I spent a few days of winter vacation in Sovata resort in Mures county, at Hotel Danubius. I testify that I did not know much about Sovata or about the benefits of the salty waters there, so I waited curiously for the trip.
The starting point was Piatra Neamt, the distance being 147 km through Bicaz Gorges. The road is very bad, if you take care not to ruin the car it takes about 2 hours and a half. From Bucharest it would be 346 km, so about 4-5 hours, estimated.
Sovata resort is small and quiet. The landscape is hills covered by forests, and the air is fresh and oxygenated, enriched with aerosols due to the salt mountain. Outdoor activity has been very low, since it's winter now. Just a few kiosks with Kurtos Kalacs through the small center. Hotel Danubius is very well situated, two steps away from Lake Ursu, the main salt lake of the resort, with sodic and chlorinated waters.
Lake Ursu was formed in 1875 after a landslide, with the help of salt water springs. In summer, lake water has - at least theoretically - temperatures of 10-20 degrees Celsius on the surface, 30-40 degrees at a depth of one meter, and 40-60 degrees at a depth of one and a half meters, Lake Ursu being the only heliothermal lake in Europe ie the thermal stratification property of the water and the increase of salt concentration to the depth). The salt concentration is 40 to 250 grams per liter. By comparison, the Black Sea has a salinity of 18-22, and the Mediterranean Sea of about 39 g per liter.
Basically, from what I understand from those who were there, in summer the water is warm and very good for the bathroom, that is at least 22 degrees on the surface. It seems that the main reason tourists come to Sovata in large numbers is that infertility here is treated with significant results.
The lake has an area of about 40,000 sqm and I understand that only about half is accessible to summer tourists, the rest being preserved as a natural area to keep its balance. The delimitation is done by beacons, from the area accessible to tourists, also extracting salt water and mud used in treatment bases.
During this time the lake is frozen, but the treatment bases in the resort use the waters of the lake, so we can enjoy the salty and warm water and the winter. Besides the Bear Lake, which bears this name because of its shape, which resembles a stretched bearskin, there are a number of small, salty lakes - L. Alunis, L. Verde, L. Negru, L. Mierlei, and Lake Paraschiva and Dulce Lake - with fresh water.
Besides treating infertility, lake waters are recognized for their healing properties in gynecological, rheumatic, endocrine, metabolic, neurological diseases. The duration of a bathing session must be a maximum of 20-30 minutes.
Hotel Danubius is part of Danubius Hotel Group, next to Bradet and Faget. It is classified as 4 stars, but in my opinion it is around 3. The furniture is a bit old and a little shabby, the doors are cracked, the bathroom door can not be completely closed. The bathroom seemed pretty good to me as it is, it has a foehn. In the cleaning chapter, things can be improved.
Breakfast at breakfast is a bit slow (eg fruit juice is not natural, cheap creams and cheeses are available, you do not find tomatoes). I did not try lunch or dinner there, it seemed extremely expensive (eg dinner was in the form of Swedish buffet at 60 lei per person!). The price for one night accommodation at Hotel Danubius during this period (2-4 January) was 270 MDL double room, and includes access to Spa facilities. In summer you can get from the hotel directly to Lake Ursu through an underground passage.
If the price is too high, you can try Bradet Hotel (2 stars, 150 lei per night and you have access to the Danubius treatment base, probably the food is poorer and so the conditions in the room, but you do not really go there to spend time in the room), or Faget (2 stars) or Alunis (3 stars). I have listed only those in the area in front of the lake, you can find all the hotels in the resort on booking or on the site sovata.ro
The Danubius Hotel's treatment base consists of two salt-water pools in the lake, heated at 32-36 degrees, two freshwater pools, a jacuzzi (unfortunately cold water) and a children's area with slides. I also liked two mini-pools with stones on the bottom, one with very cold water and another with hot water, where you come in alternately, and where the water reaches half the calf.
In addition to the baths you can make warm mud packs, medical gymnastics, fitness, massage, sauna, kinetotherapy.
It is easy to spend the day inside the treatment base, 3-4 hours in the morning and 3-4 hours in the evening. The program is about 8-21. In the hotel room you can find towels and bathrobes, but there are no slippers, so when you make your baggage for Sovata, the first items you put in the troller should be bathing suit and slats. And a shower gel / good soap, the hotel is from the shampoo / soap / shower gel.
There is also a treatment center at the Alunis Hotel, located behind the Danubius complex.
I do not know about the health benefits, probably 2-3 days is too little to see the effects, but the baths in salt water instantly reassemble you, relax and give you a good feeling. Plus that alternating baths where you sit and float completely relaxed in salt water (practically you can not stand even if you want with your feet on the bottom of the pool, you get up automatically) with swimming in cold water pools, you feel more energized and more in shape, you have a much better tonus and forget about stress and daily problems.
After such a bath, hunger is on hand, so you need to know where you can eat in the area. We tested Alunis Hotel's restaurant, a 2-minute walk from Danubius. Enough ok food, 8-9 lei soups, 10-25 lei main meals, friendly and flexible hospitality, even if the restaurant gives you the feeling of a canteen.
But we liked the most at the Little Mushroom (Kicsi Gomba in Hungarian), located on the shores of Lake Ursu. Very nice location and romantic, intimate view to the lake, the decor, very friendly to the waiters (we were very busy after the baths, so I ordered from the beginning three different lemonades, natural apple juice (excellent) and cola, and after the moment of amazement and smile, the order was brought to us very quickly and according to the requests.
I read beforehand about the very good cream of garlic in Kicsi Gombo bread, but I opted for a very good vegetable soup, "Bear Power", with wild boar sausages, bear, wild boar sausage, the most delicious), plus a few vegetables - red, cucumber, pepper, and the main stew of wild boar and pickled cucumber.
We felt sorry that we did not even have a place for the cake of the house, Marlenka, and she was very praised. We're leaving next time. The prices for Little Mushroom may seem great considering the location, but to Bucharest they are ok: soup 8-11 lei, wild boar 22 lei, lemonade at 0.25 - 5 lei, cola 0.25 - 4 lei, desserts 10 lei. We forgot to take pictures of the food, so we were hungry, but to compensate, we added a few menu items to the photo gallery to make an idea. All the food was tasty and well prepared, and the atmosphere was friendly, although all in the restaurant spoke only in Hungarian and we felt like in another country.
After lunch we recommend a walk around Lake Ursu. On this occasion you can see the other smaller lakes as well as the Salt Mountain.