Therme Loipersdorf

The resort at Bad Loipersdorf in eastern Styria has been open since 1972, and the operator tells its origin as an accident: hot springs were struck while drilling for oil, and what began as a makeshift sheep bath grew into the resort of today. It is laid out in three areas — the thermal bath, the adventure pool and the adults-only Schaffelbad — with twenty-one of the thirty-five pools in the first two and fourteen in the Schaffelbad.

The water comes from the ground. Four wells, named Lautenberg, Binderberg, Barbara and Rehgraben, draw it from a depth of 1,100 to 1,200 metres; the operator dates it at more than 29,500 years old and says it reaches the surface at 62 °C, so that it needs only slight cooling for the pools. The operator states around 7,500 mg of dissolved minerals per litre — chiefly sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium — calls that well above the legal minimum for recognition as a healing spring, and describes the output as Heilwasser. The thermal pools are held between 32 and 38 °C; freshwater pools run at 25 to 28 °C and one pool is kept cold at 20 °C. According to the operator, the water favours joint and spinal conditions, soft-tissue rheumatism and aftercare following traumatic injury.

Bathing runs 08:30 to 21:00 for day guests, from 07:00 for guests of partner hotels and until 23:00 on Fridays. The outdoor area is open from May to September, though the open-air thermal pools are used all year.