Băile Felix
Romania's warmest spa resort, where thermal water feeds pools and a rare lotus lake.
Wikimedia Commons
- Source temperature
- 49°C
- Bathing temperature
- 38°C
- Bathing
- Indoor / Outdoor
- Accommodation
- Hotel on site
Băile Felix, near Oradea in Bihor county, is Romania's best-known year-round thermal resort. Oligomineral water reaching the surface at up to about 49 °C supplies its treatment centres and open-air pools, and warms a lake where the protected thermal lotus Nymphaea lotus var. thermalis grows.
Balnevia view
Why visit
The resort pairs serious rehabilitation medicine with genuinely hot open-air bathing in winter, plus a botanical curiosity found in only a handful of places in Europe.
Recommendations
Hotels nearby
Explore places to stay near Băile Felix.
The water
Thermal water
- Source
- Băile Felix thermal springs
- Mineralisation
- Oligomineral, slightly sulphurous thermal water
- Character
- Hot oligomineral water feeding treatment pools and the lake where the thermal lotus grows.
History
The springs were noted in the 13th century by the monks of the nearby Sânmartin abbey and developed as a bathing resort from the 18th and 19th centuries under Habsburg rule.
Practical information
Bathing is spread across several complexes, from state sanatorium pools to newer strandurile; the hottest basins can be uncomfortable for long immersion.
Getting there
Oradea is about nine kilometres away and has an airport and mainline station; local buses and trains run to Băile Felix.
Location
Related places
