Herculane SPA in south-western Romania

Romania's balneal resorts: past and present

Eugen Nasta, 07.11.2024, 14:00

We’re heading to south-western Romania, today. Our stopover is one of Europe’s oldest balneal resorts. In Herculane Spa, Baile Herculane, in Romanian, we can find a wide range of treatment procedures based on the healing properties of the waters. Also, the resort can very well be the departure point for other fascinating tourist assets nearby. Not the least, in 2025, an event will be staged in Baile Herculane, with the participation of all Europe’s major balneal resorts, ‘The General Assembly of Europe’s Historical Thermal Cities Association’”.

Herculane is a spa with an impressive history. It was first documented in the year 153 AD. In the meantime, the spa has gathered quite a few legends and tales that today make Herculane Spa a cultural destination in its own right, and not just a destination with a breath-taking scenery. With details on that, here is the PR Manager of the Pro Tourism Herculane Association, Laura Patru:

“The spa saw its heyday in two major eras. The Roman period of time was the such first era. And that, because it played host to a large number of Rome’s noblemen of that time. To this day, in Herculane, we have preserved archaeological evidence of that particular era. The Roman hallmark is still visible in Herculane. The second era was the Austrian one. Ever since, all its buildings still stand, which we consider iconic for the resort, they were built in the Romantic style, and that earned the spa its fame, a reason why it was known as the Pearl of Europe.”

All that and the cure factors contributed to Herculane Spa’s renown. Actually, the waters’ healing properties are mentioned in the legends:

„Hercules, while he was performing his labours, or at least that’s what the local legend says, being completely exhausted, bathed in the Herculane thermal springs. So he regained his strength and that helped him to carry his labours through. And here we are, today, still using those thermal springs so we can regain our strength and restore our health. Herculane benefits from more than 17 thermal springs, each of them with their own properties. So we have water for the external cure, which we use to cure rheumatic and skin conditions.

It is a factor helping us a lot to treat post-traumatic, physical conditions. Yet we also have springs for internal cure, like those used in the treatment of stomach conditions. We also have external cure for eye conditions, yet all that is, of course, supported by the modern technology, which is available in the treatment centres across the resort and which helps us do everything much more efficiently. Also, here the air has a strong negative ions concentration.

Even though, in Herculane, we are less than 160 meters above sea level, the body feels the air just like in the Swiss Alps. It is very strong, while all these elements put together help us create, for all our guests in the resort, a new state of well-being. “

Fortunately, in recent years, Herculane SPA has enjoyed the significant contribution of several investors. Quite a few of the resort’s iconic hotels have been completely refurbished, revamped and brought to modern standards. Therefore, tourists who reach the resort enjoy accommodation and treatment services at European level. With details on that, here is here is the PR Manager of the Pro Tourism Herculane Association, Laura Patru:

“Today we blend balneal culture into the SPA-type facilities, as people discover, more and more often, how important prevention is. We do not only follow a treatment facility at the time when our condition is unbearable, we come to have our treatment well in advance, we make prevention. Then, the SPA culture, at European level but also with us, is more and more sought-after.

People are stressed out because of their jobs, they need to relax, to enjoy natural factors, while Herculane has all the facilities for that, both through its big hotels, built there from the beginning, and through the natural factors, added to which are these additional spa services. They create a complete product, tailored for the entire family. “

Romanian tourists will come to pursue a treatment plan with a referral from their family doctor. For the foreign ones, it is recommended to have a medical referral from their countries of origin proving they are eligible for treatment in Herculane. Furthermore, everybody benefits from a medical check-up from the treatment facility’s balneology specialist. physician. It is recommended for the stays including a balneal cure to have a minimum of five days so the balneal effects can be felt, enabling us to have enough time to take trips to the surroundings.

“The offer of the region is very generous, to that end. Herculane now has, for the horse lovers, an equestrian centre. At a mere half an hours’ drive we have the spectacular scenery of the Danube Gorges, where you can have boat rides and where you can see Decebalus’s face carved in stone. It is Europe’s greatest rock-carved sculpture. Also close by you can have the Iron Gates Museum, while I’m dead positive guests can find out a lot of impressive things, all the more so as there also is a section dedicated to the Ada Kaleh submerged island.

Also close by, tourists can visit the water mills in Rudaria, included on the UNESCO heritage list. It is a group of mills whose working principle is the same as 300 years ago, and where the locals bring their grains. The place is close to nature and to traditions. Also at a short distance from Herculane, for those who are into doing a little bit of physical exercise, there are the Inelet hamlets. It is a village you can reach only by climbing wooden stairs fixed in stone. Yet once you get there, the scenery is absolutely breath-taking, and life there is preserved just like 100 years ago. Technology has not reached the place, just as it reached other places, and it is a true experience. “

The landscape in Herculane provides a wonderful background for the winter holidays and the resort is packed with tourists, each year, for the winter holidays. Here is the PR Manager of the Pro Tourism Herculane Association, Laura Pătru, once again, this time extending an invitation for the end of the year.

“There are, in the spa, packages for the December 1st holiday, Christmas or the New Year’s Eve. The New Year’s Eve packages have three- or four-day stays on offer, while the big hotels, but also the smaller units go at all lengths to bring to their guests everything they want. You can find live music, yummy dishes in the hotels where the service is more complex, programs for the little ones, or the New Year’s Eve Party for children. As for Christmas, it is as traditional as it can be, as, if they come to us, we want our guests to mirror themselves in the magic of childhood. We are, of course, being visited by Santa each year, while the little ones have a lot of activities and workshops that can make their holiday more beautiful, as well as facilities especially dedicated for them. We have swimming pools for children, salt mines, so winter in Herculane is a mix of tradition and relaxation.”

So here we are, this week, with a family destination, a destination for all seasons! ,