Central Europe’s largest cave bath in Demjén, Hungary – an honest review

I have just spent a couple of days in a tiny North-Hungarian village called Demjén. Demjén is known for wellness, healing water and the largest cave bath in Central Europe. Cascade Cave Bath and Waterpark is often included in all sorts of lists that are dealing with the best and most unique Hungarian baths. The real question is: is it really that good? Let’s find out.

An atmosphere like no other

Without a doubt, the cave bath’s biggest attraction is the whole atmosphere of the bath actually being inside a cave.

Unless you are claustrophobic, you are going to love the cosy pools inside a mountain that are illuminated with many different coloured lights.

The fact that the lights change colour every few minutes is really relaxing and makes it easier to calm down. Being in a cave makes you feel like you are hundreds of miles away from the real world (and from your problems).

The bath is very nicely decorated too. There are beautiful sculptures and gargoyles all over the place. There is even an old lady reading from a book in the middle of the children’s pool with huge flowers on the sides.

I personally think that a bar that can be approached from the pool as well as from outside the pool was a really nice touch. There are even little booths in the pool where you can consume your recently purchased drinks while still being in the water.

The waterpark

For me, the problems started to emerge while I was trying the slides in the waterpark. First of all, the tiles on the floor were really wet. And I get it; it is a waterpark, I know it is supposed to be wet. However, there are usually people whose job is to sweep the excess water away when it starts to reach the guests’ ankles. Nobody was mopping anything while we were there, and I personally saw 3 kids and 2 adults who slipped and fell down hard. Tiles are not the best floor covering materials for a waterpark, to begin with, as they can be slippery even when dry. It was pretty dangerous as children kept rushing and running all over the place between the slides and up the stairs.

The other issue that concerned me was that while there was an elevator, it was out of service for the day, so we had to use the stairs to get to the higher slides. This was not a problem at all. However, one of the staircase’s doors was wide open during the whole time we were there, and it could not be closed. The cold kept coming in from the outside which was horrible while we were running around in our swimsuits completely soaked (surprise, surprise, I was sick by the time we got home).

Apart from these two things, the slides were all ok. Everything was as advertised (except for the elevator and one of the slides not working). The slides were really fun, most of them have their own stopwatches to see how fast you go down which opens the door for some good old-fashioned competition within the family.

Something for everyone

The bath is well-equipped to entertain anyone from any age group who comes to visit. There are slides for the children and the more adventurous spirits, there are saunas and salt cabins for the wellness enthusiasts, there is a pool with really hot medicinal water for the elderly (or for people who are always cold, like me) and there is the 1500 m2 water surface in which anyone can find something to do. From hiding in a darker corner with someone to having our whole body massaged on one of the built-in “massage beds” within the pool.

Unexpected surprise

We had one minor incident in the pool.

A screw in the bottom of the pool cut my friend’s toe really badly, so we needed medical assistance. It is a positive note that the staff was quick and knew exactly what to do. My friend’s injury was treated nicely on the spot. However, it does concern me how this could have happened in the first place while simply walking in the pool.

These are all the major issues I wanted to share with others so that they can get a more comprehensive review of the cave bath that is something different from what is in the brochures, something personal. I intended to emphasise the good and the occasional bad aspects as well. Of course, many of these issues might have been temporary, such as the lift not working or the door being open. Overall, I really enjoyed my stay in the bath but it was not perfect, as let’s be honest, nothing is.

Disclaimer: this article is not sponsored, I received no compensation for writing about the cave bath.

photos: Daily News Hungary
featured image: www.facebook.com/DemjénCascadeResort

Source: Daily News Hungary