About Băile Tușnad
Băile Tușnad is a spa and mountain-air resort at 650 m, in the gorge the Olt has cut between the Harghita and Bodoc mountains, at the southern end of the Ciuc basin. It has been a town since 1968 and, with 1,372 inhabitants at the 2021 census, it is the smallest town in Romania. The mountain air, the fir forests around it and the mineral waters have made it, since the 19th century, a place to take the cure for heart and circulation problems.
The resort was most probably founded in 1842, and a few years later a joint-stock company was set up to exploit its springs. It was destroyed in the fighting of 1849 and rebuilt from 1852, and after 1860 it grew fast: in 1868 Count Benedek Mikes had the waters of eight springs analysed, in 1890 the first treatment centre, the Stefánia, opened, and in 1900 Lake Ciucaș was laid out. Today's large hotels were built in the 1970s.
What you can see
Entry to the resort is free. Along the main promenade and the paths at the edge of the forest you come across the naturally sparkling mineral springs — Mikes, Apor, Stănescu — captured within the resort. The waters are bicarbonated, sodium chloride and iron-bearing, good for drinking or for carbon dioxide baths. Across the bridge over the Olt, a forest path climbs to the mofette building, where carbon dioxide of volcanic origin is used for dry gas baths, only on a doctor's advice.
In the centre, next to Lake Ciucaș, is Wellness Tușnad, opened in 2013 and running all year: a thermal pool at 34–36 °C, a swimming pool, a jacuzzi, a hydromassage pool, an outdoor pool, a children's pool, saunas and a salt room. Marked trails lead from the resort to the Apor Bastion, a viewpoint above the town, and to Falcon Rock (Stânca Șoimilor), a nature reserve of andesite towers 50–60 m high, from which you see the whole resort with the lake at its feet. From here you can also walk up the red-cross trail to Lake Sfânta Ana and the Mohoș peat bog.
Good to know
Lake Ciucaș, once the emblem of the resort, is in poor shape: water seeps out through the dam and the lake bed, and in early 2026 the local press described it as more of a swamp. The town wants to expropriate and restore it with EU funds, but no work has started.
There are many bears in the area. The town has put up electric fences, bear-proof bins and an intervention team, and bears now rarely come into the resort, but take care on the trails and in the evening.
- The naturally sparkling water of the Mikes and Apor springs, drunk straight from the spring on the resort's promenade.
- The 34–36 °C thermal pool at Wellness Tușnad, in the building next to Lake Ciucaș.
- The view from Falcon Rock, with the whole resort and the Olt valley below.
- The viewpoint at the Apor Bastion, half an hour's easy walk from the centre.
- The mofette in the forest, where you take a bath in volcanic carbon dioxide, only with a doctor's approval.
Good to know before you go
- Getting there
By car: Băile Tușnad lies on the DN12, the road between Sfântu Gheorghe and Miercurea Ciuc, which runs through the middle of the resort: ~37 km from Sfântu Gheorghe, ~32 km from Miercurea Ciuc, ~67 km from Brașov and ~240 km from Bucharest. For Lake Ciucaș and the wellness centre, turn off the DN12 where signposted.
Public transport: Băile Tușnad railway station is on the Brașov – Sfântu Gheorghe – Miercurea Ciuc line, with direct trains from Brașov; the station is at the edge of the resort and the centre is within walking distance.
- Where to park
There is a large car park next to Wellness Tușnad, and the hotels have their own. The town hall does not publish parking charges; in January 2026 it announced that the town's car parks are open to everyone, but that blocking or reserving spaces is forbidden and will be fined.
- Fees & discounts
Walking round the resort, the water from the springs and the trails are free. At Wellness Tușnad a 3-hour ticket is 60 lei for adults and 30 lei for children under 150 cm, and every extra half hour costs 10 and 6 lei respectively; pensioners pay 35 lei Monday to Friday outside school holidays, and under-3s go in free. A day ticket is 120 lei for adults and 60 lei for children; there are also 10- and 20-visit passes. Spa treatments, including the mofette, are paid separately, as part of hotel packages or with a referral and a Romanian health card. Prices checked in September 2026.
- Rules
Feeding bears is forbidden by law and fined. Throw food waste only into the bear-proof bins and close their doors behind you, do not leave food in the car or on a terrace, and follow any RO-Alert messages. The mofette and the spa treatments require a consultation with the spa doctor first: the carbon dioxide must not be breathed in and has contraindications (heart failure, the first 6 months after a heart attack, epilepsy, cancer). Wellness Tușnad admits at most 200 people at a time, so on public holidays you may have to wait at the entrance.
- Facilities
Wellness Tușnad: indoor pools and an outdoor pool, Finnish sauna, steam room, infrared sauna, salt room, massage, bar and snack bar · treatment centres in the larger hotels, with a mofette, mineral water baths and physiotherapy · ski slope with a drag lift and floodlights · pharmacy, post office, doctor's surgery, restaurants and guesthouses in the resort · bear-watching hide in the nearby forest, for organised tours · railway station
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