Spa Treatment in Romania

What better after the holidays, with rich meals and late nights, than a few days at a spa? This is our proposal, as Romania has over a third of Europes thermal and mineral waters.

Daniel Onea, 09.01.2014, 13:30

In spa resorts, besides natural treatments, you can also get the benefit of psychotherapy, acupuncture, electrotherapy or treatments with medicinal herbs and plant based supplements. There are quite a few Romanian spas on the map, and they are Mangalia, Neptun, Eforie Nord, Covasna, Slanic Moldova, Vatra Dornei, Borsec, Herculane, Buzias, Sovata, Bazna, Ocna Sibiului, Baile Felix, Tusnad, Calimanesti and Govora. Teams of expert physicians at every one of them are ready to give you a battery of tests, then recommend specialized treatment, to leave you feeling fresh and hale.

We stopped first at Baile Felix, in the west of the country, where we spoke with Dr. Mircea Tarau, the medical director of the company that runs several hotels and treatment facilities in the resort. He first told us about the treatment and medical recovery options available.

Dr. Mircea Tarau: “Our wealth lies in our mineral waters, more precisely thermal mineral waters, which you should know are deep waters, coming from two to three thousand meters below. Our spring waters have temperatures ranging between 42 and 49 degrees Celsius. Our treatments and procedures are aimed mostly at diseases of the locomotor system, mostly rheumatic afflictions. We are famous for post-trauma recovery. A lot of people come here for such treatments, with problems that sometimes border on the bizarre. We also do successful treatment for neurological problems, such as lumbar discopathy, disc hernias, and various forms of paralysis. We have treatment for people with various metabolic diseases, such as obesity. We have programs for them, including gymnastics and diets, because recovery from obesity is impossible without both.”

Don’t make the mistake of believing that only sick people go to Baile Felix. Anyone can take advantage of the spa offer, and Dr. Mircea Tarau told us about it: “We do have on offer what is called spa treatment. Spa is not a procedure, it is a concept. This is a 2,000 year old practice, it comes from Latin, from ‘sana per aqua’, meaning ‘health through water’. Water procedures here include showers, we have the Vichy shower, the Caracalla shower, cyclone shower, underwater shower, they are all aimed at relaxation, at wellness. In order to reach wellness, we have to throw massage into the mix. We have at least ten forms of massage that we do, depending on our aims. People come here from work with a lot of stress, so we have to remove the stress, and this is obtained by water procedures, massage or magnetic therapy. We have a diversity of packages, with four procedures every day, and they cost below 20 Euro.”

As we said, there is a multitude of centers offering spa services and natural treatments in the country. For instance, in the southern Romanian spa of Breaza, Prahova County, there is a treatment and relaxation center based on homeopathy, phytotherapy, and galenic treatments, known collectively as Hofigal.

Carmen Dobre, a representative of Hofigal has extended an invitation to come visit: “We have 7 or 14 days autumn-spring packages which sell cost 1,000 lei and 2,000 lei per person, respectively. We offer lodging, three meals a day, three daily procedures, based on a physician’s recommendation, and Hofigal supplements for the entire length of the stay. We offer therapeutic massage, partial relaxation massage, kineto-therapy, reflex therapy, plant extract baths, spirulina wraps, which are unique, and diet therapy. We also offer tourists a slimming package: 11 days with 10 days of treatment, for 1,900 lei, including a diet, natural supplements, electro-stimulation, massage, kineto-therapy, and reflex therapy, all part of this slimming package. The menu is a diet menu, with chicken, fish and beef, there is no pork, nothing is fried, everything is diet. Today for lunch we have vegetable soup, chicken rolls with vegetables, Bulgarian salad and roasted vegetables, depending on the customized diet.”

As daily stress is now a common problem, there is greater and greater need of spas. Hotels in most resorts have set up small such centers.

Octavian Birau, marketing director of a hotel in the famous resort of Sinaia, Prahova County, told us about their offer: “We have a wide range of massage, which our professional masseur offers our guests. We have relaxation massage, we have cervical massage, cellulite massage, suction cup massage, volcanic rock massage, peeling, reflex therapy and fitness massage, the latest included in our offer. Of course, all our guests could use a massage after the holidays. We also have a Jacuzzi and dry sauna, all part of our spa offer.”

You can find such centers all over Romania, where music and aromatherapy blend with massage and all kinds of other procedures to pamper you and get you back in shape after the holidays.