Ocna Sibiului Salt Lakes

• Sibiu County, altitude 386 m; the lakes sit inside the town.
• 15–17 km from Sibiu, roughly 20 minutes by car; Sibiu airport is 13 km away.
• Ocna Sibiului station on the Sibiu–Copșa Mică railway, right next to the northern group of lakes; buses from Sibiu.
• Two CCTV-monitored car parks; the county tourism board mentions around 600 spaces.

• Sodium-chloride brine of anthroposaline origin, from collapsed and flooded salt mines.
• 8–9 g/l in Lacul Verde and Lacul Rândunica, 260 g/l in Ocnița, 318 g/l in Lacul fără fund, 353 g/l in Lacul Negru.
• Therapeutic sapropelic mud in Lacul Balta cu Nămol.

• Open-air bathing and sunbathing; families, since children under 10 enter free.
• Salt-water pool for children, freshwater pools, sand beach, playgrounds.
• Resort profile, per the operator: locomotor conditions, chronic degenerative rheumatism, arthrosis and spondylosis, gynaecological conditions.

Rainwater sits on top of the brine and, being lighter, does not mix with it. Sunlight passes through that fresher layer and heats the dense salt water below, which stays trapped as if under a lid. You step into cool water and, as you go down, you find warmth. In Lacul fără fund the water reaches 46 °C at just 2 metres, with 96 g/l salinity at the surface and 318 g/l at depth. In the bathing lakes the effect is milder, with the warm layer starting around 0.5 to 1.5 m down.

• The operator declares 12 functional lakes, inside a hydrological protection perimeter of 53 hectares covering 14 anthroposaline lakes plus smaller ones formed naturally.
• Lacul Avram Iancu, over the Fodina Maior mine abandoned in 1817, is the deepest anthroposaline lake in Romania. Lacul Brâncoveanu, over a mine abandoned in 1699, measures 310–400 g/l.
• Lacul fără fund is a natural monument and a geological reserve. We found no official confirmation that bathing is allowed there, so do not plan on swimming in it.
• Lacul Balta cu Nămol formed in an excavation in the salt cover and holds a thick layer of sapropelic mud; the operator states that visitors can use the salt water and mud treatments free of charge.

Systematic research into the curative qualities began in 1820. The resort was formally inaugurated on 20 June 1858, the central pavilion and the bath building went up between 1906 and 1909 and still stand, and since 1948 the resort has operated year-round as an institution.

• SC Lacurile Naturale Ocna Sibiului SA, a company of the local authority, str. Salinelor nr. 7.
• The 12 open-air salt lakes, plus pools, beach, gazebos, showers, terraces and playgrounds.
• Tickets 25–35 lei by period. Open 22 May to 30 September 2026.

• Str. Băilor nr. 26, around the Horia, Cloșca and Crișan lakes.
• Three outdoor salt-water basins and a 10 by 20 m indoor pool with 160–200 g/l brine heated to 31–33 °C, wet and dry sauna, jacuzzi, massage, treatment base, hotel with 51 beds.
• Since 1 November 2020 the hotel and the spa centre admit only guests over 14.
• No 2026 tariffs published; the prices circulating online are undated.

• Complex Balnear Ocna Sibiului, str. Băilor 22–24, run by Turism Mayr.
• Two outdoor freshwater pools, 36 m and 13 m, plus hotel and sports facilities.
• The pool prices of 65 and 80 lei that circulate online come from a page last updated in October 2025, so they are unconfirmed for 2026.

• 2026 season: 22 May to 30 September. Closed the rest of the year.
• Daily 07:00–20:00.
• The official site shows 07:00–22:00 in the header of the price page, while every single price block states 07:00–20:00. The price blocks carry the 2026 dates, so we use 20:00.

• Peak season, 7 June to 31 August: 35 lei adult, 20 lei child over 10.
• Shoulder periods, 22 May to 6 June and 1 to 30 September: 25 lei adult, 10 lei child over 10.
• Free for children under 10 and for people with severe or accentuated disability. Parking 10 lei per entry.
• Seven-day passes, valid 30 days from first activation, two entries per day at least 3 hours apart: 150 lei adult and 60 lei child in the shoulder periods, 210 lei and 120 lei in peak season.
• A standard ticket covers one entry only. If you leave, you pay again.
• The 10–20 lei prices still showing up in search results date from 2018.