Overview
About this location
Sângeorgiu de Mureș, 3 km from Târgu Mureș: salt water with 11.4 mg/l of iodine, the highest concentration in Transylvania, from an 864 m borehole struck in 1912 while drilling for methane. Strand 75 lei on weekdays and 85 at weekends; spa from 70 lei.
Weather – 3 day forecast
Details
General Information
Water temperature
Not thermal water: no source publishes a temperature at source. The salt water comes from a deep borehole, and the pools are heated and controlled
Water type
Chloride, sodium and iodide mineral waters — iodine 11.4 mg/l, the highest concentration in Transylvania; with calcium, magnesium, potassium and nitrates, plus therapeutic mineral mud. Mineralisation published as 124 g/l in one source and about 135.6 g/l in another
Entry price
Strand: 75 lei adult Monday-Friday 08:00-17:00, 65 lei 17:00-19:00; weekends and holidays 85 and 75 lei; children 7-14 pay 35 lei, free under 7. Spa: Gold entry 70-100 lei (4 hours), VIP 140-160 lei (no time limit), children 5-12 pay 25 lei
Accessibility
Open all year, modern facilities
Wellness
Therapeutic indications
Salt baths: chronic locomotor conditions, chronic genital conditions, hypothyroidism (from the iodine content). Mud wraps: chronic rheumatological and degenerative conditions, chronic gynaecological conditions, chronic peripheral nervous system conditions. Wider listings add respiratory and ENT conditions. No contraindication list is published. Separately from the medical side, the outdoor strand and the spa also work as a leisure destination
About Sângeorgiu de Mureș
We described this place as a modern wellness centre for relaxation and recreation, mildly therapeutic. That was wrong by a wide margin. The salt water at Sângeorgiu de Mureș carries 11.4 mg of iodine per litre, the highest concentration in Transylvania, and the resort has been treating people with it, and with its mineral mud, since long before the hotel was built.
The water was found by accident. In 1912 a crew drilling for methane gas went down 864 m and struck brine instead. Salt bathing here was already older than that: a basin fed from a surface spring had been in use since 1880. Two more boreholes followed the first.
The resort covers more than 13 hectares at 320 m altitude, three kilometres from Târgu Mureș on the road towards Reghin, which makes it the easiest real balneal resort to reach from a city centre anywhere in Transylvania. Apollo Wellness Club is the large operator on the site, with an outdoor strand and an indoor spa that runs all year.
Brine, not thermal water
- We used to call this a sodium chloride thermal water at 32 to 38 °C. No source publishes a source temperature for Sângeorgiu de Mureș at all, and none calls the water thermal. The pools are heated and controlled, which is a different claim entirely.
- What the sources do give is the composition: chloride, sodium and iodide, with calcium, magnesium, potassium and nitrates, plus therapeutic mineral mud.
- Mineralisation is published as 124 g/l in one source and 135,586 mg/l, meaning about 135.6 g/l, in another. Either figure puts this among the most concentrated waters in the country, several times saltier than seawater. We give both rather than picking one.
- One description calls the waters hypotonic, which cannot be true of a water at 124 g/l. The likeliest explanation is that two different waters are being described, the old surface spring and the deep borehole, but no source says so, and we are not going to invent the reconciliation.
The iodine is the point
- Salt baths here are indicated for chronic locomotor conditions, chronic genital conditions and hypothyroidism. That last one is unusual on a Romanian resort page, and it follows directly from 11.4 mg/l of iodine.
- Mud wraps carry their own list: chronic rheumatological and degenerative conditions, chronic gynaecological conditions and chronic peripheral nervous system conditions.
- A wider listing groups the resort's indications as rheumatic, respiratory and ENT, endocrine, gynaecological and neurological. The endocrine entry is the one that separates Sângeorgiu from every other salt resort in the country.
- No contraindication list is published. Iodine matters both ways: a thyroid that is overactive, or one being treated, reacts to iodine load. This is a resort to discuss with your endocrinologist rather than to try on a hunch.
The outdoor season, by the hour band
- Adults pay 75 lei Monday to Friday between 08:00 and 17:00, and 65 lei if they come between 17:00 and 19:00. At weekends and on holidays the same bands are 85 and 75 lei.
