We were here in August, and planned our day trip to Zakopane. We didn't realize until the night before that it was a Polish holiday. After a 3 1/2 hour bus ride from Krakow, we realized it was chaos. To get to the main mountains we would have to get on yet another bus. That was not appealing at this point. Then walking around town was not really appealing anymore after 20 minutes. We came upon a tourist type shop with things to do in the area. The brochure showed a place we could go and just relax. There was a picture of a woman in a pool with serenity, view of the mountains, showed a water park but not crowded, etc. Well...this was not easy getting to. We didn't have a vehicle. We are traveling with public transport. The bus situation was confusing. We couldn't get a straight answer or figure out the bus to this place which is practically at the southern border of Poland. Finally, we took a taxi. It was a 25 minute ride to this place. We are American (I'm Polish but American born), and struggled here even with speaking Polish. The young girl we were getting tickets from explained nothing about the towel situation, how to open the lockers, where to go, etc. I don't expect my hand held, but it was sadly reminiscent of what we experience in the states with customer service. It's literally sink or swim here. Figure it out or you are out of luck. We made our way to the interior pool area. What a zoo oh my god! Kids running around everywhere...people in the tubs shoulder to shoulder. What the hell did we come to? We found a little space in a tub and got in. The water was not hot. Therms means heat...where is the heat to soothe our tired muscles and bones? We both have arthritis and crave a hot spring or thermal bath. The water is kind of cold. At 36 degrees Celsius, this is hardly thermal. This is nothing like a hot spring spa in the states where the water comes out hot and soothing. I had the impression the water wasn't even coming from down into the earth. Who knows. There certainly needs to be tubs that have water that is hotter, at least by heating it if not naturally that way. This place should have an adult only peace area for those that just want to rest and experience the bubbles. If we can't have thermal, can we at least have peace? I'm not opposed to children by no means but this is not like the brochure at all. I didn't enjoy the Mountain View which were beautiful from what I could see. We are high into beautiful mountains, but being cool outside... tubs and pools are cold..we couldn't enjoy. read more

See all