Overview
About this location
Băile 1 Mai has two outdoor baths, not one: Venus Waterland at 70–80 lei per adult and the commune’s Wave Pool at 30 lei, driven by an 1890 Ganz motor. You cannot bathe at Peța — the lake dried up in 2014.
Weather – 3 day forecast
Details
General Information
Water temperature
The natural springs in the area 35–45 °C; the Wave Pool 26 °C; at Venus Waterland the per-pool temperature is not published
Water type
Oligomineral (acratothermal) waters, weakly mineralised
Entry price
Venus Waterland (2026): 70 lei/adult Mon–Fri, 80 lei at weekends, 45 lei children aged 4–13. The Wave Pool: 30 lei adult, 10 lei child
Accessibility
Seasonal (outdoor), partial indoor access all year
Wellness
Therapeutic indications
Rheumatic, central and peripheral neurological, post-traumatic, gynaecological, plus paediatric recovery at the hospital ward; dermatological conditions are a major contraindication at the recovery hospital, not an indication
About Băile 1 Mai
Băile 1 Mai, in Sânmartin commune, Bihor County, does not have one outdoor bath. It has two, with different owners and rates more than twice apart, and no aggregator puts them side by side. Venus Waterland belongs to Turism Felix SA and asks 70 lei for an adult from Monday to Friday, 80 at weekends. The Wave Pool, run by Sânmartin town hall, asks 30 lei for an adult and 10 for a child.
The second correction concerns the Peța reserve, which many tourism sites still suggest you can swim in. You cannot, because there is no longer a lake or a stream there. Ochiul Mare dried out completely in 2014, and a field report from 18 December 2025 found the bed overgrown with weeds more than 1.5 m tall.
Operators & contacts
- Venus Waterland, operated by Turism Felix SA, phone +40 259 318 421.
- The Wave Pool, operated by Sânmartin town hall, phone 0259 318 003.
- Two treatment bases are open to the general public: the Perla Wellness & Spa hotel complex, Băile 1 Mai district 65/B, 0359 444 444, and Hotel Ceres 2*, Băile 1 Mai district 52, 460 beds, 0259 317 126, run by the state company TBRCM, which handles CNPP treatment tickets.
What is measured
- The natural springs in the area ran at 35–45 °C. The recovery hospital describes the waters as hydromineral acratothermal, that is oligomineral thermal, and used strictly for the external cure. TBRCM describes them as bicarbonated, sulphated, calcic, oligomineral.
- The Wave Pool holds 26 °C in the basin.
- Venus Waterland does not publish a temperature per pool. Borehole depths are unpublished as well, for both baths.
A Ganz motor from 1890
- The wave basin is driven by a refurbished Ganz electric motor from Budapest, which produces 14 waves a minute over roughly 3 hectares at the edge of the forest.
- The refurbishment cost around 800,000 euro. The installation is considered the only working one of its kind left in the world.
- Sources disagree on the year: some give 1889, others 1890. Nobody publishes the document that would settle it.
The two baths, and the place you cannot use
- Venus Waterland reopened on 19 August 2023 after about two years of works and a 14 million euro investment, with room for over 2,000 visitors at once.
- How many pools it has depends on who you read: the press at the 2023 opening and the shareholder say 6 pools plus 2 for children, the current commercial description on the ticket page 7 for adults plus 2 for children. Surface area is given as 4.3 ha in the 2023 official release and as almost 5 ha by tourism sources.
- The Wave Pool is the cheap, plain option: the wave basin at 26 °C, free daily entry for people with a disability certificate and free entry Monday to Thursday for pensioners living in Sânmartin commune.
- The Peța reserve is not a bathing option and has not been one for years. Lake Ochiul Mare is dry. Mayor Cristian Laza: “We tried to unclog the spring, but we hit a layer of rock that could not be pierced.” Geologist Gábor Paál is blunter: “If we want to be accurate, Peța does not exist either… What reaches Oradea is water discharged from the baths, pools, treatment bases and guesthouses of the two spa villages.”
- The chronology, briefly: the thermal water lily is mentioned scientifically in 1802, described as a species in 1907, declared a natural monument by the Romanian Academy in 1931, protected from 1932. In December 2011 the water temperature dropped abruptly to 4 °C and the lake froze two months later. By 2014 it had dried out. The causes on record are over-extraction of the deposit without reinjection, plus illegal boreholes — 8 were identified and ordered sealed.
