Aquaticum, Aquarius, Castle Spa

Hello all!

As you could already read in one of my previous post, in the summer and in fact during the whole year, Hungary is full of thermal water-lover tourists from all around the world. Many people come from Far East or from the U. S. to experience the greatest spas of Budapest. This summer I worked at Budapest spas and baths, gaining experience inside the field of tourism, recreation and wellness. I loved my job, because besides hosting visitors, I had the chance to ‘test’ baths, and I could do a short trip around each spa. I’ve written about this experience in the following post.

Even though the most popular and old spas are located in the capital city, Hungary is full of thermal waters and spring waters in other regions as well. For example there’s Eastern Hungary, close to the border with Ukraine, Serbia and Romania. Thus, it doesn’t surprise anyone that most guests come from neighbor countries: many Slovakians, Serbians, Croatians, Ukrainians and Polish tourists as well come to visit Hajdú-Bihar county. Not only due to the thermal water paradise, but also because of the atmosphere in these cities, their historical old towns, castles and the opportunity of drinking good quality wines and trying traditional Hungarian dishes.

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If we compare the Eastern part of the country with the capital city, Budapest, we’ll find many differences. The Eastern region of Hungary is a bit under-developed, cultural life, health care system, education and work market’s conditions are poorer than the Western and middle areas of Hungary. But that doesn’t really influence the region’s popularity among tourism. Hajdú-Bihar county has an important role in Hungarian tourism.

In my previous post I already presented Hajdúszoboszló, now it’s Debrecen, Gyula and Nyíregyháza’s turn.

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Debrecen

Debrecen is the biggest city from the locations listed above. Debrecen is not a typical peaceful summer resort. It’s not as quiet and pure as Hajdúszoboszló. Debrecen has the second highest population in Hungary after Budapest, it’s a great academic city with university life. However it’s located in the East of the country, it’s continuously developing, progressing. It’s Eastern Hungary’s capital of culture, capital of higher education, capital of sports and has a well-organized labor market as well. There’s a quite high tendency among Eastern Hungarian people to move at Debrecen in hope for a better future, so Debrecen is a very important city which incorporates hope and big chances and challenges.

Debrecen is located in the centre of Hajdú-Bihar county. Aquaticum Wellness centre and Amusement park is located in the region of Nagyerdő (The Big Forest), a green, wild and woody region. Aquaticum is an indoor water-treasure, excepting one pool, which has an indoor part and an outdoor part as well. You can get in the water inside, and swim at the open-air part and enjoy sunshine even in wintertime. Aquaticum is open all year long and the prices are just like Hajdúszoboszló’s tariffs. Another similarity with Hajdúszoboszló is that there was built an elegant 4 star hotel very close to the spa, called Aquaticum Hotel. Staying there has a lot of advantages, it’s all inclusive, its guests can attend the pools during the night as well and many facilities are included in the price. Nevertheless, you know me, I don’t like to pay a lot of money for the place where I spend the least of my time and I use it mostly for sleeping, so I always tend to choose the cheapest accommodation when I go on holiday. Accomodation costs are different, prices can vary between 20-80 EUR/night, so you can see it’s a really wide range.

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At Aquaticum you can spoil yourself by SaunaWorld, where you can experience infrasauna, steam room, aromatherapy and Finnish sauna. There are thermal baths and medical treatments and surely it gives amusement opportunities as well. There are 50% discounts from the price every Tuesday and Thursday. If I had to highlight some more interesting aspects of Aquaticum, well I would say that the chocolate and orange massage facility is worth to be tried. There are also several occasions of bathing in the night, which I consider a great party. Another good and important fact is, that Aquaticum offers rehabilitation for people with cardiologic problems. Last, but not least there are 6 thermal water pools with different temperatures and every Wednesday there is a 30% discount for the thermal section. Trying it is undoubtedly a must!

Gyula

I won’t like to repeat myself and tell what kind of pools and saunas are offered by Gyula Castle Spa. Probably its advantage in comparison with the other resorts hides in its 6 types of different saunas, medicinal waters and physiotherapy facilities. Gyula Castle Spa offers physiotherapy, underwater jet massage, mud packs, underwater work-out programmes. Not only for grandmas with knee problems but also for young people having backpain or any kind of injuries in the motoric system, or just simply for anyone who wants to relax. Castle Spa has a wellness region and an Aqua Palace (Amusement Park) sector as well. Different prices for the different services, but I wouldn’t say prices are way too high in change for the treatment you receive.

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Gyula has another attraction near Gyula Castle Spa. Actually the following attraction, Gyula Castle, lies only 5 minutes walking away from the Spa. Gyula Castle often hosts local events, concerts, medieval festivals. The castle was built in the 16th century against the Turkish. The castle was built in Gothic style and it consist of bricks. There’s a history museum inside of it. Several times there are open-air medieval games organized in the castle court.

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Another big boom of Gyula, and my actually favourit place, is the ‘100 year old confectionery’. This pastry shop was established in the middle of 19th century. The best part is that the decorations and furniture remained untouched and unchainged. The old recipes of parfait, bon-bons and cookies were kept as tradition, and in fact each little detail of the confectionery reminds the visitor of a past era. Gyula’s romantic lakes, alleys and the castle itself confers such a romantic and mysterious atmosphere, that you’ll surely fall in love with it.

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Nyíregyháza

Nyíregyháza is a typical small city with gorgeous spa, and pleasant atmosphere and environment. There’s a big lake in the middle of the city, called Salty Lake (Sóstó). At peripherial regions of the city there is an immense birch forest, perfect to hike in. Nyíregyháza is somehow a mixture between Debrecen and Gyula. There are some modern influences in the city, there are universities and signs of developing, but the lake, the boats, the reeds and romantic benches on the bank of the lake suggest harmony and calmness. People travel mostly by bikes, there’s almost no agglomeration and hurry. Nyíregyháza’s bath is called Aquarius. Aquarius offers medical treatments, water amusement park, wellness section, both indoor and outdoor pools. Great green lawn and flower garden in the court of the spa complex make relaxing perfect. Hotel Jungle is Aquarius Spa’s own hotel, but there are many other accommodation opportunities in the city.

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Compared with the other destinations, what Nyíregyháza has as a bonus, is its Zoo called Sóstó Zoo. I have been at the Zoo of Budapest, but this one impressed me more. Sóstó Zoo lies on a bigger territory than the Zoo from Budapest. This means that animals have more space, which is good. The Zoo is colourful, some examples of places worth visiting are the Giraffe House, Tropical House, Cangaroo Sector, the Green Pyramid (hosting exotic creatures) or the Mangrove area. The Zoo gives home to 4 different species of brown bears, a lot of leopards, Siberian tigers, African elephants, rhinoceros, white camels and many lovely others. There are interesting informing boards about pollution around the world, live countdown on the remaining species alive worldwide and many informative movie clips. Jungle Hotel is situated in the middle of the Zoo. Extreme and exciting, right?

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I can’t choose whether Hajdúszoboszló, Nyíregyháza, Debrecen or Gyula is the most perfect summer resort. They all have one thing in common: their water paradises. However, the 4 localities are absolutely different. Hajdúszoboszló is like a canaan of spas, Debrecen is modern and fabulous, Gyula is romantic and special and Nyíregyháza is F. U. N. with capitals. Each of the tourist resorts listed above are perfectly enjoyable by families, older people and teenagers altogether. I'm very proud that I could visit each of them. Hungarians should be prouder of these treasures, the so-called water paradises. I am very satisfied with what we possess, and I hope you'll find these locations as marvellous as I do.

Thanks for reading. Dora.