Therme Bucuresti: 15 Things You Need To Know Before Going

Dubbed as Europe’s most exotic relaxation and wellness center, Therme Bucuresti is a tropic oasis located 10 minutes north of the Otopeni airport. It’s one of the biggest spas in Europe, featuring 17 water slides, multiple pool bars & restaurants, a huge pool surrounded by palm trees and half a dozen themed saunas.

So here are 15 things you need to know before your first visit to Therme Bucuresti…

1) Therme has three separate zones

When I went onto the Therme Bucuresti website to book our tickets I got super confused over what all the names meant and what tickets I should buy. So let me break the three separate zones down…

1. Galaxy

Galaxy is the first zone, the cheapest one to get into and the one which any ticket gives you access too. This is the waterpark section of the spa, featuring 17 water rides that make up the longest indoor water slide system in Europe.

This zone also has an outdoor pool with bar and imbedded jacuzzi beds. Plus a big restaurant serving a range of food and a desert bar that serves great crepes.

Kids are welcome in this zone of the spa and it was very kid heavy when we were there so not as relaxing as you’d want a spa to be. But there were plenty of sun beds and day loungers available in that zone.

2. The Palm

Now this is the zone that features in all the viral videos you’ve seen online. It’s looks like a massive green house with hundreds of trees and plants with a huge pool in the centre. This pool features a good range of jacuzzi sections and a fab bar that leads into an outdoor pool.

This zone has a large international buffet restaurant and a juice bar too. There are loads of sun loungers and day beds in this zone too but it was much harder to find one as it seemed people had got there early to reserve a bed.

This is also the zone where for just £2.50 you can get 10 minutes on a massage bed. These things were like a water beds where the pressure of the water moves, so so good!

Kids over 14 are also allowed into The Palm.

3. Elysium

Elysium is the only adult only zone at Therme Bucuresti and it’s where all the treatments happen. It’s on the second floor of the spa and does have a small pool with a bar but it is mostly saunas, treatment rooms and an outdoor seating area. It is also home to the Thai restaurant.

Best way to book is to book directly on the Therme Bucuresti website. Check it out here.

2) Not all parts open at the same time

On weekdays, Therme Bucuresti opens at 10am but we found the bars and restaurants inside don’t open till around 11.30am/12pm. Originally, we had planned to grab breakfast when we arrived but found it hard to find somewhere serving. We ended up getting crepes and coffees but this wasn’t until half eleven.

We did notice a little coffee shop just inside the foyer entrance but wanted to get in and sorted then get something to eat. However, in hindsight if we’d have known the inside places weren’t going to be open we would have grabbed breakfast from the little cafe before heading through. We did try to come back out to the cafe but once you’re in, you can’t leave and re-enter.

Bottom line, either eat before you get there or grab something from the little foyer cafe before heading in. Else you’ll be waiting a couple hours until you can buy something inside.

3) Towels & Robes are available to rent

You are require to use a towel and recommended that you also have a robe. You can bring your own in but if you are flying into the spa, chances are you won’t have a big case with you so instead you can rent them there. After checking in, you head to a little desk and pay the rental fee. It was 29 lei (~£5) to rent a towel and 37 lei (~£6) for the robe. So compared to the entry price, these rental fees are on the higher side.

4) Flip flops or slippers are required

For hygiene sake, all guests are required to wear flip flops or slippers when moving around the spa. The only time we didn’t have to was when walking between slides in the galaxy zone, but there was a massive pile of shoes left at the bottom of the stairs.

Now these were something we did manage to squeeze into our personal item but you can buy them on arrival. I didn’t see an option to rent these only buy. They do require them to be clean and kept in your bag until you enter the spa, so unfortunately you cannot get away with wearing whatever you have on your feet.

5) Long hair has to be worn up

This was probably the weirdest rule we came across! Staff members were literally giving out bobbles to guests they saw with their hair down. We saw it in one of the outdoor jacuzzi pools, when a security guard asked a girl to tie her long hair up. We just assumed he was just worried about her getting her hair caught in the jets but a couple hours later when my sister and I were sat at a pool bar waiting to order, a staff member came over and offered us bobbles to put our hair up.

