SPA complex Aqua House

Aquahouse Thermal & Beach stands directly on the shore of the Sts Constantine and Helena resort, a few kilometres north of Varna and the oldest sea-bathing resort in Bulgaria. The operator counts 14 indoor and outdoor pools and further water installations spread over roughly 6,000 square metres of planted grounds. The water is hyperthermal, delivered at 46°C, with a total mineralisation of 553 mg per litre and a hydrocarbonate sodium-calcium-magnesium character; it is used both for bathing and, in the medical programmes, for drinking cures.

The complex is divided into three zones. The Aqua area is the playful and sporting one: indoor and outdoor pools including a 25-metre swimming pool at 30-32°C and up to two metres deep, an outdoor pool at 34-36°C, a hot therapeutic pool at 36°C, a contrast pool, a jacuzzi, an outdoor Finnish sauna and a beach section. The Thermal area is the quiet one, with four indoor and outdoor pools fitted with massage jets: an outdoor pool at 34-36°C, a hot therapeutic pool running between 38 and 42°C, an indoor pool at 30-32°C and an indoor contrast pool held at 10-15°C. The 42°C pool is the one the house recommends for musculoskeletal complaints and injuries. Heat rooms in this zone comprise a Finnish sauna at 80-100°C, a herbal infrared cabin at 60°C, a hammam, a steam bath at 55°C with 95-100 per cent humidity and a salt room at 32-36°C.

The third zone covers wellness, sport and medicine: a fitness hall facing the sea, group classes, massage and cosmetic studios, whole-body cryotherapy at temperatures down to around -120 to -170°C for one to three minutes, and a medical centre where a physician in physical and rehabilitation medicine prescribes procedures such as tangentor baths, mineral baths, electrotherapy, magnetotherapy and mud treatment. The house works all year, including winter, when the outdoor pools are kept hot against the sea view. Doors open daily from 08:30 to 20:30. Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult and are not admitted to the outdoor Finnish sauna.