10. Bad Hévíz, Hungary
Hungary’s most famous spa an bath town Bad Hévíz is located on the west Hungarian bathing street, not far from the Balaton. Lake Hévítz ist the largest thermal bathing lake in the world with the longest tradition for cures in Hungary.
The healing lake in Hévíz with an area of around 4.4 hectares is the largest natural and biologically active thermal lake in the world, where you can swim all year round. This is fed by a thermal spring from a crater at a depth of 38 meters. With 410 liters per second, the spring is so productive that the water exchanges completely within about 84 hours.
The lake’s waters are said to have curative properties, and the town has made an industry out of health tourism. The water temperatures of the lake are around 33 to 36 ° C in summer and in winter around 23 to 25 ° C. This enables year-round swimming in the open air.
Thanks to an approximately 2 Meter thick layer of steam and thermal springs emerging directly in the lake, the water never loses its pleasant warm temperature of around 35°C in summer and around 25°C in winter. So year-round medicinal bathing is possible in the sulfur- and radon-containing water.
The highly effective and mineral-rich mud on the bottom of the lake is used during cures in Bad Hévíz for mud packs, which have a pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effect. The humic acid it contains also has an anti-aging effect.