Spa & Aquapark

Spa & Aquapark occupies the edge of the spa park in Turčianske Teplice, in the Turiec basin between the Malá and Veľká Fatra ranges. The operator's claim for it is specific: the only spa aquapark in Slovakia running on medicinal water. The Turiec mineral water is thermal, measured at 44 to 46 °C at the springs, and carries up to 1,520 mg/l of dissolved minerals, which is what earns it the medicinal classification; the conditions named for it are musculoskeletal and urological. Two of the pools, the Ľudový and the Červený baths, stand directly on the mineral sources rather than being fed from a distance. Bathing on the site is documented back to 1281, and the present complex was opened at the start of summer 2007 by its founder, Zlaté kúpele Turčianske Teplice, with Archduke Michael von Habsburg-Lothringen acting as its godfather.

The grounds run year-round and split into two halves joined by an enclosed connecting bridge. The SPA half holds the medicinal thermal water at up to 38 °C and contains the Červený quiet bath, the Ľudový rehabilitation bath with water spouts and massage jets, a whirlpool for eight people, and a sauna world of six saunas with experience showers, a relaxation zone and a massage list. The AQUAPARK half is cooler and built for play: a 25 m outdoor swimming pool with spouts and jets, an outdoor attraction pool with massage loungers and a wild river, an indoor circular sitting pool with light effects and massage jets, and two enclosed flumes that run all year — the 47 m Kamikadze and the 97 m Movie slide with sound, light and image effects. Summer adds a large open slide, a children's pool with its own slide and playground, an island bar and minigolf. The operator's own headline figure for the whole site is eight pools.

Entry is sold by time rather than by the day: an adult two-hour ticket is quoted at €19.00, with a cheaper single-hour rate after 16:00 and a discounted all-day ticket on Mondays and Thursdays. Pools and saunas stop half an hour before closing, and the sauna world keeps a shorter and more irregular timetable of its own, with women-only blocks on some weekdays. The complex belongs to the Moderné kúpele Turčianske Teplice resort, so guests of the Veľká Fatra houses and of the five-star Royal Palace, which connects directly to the site, get reduced or bundled admission. There is a live webcam on the operator's site for checking how busy it is.