- The snail Melanopsis parreyssii is definitively extinct. The thermal water lily Nymphaea lotus var. thermalis lives on in a purpose-built basin on the University of Oradea campus, fed with spent geothermal water above 30 °C, where the first stems were relocated in May 2020. The fish Scardinius racovitzai is in the aquariums of the Țării Crișurilor Museum, with a captive breeding programme.
Opening hours
- Venus Waterland: 08:00–20:00 daily. The 2026 season started on 29 May.
- Tickets for Venus are on sale as far ahead as 30 September, but the closing date is not published. Call +40 259 318 421 if you are planning for then.
- The Wave Pool: 9:00–19:00 daily.
- The Wave Pool only reopened on Wednesday, 22 July 2026, after a break during which festivals were held on the grounds.
- Perla and Ceres work year-round, as hotels with treatment bases.
Checked on 3 August 2026
- Venus Waterland, from the ticketing system: adult over 14 years 70 lei Monday to Friday, 80 lei Saturday and Sunday. Child 4–13 years 45 lei, any day.
- Venus has no afternoon ticket and no published season pass. No rate is published for children under 4 either — ask at the gate.
- The Wave Pool: adult 30 lei, child 10 lei, rates unchanged. Free for pensioners resident in Sânmartin commune, Monday to Thursday. Free every day for people with a disability certificate.
- For a family of two adults and two children aged 4–13, a Saturday costs 250 lei at Venus and 80 lei at the Wave Pool.
- Perla publishes its pool price list only as images, so it cannot be read as text and does not reach search results. Phone 0359 444 444 for a figure.
Good to know
- The medical side here is paediatric. Băile 1 Mai hosts the R.M.F.B. Children’s Clinical Ward of the Băile Felix Clinical Hospital for Medical Recovery, 110 beds plus 25 for companions, the only paediatric recovery ward on thermal water in the area’s public network. Hydrokinetotherapy is done with acratothermal water from the local springs, for functional deficits of central nervous origin, peripheral motor neuron and orthopaedic deficits, and rheumatic conditions in children.
- The hospital’s own contraindications, textually: infectious and contagious diseases; dermatological conditions; decompensated organic disease or disease at the limit of decompensation; conditions in the acute phase; organic psychopathies. The hospital also requires that any history of seizures and any antiepileptic treatment be recorded.
- Legal status of the reserve in 2026: it exists on paper. We found no published visiting regulation and no fine schedule, and in practice it is dry ground with no fence and no active custodian. The town hall has won funding for a promenade along the banks of the Peța up to the former lake, which means walking access, not bathing.
- Background risk, documented: Turism Felix SA commissioned a study of the deposit which, unofficially, is said to show the aquifer under Sânmartin shrinking after geothermal heating expanded in the Nufărul district of Oradea. As of December 2025 the conclusions were not public.
- Staying over: Perla Wellness & Spa hotel complex; Hotel Aqua Thermal Spa & Relax at Str. Principală 11B, with an indoor pool above 37 °C and a children’s pool held at 32–34 °C year-round; and Hotel Ceres 2*.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How much is the entrance fee at 1 Mai Baths?
Venus Waterland (2026): 70 lei/adult Mon–Fri, 80 lei at weekends, 45 lei children aged 4–13. The Wave Pool: 30 lei adult, 10 lei child. Prices can change, so check the official information before visiting.
What are the opening hours at 1 Mai Baths?
Venus Waterland daily 08:00-20:00; the Wave Pool daily 09:00-19:00.
What is the water temperature at 1 Mai Baths?
The natural springs in the area 35–45 °C; the Wave Pool 26 °C; at Venus Waterland the per-pool temperature is not published.
Is 1 Mai Baths open in winter?
Seasonal (outdoor), partial indoor access all year.
What is the therapeutic profile of 1 Mai Baths?
1 Mai Baths is a balneary resort with a profile covering: Rheumatic, central and peripheral neurological, post-traumatic, gynaecological, plus paediatric recovery at the hospital ward; dermatological conditions are a major contraindication at the recovery hospital, not an indication. Whether a balneary cure is appropriate is a decision to make together with a physician.