It must have something to do with the chemicals in hair products or something. But note to self, bring a hair bobble and keep your hair up to avoid getting told off.

6) You cannot bring in any outdoor food or drink

This includes water, which was slightly annoying. You cannot bring in any outside food or drink into the actual spa but you can keep it in your locker. We got told off for carrying around a big 2L bottle of water and sent back to the lockers with it. You can buy water from the various bars though or just keep going back to the locker like we did.

7) Payment is contactless

This is super cool! You get given a wristband when you enter the spa and you use it to move between the three zones and to also pay for everything. No where inside the spa accepts cash or card, they all require you to tap your wristband and then you pay on exit. Including any treatments you have.

8) But there is a payment limit

This was something I didn’t realise until I was at the bar paying for our drinks and the server said I’d hit my limit. According to the barman, the limit for all-day guests is 600 lei which is around £100. This was a shock let me tell you!

Although by this point we’d rented towels and robes, had breakfast, a treatment each and a round of drinks. It all adds up. We simply moved onto tapping another wristband for payment but if you were solo you could go to a payment machine and clear your wristband balance with your actual card.

9) Bands are coloured based on the package you have

Staff can easily tell which package you have bought by the colour of your wristbands. When you buy a ticket you decide how long you get and which zones you have access to. We went with the most expensive package (insanely only £30 each) which was a full-day pass to all three zones. Our wristbands were black and gained us access everywhere. There are turnstiles between each zone that you have to tap into to gain access.

10) No phones allowed in the pools

Like the hair thing, the staff were hot on this rule too. They don’t allow you to take your phone into any of the pools with you. We saw people being asked to leave the pool over this issue.

11) Lots of smoking areas

We saw lots of outdoor, covered and heated smoking zones. These looked almost like bus stops but clearly did the job.

12) Get there early

We arrived around 11am which was only an hour after the doors opened but the majority of the beds and loungers were already reserved with towels. It was insane! We did successfully manage to bag a day bed in The Palm zone after one full lap. When we went upstairs to the Elysium zone, all the beds were taken but there were plenty of beds left in the Galaxy zone.

However, based on the horror stories I’ve seen online it seems like the best thing to do is get there early and bagsy a bed as soon as you can.

13) Lots of staff policing the areas

There was a tonne of staff on duty and all seemed to be hot on any issues. There was also security posted at each turnstile, I assume to make sure people didn’t just jump them. Like mentioned in the previous points, we got “told off” a couple of times throughout the day by various staff members over little things.

14) The lifeguards are very strict

This is another thing we got told off about! The lifeguards in Galaxy are very strict and make sure to enforce all the waterpark rules. You cannot be wearing any jewellery or glasses when on the slides. I currently have a permanent bracelet that I got from a girls trip to Barcelona only a week before going to the spa and the lifeguard wouldn’t let me on the biggest slide because of it. I was fuming!

Top tip: if you do have a permanent piece of jewellery, use the wristband to cover it up!

15) Felt very safe and non-creepy

This was something I was pleasantly surprised by! Although very busy (see point about getting there early) it didn’t feel over-crowded. Now, I have heard horror stories about Therme and think going on a weekday is your best bet. It also felt super safe and we didn’t have any problem leaving our phones in our robes when we were in the pools. This is obviously just my experience and it’s not to say your things won’t get stolen if the wrong people are there. To be on the safe side, I’d leave everything possible in the locker you get given.

BONUS) The 442 bus to the airport isn’t free!

Now, I’m still not 100% sure where I got this idea from. I was under the impression that the bus back to the airport was a free shuttle bus and when the receptionist didn’t question it when I asked “where’s the free shuttle”, I didn’t even think to check when we got on the bus. Not until a control guard asked to see my ticket did I clue in. Cue an 80 lei (£13.45) fine for each of us!!

If you take this bus to or from the airport, please make sure you tap your card on one of the payment machines when you get on. My research after the fact suggests that it should only cost you around 40p each way.

Ok, so there you go. 15 things you need to know before going to Therme Bucuresti for the first time. Have you already been? Anything you’d add to the list?