The Parc des Sources is the beating heart of Vichy, a long shaded promenade running through the centre of the thermal district. Lined with chestnut trees, its iron-framed bandstand and formal planting recall the resort at the height of its fashionable prosperity, when royalty and politicians from across Europe came to take the cure. The park connects the principal pump rooms and provides a natural gathering place, with chairs and benches where you can sit and watch other visitors approach the water dispensers with varying degrees of resignation.
The springs themselves are still active and still accessible. A handful of dispensing points along the park let visitors drink for free, each mineral water emerging at its natural temperature (pleasantly warm) with a taste ranging from faintly salty to aggressively sulfurous. The Hall des Sources, a large iron-and-glass pavilion at one end of the park, covers the main dispensing area and shelters visitors who want a longer session — the attendants still fill your glass for you. Whether you believe in the therapeutic properties or not, the ritual of drinking the waters in this setting is a uniquely Victorian experience that has survived largely intact.