Iwonicz-Zdrój: mineral-water pump room, pool and salt cave

Iwonicz-Zdrój is the largest and oldest spa in the Podkarpackie region, a quiet little town in wooded hills south of Krosno, on the threshold of the Low Beskids. The healing properties of its waters were described as early as 1578 by Wojciech Oczko, court physician to King Stefan Batory. In the 17th century Iwonicz waters were written about across Europe; the spa then declined and was revived in the 19th century by the Załuski counts, who built the first bathhouse and guest houses in the park and gave Iwonicz the look of a European resort. Today, according to the spa company, about 50,000 people come here each year for treatment and rest.

Iwonicz waters are chloride–bicarbonate–sodium, iodide and thermal, with free carbon dioxide. For a traveller who is not here for treatment there are three easy ways to "taste" the spa: the mineral-water pump room, the indoor pool and the salt cave.

What to do

• The Mineral Water Pump Room (Pijalnia Wód Mineralnych) in the very heart of the spa. The building, originally a mud-bath house, was rebuilt in 1922 as a masonry structure with a distinctive covered promenade, and the present orangery-style interior with geometric decoration was created in 1998 to a design by Wrzesław Żuławski. You can taste the medicinal waters Elin 7, Karol 2, Klimkówka 27, Iwonicz II and Iza 19; there is also a shop selling Iwoline cosmetics made from local water and salt, and a small art gallery.
• The indoor pool in the Spa Treatment Centre: an 11.5 × 7 m basin, 1.35 m deep, water at 24–32 °C, a counter-current, a four-jet massage and a jacuzzi (included in the ticket). Several times a week there is aqua aerobics with an instructor — you do not need to be able to swim.
• The salt cave and sauna of the Podkarpackie Salt Therapy Centre (same building, first floor): 45-minute halotherapy sessions, a cave with aroma-phytotherapy, a sauna and Hydro-Jet water massage.
• A walk to the Bełkotka spring — from the Spa House westwards past an 1837 sundial and the monument to Count K. Załuski, who revived the spa, then through the forest to a masonry spring where bubbles of natural gas rise; it is a protected natural and historic landmark of the spa.

Practical information

Pump room: Plac Karola i Józefa 2, tel. +48 13 430 85 54, +48 13 430 88 88; opening hours are not published on the website. Pool, salt cave and sauna: Spa Treatment Centre, ul. Kulczyńskiego 1A, tel. +48 13 430 86 86.

Pool (as of October 2026): Mon, Wed, Fri 16:00–18:30; Tue 16:00–17:00; Thu 16:00–19:30; Sat 14:00–16:00; aqua aerobics Mon, Wed, Fri at 18:45. Prices from 1 January 2026: 60 minutes 16 zł for adults and 12 zł for children, a 5 × 60 min pass 64 zł; aqua aerobics (45 min) 20 zł. Salt cave and sauna: Mon–Fri 9:00–20:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–17:00; prices from 1 May 2026: cave 45 min 20 zł (children 16 zł), aroma-phytotherapy cave 18 zł, sauna 30 min 24 zł for one person or 20 zł each for two.

Iwonicz-Zdrój is small and everything is close together on the level paths of the spa park, so it suits a quiet day with children or older relatives. The easiest way to get there is by car via Krosno.

Nearby

A few kilometres away is the world's oldest working oil mine in Bóbrka. Further south, near Dukla, are the FIGA goat cheese farm in Mszana and the Lemko open-air museum in Zyndranowa.

Official website: uzdrowisko-iwonicz.com.pl

Photos: Henryk Bielamowicz, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; MOs810, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Lowdown, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.