Overview
About this location
Balvanyos Baths, Covasna County: the Sulphurous Grotto on Mount Puturosu, Romania's largest natural mofette — over 3,000 m³ of gas a day, 95.82% CO₂. The resort spa costs 80 lei Monday to Thursday and 120 lei at weekends, for three hours.
Weather – 3 day forecast
Details
General Information
Water temperature
Cold springs; no source publishes a measured temperature. The therapeutic factor is the mofette gas, not the water
Water type
CO₂ mineral waters, carbogaseous, ferruginous
Entry price
There is no public strand with mineral water. Day access to Grand Santerra Spa (heated, not mineral water), 3 hours: 80 lei Monday-Thursday, 120 lei Friday-Sunday; children 7-16 pay 60 and 90 lei, ages 1-6 free; extra hour 15 or 30 lei. Booking required for visitors who are not staying
Accessibility
The rustic baths are seasonal; the spa and the hotels' indoor pools run year-round — check the schedule before visiting
Wellness
Therapeutic indications
Cardiovascular conditions, hypertension, gynaecological conditions
About Băile Balvanyos
Two different places share this name, and confusing them is the easiest mistake to make here. One is a four-star resort with seven heated pools, three saunas and a salt room, which you can walk into for 80 lei. The other is a mountain that breathes gas, half an hour further up, where the interesting things are free and none of them are supervised.
The mountain is the reason the resort exists. Muntele Puturosu sits in the Ciomad-Puturosu massif, the youngest volcanic formation in the Harghita mountains, and post-volcanic activity there has never stopped. What comes out of the rock is almost pure carbon dioxide with hydrogen sulphide in it, in quantities you measure in thousands of cubic metres a day.
The resort itself is at 840 to 950 m in the Bodoc mountains, in fir forest, with wooden tubs of cold sulphurous water scattered between the trees in the old style. It is open all year, and the treatment side of it works through the hotels rather than through any public bath.
A cave 14 metres long that exhales 3,000 cubic metres a day
- The Grota Sulfuroasă, also called Peștera Puturosu, opens on the south-west slope of Mount Puturosu at 1,052 m. It is only 14 m long, and its gas output is given at over 3,000 m³ a day, which makes it the largest natural mofette in Romania and one of the largest in Europe.
- The analysis published for it reads 95.82% carbon dioxide, 0.38% hydrogen sulphide, 0.14% oxygen and 2.66% nitrogen, with a natural radioactivity of 980.0 pCi/l. The hydrogen sulphide is the part with balneological value, and it is also what gives the mountain its name.
- Sulphur deposits form on the cave walls where the gas meets the air, which is why the rock is yellow in places. The Grota Timsós nearby has alum deposits analysed at 62% pure alum.
- Cimitirul Păsărilor, the birds' cemetery, is a hollow about 15 m across and 3 m deep where hydrogen sulphide collects. Animals that walk into it lose their breath, and the name is descriptive rather than folkloric.
- Grota Ucigașă is a former sulphur mine gallery with no visible deposits left on the walls. Bats are regularly affected there.
The gas is heavier than air, and that is the whole problem
- Carbon dioxide pools at the bottom of every hollow here and stays there. Your head is fine at standing height; a child's head, a dog, or your own head if you crouch or lie down, is not. The birds' cemetery is called that for a literal reason.
- Do not go into the hollows alone, do not go in after drinking, and do not go in to take a photograph from low down. Loss of consciousness in a CO₂ pocket happens without warning, and there is nobody stationed there.
- Hydrogen sulphide has a smell only up to a point. At higher concentrations it stops smelling, which removes the one warning signal most people rely on.
- A supervised mofette session is a different thing entirely, prescribed by a doctor, timed, in a built pit. Covasna, 30 km away, is where that is done properly, and the contraindication list there applies here too.
Cold, carbonated, and in one place strongly acidic
- The springs are chloride, calcium, sodium, carbogaseous, ferruginous and hypotonic, cold at the source. The rustic wooden tubs in the forest are filled with them unheated, which is how the baths worked here long before any hotel existed.
- Băile Timsós, also called Apor, are the unusual ones: the water there contains sulphuric acid, with a pH measured between 1.82 and 4.28. Eight different types of spring are described on a very small area.
- The Izvoarele Tămăduitoare, the healing springs, are at kilometre 22.4 on the main road and have been used traditionally.
