Despite the crisis spa hotels in this country cannot complain of a lack of clients, unlike most other resort sectors across the country. The reason is in the reasonable prices of accommodation, which usually include a free package of spa and wellness procedures. Besides, a large number of spa hotels in Bulgaria are situated in the mountains near ski centers, nature reserves, ethnographic villages and other tourist sites, so a visitor can find more than one way of spending a holiday.
Spa vacations are in vogue lately. In order to show that you are well in pace with latest lifestyle tendencies, you will have to return from your holiday with a pleasant sunburn, younger, thinner, in better health and higher self esteem! That means you need to spend quite some time under massage, toning tubs and wellness therapy. Resorts like Velingrad, Pamporovo, Ognyanovo and Devin in the Rhodope Mountain, the town of Bansko at the foot of the Pirin Mountain and the village of Chiflik in the Balkan Range are among the most popular mountain destinations for spa tourism. Besides traditional aroma-therapy, toning procedures using bee honey, thalassic therapy, and milk and chocolate tubs local hotels also offer some original Bulgarian therapies like curative mud and medicinal herbs. These programmes are usually combined with sports activities, sunbathing or hikes in nature. If you carefully follow the instruction of the medical teams in charge of those places you would inevitable return home pleasantly renewed and recharged to meet the challenges of workdays routine.
© Photo: Veneta Nikolova
More and more Bulgarian hotels are equipped with modern spa centers.
In fact the fundament of contemporary spa industry is derived from balneology and the cure through mineral waters. In this respect Bulgaria has millennial traditions. It has hundreds of mineral springs on its territory famous since ancient times for their magical and curative properties. It turns out that Bulgaria is second only to Ireland in the number of mineral springs – more than 600, Siika Katsarova from the Bulgarian Union on Spa and Balneology claims. However, only 5% of them are captured and put to the use of treatment and spa tourism. Meanwhile Bulgaria is one of the few countries in the world disposing of contemporary spa and balneal centers built upon the ruins of ancient cure houses from Roman times.
“Most mineral sources in Bulgaria are found in mountain resorts and the highest concentration of springs is in the Rhodope Mountain, Katsarova explains. In the last 4 year millions have been invested in the building of modern spa centers. This is a prerequisite for us to strengthen our positions as serious competitors to our European neighbors. Around 70% of the guests to our hotels are Bulgarian citizens. This is because this country is still not very popular across Europe as a spa destination. But we have very good spots for spa tourism. Five Bulgarian hotels have been distinguished with the quality signs “Euro spa wellness” and Euro spa med” of the European Spa Association.”
© Photo: Veneta Nikolova
Some places will offer you an original native terrapy based on the bulgarian oil-bearing rose.
At the moment Bulgarian mountain resorts are competing in offering various spa packages for attracting more tourists in these hard times for the economy. Pamporovo, in the Rhodopes, for example, is launching a new product - the so-called “slim body holiday” developed by Bulgarian doctors. This programme includes various spa therapies, an individual work out regime in the open and a special diet regime based on local ecologically pure products. Tourists from other European countries are showing special interest in this programme. By the way, the Rhodope Range is a preferred place for healthy recreation on the part of foreign visitors to this country. This winter local spa hotels will welcome guests from 7-8 European countries, the largest number of tourists being from Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. They would be able to combine skiing with, visiting various villages, tasting local cuisine. Most spa hotels are brand new and offer very good conditions. So, don’t hesitate!
English version: Iva Letnikova