Overview
About this location
Băile Călan (Hunedoara): oligomineral bicarbonate magnesium-calcium water, 27–29 °C at the borehole, not 32–38 °C. The Olympic pool runs on drinking water and the Roman basin is a listed monument. No 2026 prices or hours published.
Weather – 3 day forecast
Details
General Information
Water temperature
23–29 °C depending on the source: the Roman basin 23–24 °C, the captured springs 25–29 °C, borehole 4371 H 27–29 °C
Water type
Oligomineral bicarbonate, magnesium-calcium, ferruginous waters
Entry price
Not published for 2026; the documented list dates from 2010 (7 lei adult / 5 lei child). Check on 0724 340 892
Accessibility
Open in summer; the Roman basin is a listed monument and cannot be bathed in
Wellness
Therapeutic indications
Degenerative and extra-articular rheumatic conditions; the only published list is the town hall’s, and the resort has no treatment base
About Băile Călan
A small bathing site in the Strei valley, on the edge of the town of Călan, Hunedoara County, on the spot the Romans called Aquae. Three different water temperatures share the same ground, all three published by the town hall: the rock-cut Roman basin, fed by springs, sits at 23–24 °C; the seven captured mesothermal springs give 25–29 °C; borehole 4371 H, which supplies the leisure pools, delivers 27–29 °C. No official source publishes anything warmer.
Two figures in wide circulation are wrong, and we have corrected both here. The 32–38 °C range appears in no official document. Neither does the label “calcium sulphate water”: in the composition published by the town hall, the ionic proportions are HCO₃ 63.3 · Mg⁺⁺ 38.1 · Ca⁺⁺ 11.3 · Na⁺ 7.6 · Cl 4.5 · S 3.5 · Fe⁺⁺ 0.51. Bicarbonate is the dominant anion, magnesium the dominant cation, and sulphur is a trace. The water is oligomineral, bicarbonate, magnesium-calcium and iron-bearing.
Region & access
- Călan Băi lies on the Strei valley, at the edge of Călan. Hunedoara and the Corvin Castle are 15–16 km away.
- Aquae is one of only three Dacian thermal sites marked on the Tabula Peutingeriana, next to Germisara (Geoagiu) and Ad Mediam (Herculane) — the three carry the “statio” symbol.
- Four kilometres away, at Streisîngeorgiu, a stone in the church altar bears the inscription “GENIO PAGI AQUAENSIS”, which records the ancient name of the place.
Composition & temperatures
- Borehole 4371 H feeds the leisure pools with water at 27–29 °C. Its colour is yellow-red, from the iron. The depth of the borehole is not published.
- The analysis of spring no. 2 was carried out by the Institute of Balneology in 1952. Nothing more recent is public, and total mineralisation appears nowhere.
- The “32–38 °C” figure and the “calcium sulphate” label, copied by aggregators and present in our own database until this update, come from no source we could trace.
What is actually there
- Fourteen cabins with two beds each, a camping area, 20 changing cubicles with showers, a tennis court, a volleyball court and terraces.
- Parking by the main road is free; parking inside the grounds was charged separately.
- The 125-seat restaurant that appears in nearly every description had already been closed in 2010. The open-air disco is a metal shell.
The pools, and the one you cannot use
- The leisure pools run on borehole 4371 H, at 27–29 °C. The town hall speaks of five pools fed by the borehole; a 2017 Adevărul article counts six. Nobody has published a plan of the site.
- The Olympic pool holds no thermal water. It is filled with treated drinking water from the Hațeg–Călan–Simeria–Deva pipeline. The signs on site draw the distinction plainly: “thermal water pool, depth 1 m” against “drinking water pool, depth 2 m”. That is also where the difference in colour visible in photographs comes from.
- You do not bathe in the Roman basin. It is a listed monument, LMI code HD-I-s-A-03169, an archaeological site of the 2nd–3rd centuries AD, category A, of national interest. It is fenced off with a railing, there is a weed-covered puddle in the middle, and the ruins around it are full of rubbish. Springs still feed it, but it is something to look at, not to use.
