Therme Nova Köflach

Therme Nova Köflach is a thermal bath with an attached hotel in Köflach in western Styria, at an address the operator gives as An der Quelle 1. The water comes from the Barbara spring in the Piber district, and the operator describes the complex as a combination of bathing, a sauna landscape themed on the region's alpine pastures, and a health and cure wing working under medical referral. The site gives the bath more than 1,000 m² of water surface. Sauna cabins look out over the western Styrian hill country, and German Wikipedia dates the opening of the hotel and bath to 8 October 2004.

Thermal water

According to the operator, the healing and thermal water of Therme Nova, which it also calls an akratotherm, is fed from the Barbara spring in the Piber district. The site states that the borehole reaches 1,039 metres and that the temperature at the bottom of the bore is 35.9 degrees, and that the water takes its mineralisation from dissolving minerals out of the aquifer. An akratotherm is the designation for a thermal spring that emerges above 20 °C without a high dissolved-solids content. The operator describes the water as a recognised healing water and states that it has a healing effect, with its own health programme directed at the musculoskeletal and motor system.

Pools

The site lists indoor and outdoor thermal pools at 33 to 34.5 °C and indoor and outdoor children's pools in the same range. Within the thermal area it names a Blue Grotto, also at 33 to 34.5 °C and fitted with heated benches, and a waterfall with a pebble cove at the same temperature. Separately there is an indoor sports pool of 25 metres with four lanes, which the operator keeps at 28 °C, and a Kneipp pool given as 15 to 19 °C.

Sauna and wellness

The sauna landscape is open from age 16 and the operator runs it as a textile-free area. The cabins the site lists, with their stated temperatures, are the Stubalm, a Finnish sauna at 90 °C with a panoramic view over the western Styrian hills; the Gmoaalm, a bio sauna at 55 °C where guests may pour their own infusions; the Zigöllerkogel, a Finnish sauna at 80 to 100 °C with infusions on the hour; the Helarium, at 60 °C, which works with colour, scent and music; a steam sauna at 43 to 46 °C with humidity up to 100 per cent; a tropical cave at around 47 °C and 100 per cent humidity, where the site notes swimwear is permitted; a salt dome; and an infrared cabin at 30 to 45 °C which the operator includes with bath admission. Massage, medical massage and cosmetic treatments are offered alongside.

For children

The baby area has an indoor thermal pool 30 centimetres deep with a water slide and, in the warmer months, an outdoor pool of the same depth; the site also names a three-lane yellow water slide. Around the water the operator lists a mirror wall, a fairy-tale tower for playing and dancing, an outdoor playground with a slide and climbing equipment, a sandpit, a boccia court, a Kneipp course, a large lawn and a changing table. It advises that children under three stay in the thermal water for no more than about 15 minutes because of the higher temperatures, and asks for waterproof swim nappies and bath sandals for them.

Hotel and dining

The hotel offers rooms and suites with panoramic views, and the operator states that a stay includes admission to the bath and access to the sauna world, a welcome drink, a breakfast buffet and an evening menu, the hotel's own wellness and sauna area, a fitness area with Technogym equipment, a house bath bag with a robe, the activity programme in bath and hotel, Wi-Fi, parking at the hotel, and a shuttle from and to Köflach railway station on request. Catering is spread across a hotel restaurant, a thermal-bath restaurant, a café, a sauna bar and a further bar, with the hotel kitchen described as regional Styrian. The health wing offers treatments on medical referral, residential cure stays and rehabilitation stays.

Opening hours

The operator gives the bath as 9:00 to 21:00 from Monday to Saturday and 9:00 to 20:00 on Sundays, with the sauna from 10:00 to the same closing times. It publishes a handful of long-evening dates on which the bath stays open until 23:00, and states that the house is closed on 24 December.