SPA Tourism

In Thracian times, flourishing settlements sprang up around the hot mineral springs and many nymphaeums were built. In Roman times, spa centers were established, such as Augusta (present-day Hissarya), Dezudava (Sandanski), Pautalia (Kyustendil) and Serdica (Sofia), where even the Roman emperors Ulpius Trajanus, Septimius Severus, Maximilianus and Justinianus sought treatment for their ailments.

The Bulgarian mineral waters are known for their greatly varied chemical composition and, respectively, their mineralization and type of dissolved mineral salts, curative gases and biologically active micro components. In fact, every kind of known mineral water may be found in the country. The firth mud sources, along the Black Sea coast, the curative peat, spring curative mud and bentonite clays possess a particularly great potential in the treatment of many different diseases. Bulgaria occupies one of the first places in the world with the exceptional diversity of medicinal herbs and the excellent curative properties of its apian products. This enormous wealth of natural factors, combined with country's modern hotels and spa facilities, provide excellent possibilities for the year-round effective treatment of the most widespread diseases of our times and truly make Bulgaria a country of health. The best-known inland spa resorts are: Sandanski, Velingrad, Hissaria, Kyustendil. The best Black-Sea spa centers are: Dobroudja Hotel at Albena resort, Ambassador Hotel at Golden Sand resort, Riviera Holiday Club, Sunny Day and Grand Hotel Varna at St. Constantine resort, Pomorie Hotel in the coastal town of Pomorie. The Bulgarian climatic mountain resorts also offer varied prophylactic and therapeutic possibilities. The lovely scenery, clean air, short-wave ultraviolet radiation, negative air ionization, particularly close to mountain waterfalls, as well as the many mineral springs, different in temperature and composition, are their major assets.