- The basin measures 14.2 m long, 7.5 m wide and 4 m deep, with a perimeter of about 94 m, a spoon shape and an outlet through a channel cut in the stone. In antiquity the water stood 1.20 m deep.
- The seven captured mesothermal springs give 25–29 °C, and the Roman basin they feed sits at 23–24 °C. This is lukewarm water, not hot water — worth knowing before an autumn trip.
Opening hours
- No opening hours for the 2026 season have been published, by the operator or by the town hall.
- The only documented timetable is from 2010: 08:00–20:00 daily, summer only, with the pools cleaned between 20:00 and 08:00.
- That is fifteen-year-old information and we publish it as a reference point, not as this year’s schedule.
- There is no official website. Announcements go up on the Facebook page “Băile Aquae Călan”.
- Phone before you drive out: 0724 340 892, the number in the GO Hunedoara listing updated in 2022. Călan town hall answers on 0254 730 223.
Nothing published for 2026
- There is no 2026 price list. Any site quoting one for Călan is quoting something it cannot source.
- The only documented list dates from August 2010: 7 lei per adult, 5 lei per child, free for people with disabilities and for war veterans.
- From the same list: 2 lei to park inside the grounds, 40 lei for a cabin, 20 lei for a tent pitch.
- Those figures are fifteen years old and describe nothing about today’s prices. Ask on the phone what entry costs before you count on a number.
- Whether camping is still operated at all in 2026 is likewise undocumented.
Good to know
- The only list of indications comes from the town hall — degenerative rheumatism, spondylosis, osteoarthritis, polyarthrosis, extra-articular rheumatism, neurasthenia — and it is drawn from a local monograph, not from a medical source. There is no treatment base, no balneology doctor and no contract with the pension house; for Hunedoara County, treatment vouchers go to Geoagiu Băi and Vața Băi.
- No source publishes any contraindication for this water, and the passing mention of “skin conditions” in administrative texts is backed by nothing. The usual mechanism for dermatoses is sulphurous water, and the water at Călan is bicarbonate.
- The decline of the site is documented in the archaeological report by Adriana Rusu and Eugen Pescaru, of the Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilisation in Deva, from the mid-1990s: soot pollution from the steelworks led to the baths being abandoned as a treatment site, and the basin was filled with sand, gravel and stone in an attempt to turn it into a potato silo. Two thirds of the rock floor of the basin was smashed in the process.
- Ownership: privatised in 1995 and taken over by S.C. Metaloterm S.R.L. Călan, at an auction won by the engineer Mihai Dan, a former local councillor. On 3 September 2017 the site was put up for sale at 2 million euro. Nothing public says whether it sold, or who owns it in 2026.
- The Asociația “Orizont” Călan and the town hall run the “Aquae” Ancient Festival, which includes a guided visit to Călan Băi led by Prof. Dr. Iosif Vasile Ferencz.
- Staying over: Hanul Domnesc Imperial Hotel & SPA on Strada 1 Decembrie in Călan, about 3 km away; Casa Maria at no. 106 in the village of Strei, about 4 km; and the cabins inside the grounds, if they are still let. Hunedoara, 15–16 km off, has the widest choice.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How much is the entrance fee at Călan Baths?
Not published for 2026; the documented list dates from 2010 (7 lei adult / 5 lei child). Check on 0724 340 892. Prices can change, so check the official information before visiting.
What is the water temperature at Călan Baths?
23–29 °C depending on the source: the Roman basin 23–24 °C, the captured springs 25–29 °C, borehole 4371 H 27–29 °C.
Is Călan Baths open in winter?
Open in summer; the Roman basin is a listed monument and cannot be bathed in.
What is the therapeutic profile of Călan Baths?
Călan Baths is a balneary resort with a profile covering: Degenerative and extra-articular rheumatic conditions; the only published list is the town hall’s, and the resort has no treatment base. Whether a balneary cure is appropriate is a decision to make together with a physician.