Aix-les-Bains (Èx-los-Bens in Franco-Provençal) is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.
It is situated on the shore of Lac du Bourget, 9 km (5.6 mi) by rail north of Chambéry.
The town lies at an altitude of about 250 m (820 ft) and stretches along the eastern end of Lac du Bourget and up the slopes above the lake that culminate in the Tour de L'Angle Est that overlooks the town and lake at a height of 1,562 m (5,124.67 ft). The western shore of the lake is narrower as the mountains along its edge are closer to the lakeshore, although lower than those on the eastern side. The lake drains out of its northern end into the Rhône river about 5 kilometres (3 miles) to the north.
Aix-les-Bains is situated in the hilly country of the Bugey that makes up the foothills of the Alps and also forms part of the lower western extension of the Jura Mountains.
Aix derives from Latin Aquae (literally, "waters"), and Aix was a bath during the Roman Empire, even before it was renamed Aquae Gratianae to commemorate the Emperor Gratian, who was assassinated not far away, in Lyon, in 383. Numerous Roman ruins survive.
Aix-les-bains became a popular spa hotspot at the end of the 19th century welcoming the like of Queen Victoria, John Pierpont Morgan, Sissi or Napoleon III. Today, many palaces remain of that golden era.
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