphitheater and temples are built: Nériomagos the merchant becomes Aquae Nerii the spa.
In the second century, Lucius Julius Equester, priest of Rome and Augustus, surrounded the Baths with admirable porticoes dedicated to the Emperor and a second thermal complex was built. The residential areas where rich residential homes and simple craftsmen's workshops coexist, the forum, a civil basilica, temples, develop around the thermal valley. The theater-amphitheater, whose hemicycle leans against a small hill, still occupies the site of the Parc des Arènes. The 8th Augusta Legion, stationed in Néris at this time, contributed greatly to the development of the city whose prosperity was brutally ruined by the great invasions.
With as much brilliance as for other resorts in the region, the thermal revival of Néris-les-Bains took place in the 19th century. The thermal establishment, the large hotels, the Casino, the theater were built. The parks and walks of the lime trees are designed. Lammartine, Musset, Empress Eugénie, among other great figures, find themselves in this place where passions are appeased. It is also, in the fashion of the time, a period of active archaeological excavations where we discover with wonder the rich infrastructure of the Gallo-Roman city.
In a context steeped in history, the Gallo-Roman museum was itself housed in a magnificently restored 15th century residence. Other architectural treasures can be discovered along the streets: the amphitheater, the Roman swimming pools, the necropolis located near the Romanesque church, the train station listed as a Historic Monument and the splendid Napoleon III style theater.