- Nobody publishes a measured temperature for the springs. The resort's own pools are heated water, and although the spa calls its area a thermal zone, no operator claims the pool water is mineral. Read that word as marketing, not as geology.
Monday starts late
- Grand Santerra Spa runs its pools and saunas 11:00 to 21:00 on Monday and 09:00 to 21:00 from Tuesday to Sunday. Spa procedures run 11:00 to 19:00 on Monday and 10:00 to 19:00 the rest of the week. The fitness room is open 08:00 to 21:00 daily.
- Children under 14 use the Kids Friendly area between 09:00 and 19:00. After 19:00 the whole spa is adults only, from 14 up.
- External visitors have to book in advance, on 0790 307 120 or at spa@balvanyosresort.ro. Turning up at the door is not the way in.
- The complex holds seven pools, indoor and outdoor, three Finnish saunas with themed sessions, a steam bath, a salt room and a spa café.
Three hours, and the weekend costs half as much again
- Adult day access is 80 lei Monday to Thursday and 120 lei Friday to Sunday, for three hours in the thermal area: pools, hydromassage, saunas, steam bath and salt room.
- Children aged 7 to 16 pay 60 lei Monday to Thursday and 90 lei at the weekend. Children aged 1 to 6 are free.
- An extra hour is 15 lei on weekdays and 30 lei at the weekend. A bathrobe is 20 lei, and a towel needs a 50 lei deposit.
- Hotel guests have free access to the pools and saunas, so the day rate above is only for visitors who are not staying. There is no public strand with mineral water anywhere in the resort.
A castle from the 11th century and a peat bog that bubbles
- Cetatea Bálványos stands in ruins at 1,057 m. It was built in the 11th century and appears in documents from 1360 as Castri Baluanus. The upper enclosure measures 160 m around and the lower one 240 m; the main tower had a 10 by 10 m base, stood around 20 m tall and had walls 2.1 to 2.3 m thick across four floors. It was abandoned in the early 17th century.
- Tinovul Buffogó is a peat bog at 925 m covering 0.88 hectares, with roughly 18,750 m³ of peat and a maximum thickness of 4.1 m. Gas rises through it, which is where the bubbling name comes from.
- Lacul Sfânta Ana, Romania's only volcanic crater lake, is close enough for a half-day. Its water reaches 24 to 25 °C in high summer, which is warmer than anything you will find in a wooden tub down here.
- Covasna is about 30 km south, with the same geology and a hospital built on it. Băile Tușnad is the other neighbour, over the mountain.
By car, or by train and then a transfer
- By road from Brașov or from Băile Tușnad. By rail, the nearest station is Tușnad, followed by a road transfer; there is no station in the resort itself.
- The path up to the caves is marked with red and blue trail signs starting from the hotel in the resort. It is a walk, not a drive, and the last part is on forest ground.
- The resort works all twelve months. The rustic wooden baths are the seasonal part; the hotel spa and the indoor pools are not.
- Accommodation is in the resort hotel and in guesthouses in the area. Treatment goes through the hotels, so there is nothing to book separately.
Where the figures come from
- The gas analysis, the cave dimensions, the alum and peat figures and the description of Cetatea Bálványos come from the tourist information published by Băile Tușnad, which covers the Balvanyos area.
- The spa hours, the day-access prices and the booking conditions come from the opening hours and prices page published by Balvanyos Resort.
- Prices and hours change. Confirm with the operator before you drive up, especially since external access needs a booking anyway.
- This page describes what the operators publish. It is not medical advice, and a mofette cure is prescribed by a doctor after a consultation.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How much is the entrance fee at Balvanyos Baths?
There is no public strand with mineral water. Day access to Grand Santerra Spa (heated, not mineral water), 3 hours: 80 lei Monday-Thursday, 120 lei Friday-Sunday; children 7-16 pay 60 and 90 lei, ages 1-6 free; extra hour 15 or 30 lei. Booking required for visitors who are not staying. Prices can change, so check the official information before visiting.
What are the opening hours at Balvanyos Baths?
Monday 11:00-21:00, Tuesday-Sunday 09:00-21:00 (Grand Santerra Spa – day access by reservation).
What is the water temperature at Balvanyos Baths?
Cold springs; no source publishes a measured temperature. The therapeutic factor is the mofette gas, not the water.
Is Balvanyos Baths open in winter?
The rustic baths are seasonal; the spa and the hotels' indoor pools run year-round — check the schedule before visiting.