- Children aged 7 to 14 pay a flat 35 lei whatever the day or hour, and need a birth certificate to prove the age. From 14 the adult rate applies.
- Children under 7 enter free, and so do people with a severe mobility disability.
- The operator states that strand hours can change with the weather. That is honest, and it also means a phone call before a marginal day is not wasted.
Gold by the four hours, VIP by the day
- Gold entry buys four hours: 70 lei on a weekday morning between 08:00 and 11:00, 80 lei from 11:00 to 21:00, and 100 lei at weekends and on holidays. Going over is charged at 0.25 lei a minute.
- VIP entry has no time limit and includes a robe: 140 lei on weekdays and 160 lei at weekends, for the full 08:00 to 21:00.
- Children aged 5 to 12 pay 25 lei a day. Gold entry is for adults and children over 12. Fitness access is 38 lei, and a robe on its own is 15 lei.
- Passes bring the unit price down: ten Gold entries cost 780 lei and thirty cost 2,100; ten VIP entries cost 1,250 lei and thirty cost 3,400. Fitness is 200 lei a month.
Mud, salt baths and physiotherapy
- The procedures on offer at the resort are massage, mud wraps, kinesiotherapy, electrotherapy and salt water baths. Reflexotherapy and aromatherapy appear on the hotel's own menu.
- Treatments at the hotel are charged on top of the room rate. A ten-session oil massage pass is 1,125 lei.
- Hotel guests get free access to the wellness centre, indoor and outdoor pools, salt baths, hot tub, sauna and fitness.
- The resort sits in what balneology calls a sheltered bioclimate, the low-stress kind that suits long cures and older visitors.
Three kilometres out of Târgu Mureș
- The resort is on DN 15 out of Târgu Mureș towards Reghin. Sources give the distance as 3 km from the city and the operator as 5 km, which is the difference between the town boundary and the centre.
- Being this close to a county seat means city buses and taxis reach it, so it works without a car in a way that most Romanian balneal resorts do not.
- Sovata, with the heliothermal Lake Ursu, is about 60 km east. The two are the obvious pair for a salt-water trip in Mureș county.
- Accommodation is at the resort hotel and in guesthouses in the commune. Târgu Mureș itself is close enough to sleep in and drive out daily.
Where the figures come from
- The strand and spa tariffs, the hour bands, the passes and the facilities come from the price pages published by Apollo Wellness Club, clubapollo.ro.
- The iodine content, the mineralisation, the 1912 borehole, the 1880 basin, the altitude and the indication lists come from balneal resort directories and county tourism material, cross-checked against each other.
- Where two sources disagree, as with the mineralisation and the distance to Târgu Mureș, we print both figures rather than choosing.
- This page describes what the operators publish. It is not medical advice, and with an iodine-rich water the consultation matters more than usual.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How much is the entrance fee at Sângeorgiu de Mureș - Apollo Wellness Club?
Strand: 75 lei adult Monday-Friday 08:00-17:00, 65 lei 17:00-19:00; weekends and holidays 85 and 75 lei; children 7-14 pay 35 lei, free under 7. Spa: Gold entry 70-100 lei (4 hours), VIP 140-160 lei (no time limit), children 5-12 pay 25 lei. Prices can change, so check the official information before visiting.
What are the opening hours at Sângeorgiu de Mureș - Apollo Wellness Club?
Daily 08:00-19:00 (outdoor thermal beach – summer season).
What is the water temperature at Sângeorgiu de Mureș - Apollo Wellness Club?
Not thermal water: no source publishes a temperature at source. The salt water comes from a deep borehole, and the pools are heated and controlled.
Is Sângeorgiu de Mureș - Apollo Wellness Club open in winter?
Open all year, modern facilities.
What is the therapeutic profile of Sângeorgiu de Mureș - Apollo Wellness Club?
Sângeorgiu de Mureș - Apollo Wellness Club is a balneary resort with a profile covering: Salt baths: chronic locomotor conditions, chronic genital conditions, hypothyroidism (from the iodine content). Mud wraps: chronic rheumatological and degenerative conditions, chronic gynaecological conditions, chronic peripheral nervous system conditions. Wider listings add respiratory and ENT conditions. No contraindication list is published. Separately from the medical side, the outdoor strand and the spa also work as a leisure destination. Whether a balneary cure is appropriate is a decision to make together with a physician.
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