Photographies by Eugenia PASCA / AGERPRES PHOTO

A local legend has it that by around 1095, King Ladislaw himself, while travelling through these lands allegedly discovered the thermal therapeutic springs. The oldest witness to the existence of the baths dates from 1221, from the time of Hevius de Magno-Varadina Abbey, that lasted in these places till the Turks. The name of Felix is supposed to come from the monk who discovered the beneficial effect of the very warm water springing from the ground.

Thanks to the thermal waters, Felix spa and its ?little sister’, 1 Mai saw tourists flocking to visit them in the second half of the 19th century, thus becoming a new highly sought for therapeutic place. In recognition of its therapeutic qualities, the thermal waters in this area were awarded the gold medal and the honorary diploma at the World Exhibition in Paris, in 1896.

The first treatment facilities were built in mid-last century. Today, the nearly 30-hectare Felix Spa hosts eight big hotels, guest houses and smaller hotels, holiday villas, a medical recuperation hospital and a host of outside pools.

Baile Felix mineral waters have a temperature between 40-49 degrees Celsius when springing from the ground and the salt concentration of a little over one gram per litre offers the waters miraculous properties for most diseases of the muscle-skeletal system, degenerative and inflammatory diseases, as well as partial paralysis, paralysis, post-traumatic recuperation, neurological diseases (slipped disc etc.).

Felix Wellness&Spa lies eight kilometres from the city of Oradea, in an area covered by oak and beech forests, in a moderate continental climate specific of the plain and hills, with warm summers and mild winters. Under the influence of the Mediterranean-origin elements, Baile Felix is a most fit destination for holidays, leisure, entertainment and treatment as well as for business events.

Starting 1995, the largest share in the technical-material base of Baile Felix resort has been held by SC Turism Felix SA, the most experienced and largest player in the Romanian spa&wellness tourism. The eight hotels in the company’s portfolio offer conditions ranging from two—to four-stars and will soon offer five-star facilities. Nearly 2,500 accommodation places are available and the services are provided by 700 personnel, specialised medical staff and dedicated and professional therapists.

Aware of the tourists’ needs and increasing demands, SC Turism Felix SA is conducting a major investment plan. Thus, in spring the resort will be able to boast the opening of Lotus Therm Hotel, the only five-star thermal complex in Romania, which is billed to be the jewel in the crown of Felix Spa and an international point of attraction, the company managers say.

‘The new hotel will be quite spectacular and will be a modern architectural objective, the novelty of which will be the removable glass dome covering the indoor pools. The hotel will have conference rooms, restaurant-lounges, a state-of-the-art Wellness&Spa centre, a treatment centre with all the equipment one can wish for, 14 indoor and outdoor swimming pools with re-circulation and thermal and thermal-mineral water, and, of course, accommodation in single, double rooms and suites’, SC Turism Felix SA managing director Florin Serac told AGERPRES.

Baile Felix is a dynamic resort, with garden restaurants, shops and a bazaar. At night, the tourists may enjoy traditional Romanian parties and in summer, the swimming pools are seeing quite a buzz thanks to aqua-zumba, aqua-fitness and foam and DJ parties, games for children, volleyball and football. The forest surrounding the resort is the ideal spot for the sport fans, for horse-riding, paintball, mountain-biking, trail running or merely walking.

A major attraction is offered by the lake covered in water lilies in central resort. It is a thermal lake where the India Lotus and the White Water Lily (Nymphaea alba) grow and flower in the warm season.

Apollo-Felix swimming pool is the most modern thermal aquatic complex in western Romania and is open year-round, having been completely rehabilitated in 2008; it is the only one in Romania having a wave pool. It boasts ten thermal water pools, two of them for children.

The stateliest building so far, Hotel International, a four-star unit is the only hotel in Romania having been awarded the EUROPESPA-med excellence certificate given by the Brussels-based European Spas Association (ESPA). It certifies the fulfilment of the standards relating the general infrastructure of therapies, hygiene and the tourists’ security. It re-opened in 2007 after extensive upgrading and starting this year it offers a saline facility with enhanced effects — a 50-minute session here equals three to four hours spent in an usual salt mine.

The athletes prefer the two-star hotels Poienita and Mures thanks to the facilities they offer and the impressive recuperation treatment base. The professional running trail in the forest near the resort is seeing various Romanian national teams training every year. Former Olympian and world running champion Gabriela Szabo, today a Minister of Youth and Sport ran thousands of kilometres on the forest trails around the resort.

Only two kilometres away lies Baile 1 Mai spa with Venus Swimming Pool, located in a green area and impressive by the special architecture and the arrangement of the swimming pools in the form of a lotus flower. The tourists may relax here in one of the 13 pools, ranging from the diving pool to the children’s pools and thermal pools. The old Bishopric Baths in 1 Mai still shelter the renowned thermal water lily Nymphaea lotus, breed thermalist that had been declared a natural monument as far back as in 1931.

Also operating in Baile Felix spa is the Medical Recuperation Clinical Hospital set up in 1988 on an initiative of the local authorities.

A multi-discipline team headed by medical doctors specialising in recuperation and physical medicine is conducting such activities as medical assistance, research and education in medical recuperation and organises annual scientific events, either regional or national, meant to promote the medical recuperation specialisation as well as the natural healing factors that Baile Felix benefits from.AGERPRES