Sovata is an all year round tourist destination in Romania, a very well known one too. Regardless of the season, there's always a lot you can do there, from bathing in salt water, enjoying different spa facilities, to taking advantage of the big slope they have for skiing and snowboarding during winter.
Snow is slowly becoming a rarity, but that's not a problem as with modern technology, providing snow is not so difficult anymore. The the string of festivals is endless, so whatever your preferences, Sovata is the place to visit.
These photos were taken mid October this year, during the pumpkin festival they are organizing each year.
The town is part of the Székely Land region of the historical Transylvania province. It is located in the eastern part of Mureș County, on the border with Harghita County; the county capital, Târgu Mureș, is 60 km (37 mi) to the west.
Sovata lies at the foot of the Gurghiu Mountains, at an altitude between 475 and 530 m (1,558 and 1,739 ft). It is situated between the river Corund and the valley of the Târnava Mică. The river Sovata discharges into the Târnava Mică in the town.
Sovata can be reached from Târgu Mureș, Miercurea-Ciuc, and Odorheiu Secuiesc on the DN13A [ro] national road and from Reghin on a connection road. source
The town itself is a small one, with a population under 10k inhabitants and has nothing specific to offer, but the spa area of the region is attracting around 150k tourists annually.
Right at the entrance of the tourist are, there's the Crystal hotel with a private spa area and an aquapark for kids.
At the time of our visit, pumpkins were dominating the entrance, among which a huge one, which weighed around 180kg.
This area being almost exclusively a tourist area, attracting visitors from all over the world, souvenir stalls are basically everywhere, offering you a great variety of items, both traditional and modern, some of them handmade.
The tourist area has a long history and it ha become a mix of old and new as far as architecture is concerned. The restaurant you see on the photo above is the product of the communist era. Tivoli Restaurant used to be a famous one, you could barely get a free table. I don't know if it's still open today, but it doesn't look abandoned at all. The old architectural style has been preserved, but the interior may be totally new today.
During each festival, the road to the Bear Lake becomes a huge combination of craft market and food stalls, offering tourists all kinds of local specialties and not only.
You can choose one of the fancy hotels with all the luxury services 2023 has to offer, or opt for a smaller villa, with private parking lot, restaurant and entertainment area.
Among the new villas, you can find these small ones, remnants of a vanished era. I actually love this one and would be glad to own it. The architecture is not what you can see everywhere in 2023, but it suits my taste and would be glad to spend some time there regardless of the season. The size of the property is just perfect, not too big, not too small, just enough for a few people.
There's an Orthodox chapel there too, for the believers. It was closed at the time of our visit, so I can't show you the interior.
A few decades ago this architectural stye was dominant at Sovata. Most of the villas looked similar to Vila Magdalena. This one has survived the urge of rebuilding everything and with its blatant colors, makes itself noticed by everyone.
Not far from the main road, there's a newly built stage, for smaller concerts and performances. This is not the only venue for this kind of activities. There's another place at the entrance of the holiday resort, with a bigger stage, but there are no benches there. More about it later in this post.
Even if no one is performing, you can sit here, have a rest and enjoy the shade of these old trees.
Or show off your skateboarding skills to those enjoying a quiet moment.
Another retro style villa from old times. It would be nice to see what the interior looks like now. I suppose most of it is updates, just the exterior looks like in those old times.
Old vs new.
Hunters villa. I'm a bit confused here as there's a crest on the building, it says Benedek de Kisbacon and 1165. Benedek is a Hungarian name, Kisbacon is a village in Transylvania, but the year doesn't say anything to me. Must be significant, if the crest is there.
Something to consider when booking your holiday is the noise. These villas are basically meters away from restaurants, cafes and bars, which can be convenient, but the noise ...
You can have your traditional kürtöskalács (horn cake), which is a must if you go to fairs or festivals.
There's a small supermarket, or grocery store, if you need anything.
There's a grill close to the lake, with a nice terrace as well. Also, if you have some free time, you can choose a book or two, to keep you company. I love these book chariots. They are selling second hand books, which is even better for several reasons. New books are expensive, unfortunately and those who don't need those books anymore can help find a new owner for them. I'm always drawn to these places, but rarely buy any books as nowadays all the time I have is allocated to studying.
This is actually a very cool thing and it is becoming a trend. This year I've seen these boards in several cities. These boards are created to inform people, to educate if you like. These were about different castles, fortresses, churches from Transylvania. You could go round and read the location of each one in 3 languages, which is a very cool opportunity to learn, for locals and tourists as well.
I don't remember where that photo was taken, but it's brilliant!
This one as well.
Those of you who want to experience what the chariot era felt like, here's one for you. You can take a tour around the resort. Don't ask me how much it is, I have no idea, but it's not cheap.
Or you can ride Thomas, the yellow train if you like.
And here's the famous Bear Lake, that attracts a lot of visitors each day. I think they close it in September and only opens in May, but during those summer months, you can enjoy floating on the top of the salt water. This place is not cheap either, so you need a larger budget here.
This is the other stage I mentioned earlier in this post. There are no seats here, but there's no need for seas either as you don't go to a rock concert to sit down.
There was an air balloon during the festival, which functioned as an elevator, basically. For like 10€ (I think), you could go up a fem meters in the air, then come down as flying around was out of the question.
Kürtös and lángos is a must at every festival in Transylvania.
However, having both in one day means killing your stomach, so I opted for a lángos this time. For those of you who are not familiar with this amazing dish, here it is:
Lángos is a typical Hungarian food. Today it is a deep fried flatbread, but in the past it was made of the last bits of the bread-dough and baked at the front of the brick or clay oven, to be served hot as the breakfast of the bread-baking day. The name comes from láng, the Hungarian word for flame.
It is eaten fresh and warm, topped with sour cream and grated cheese, or Liptauer, ham, or sausages, or most frequently, without toppings, just rubbed with garlic or garlic butter, or doused with garlic water. Other ingredients and accompaniments can be mushroom, quark cheese, eggplant, cabbage, kefir, omelet, and confectioner's sugar or jam. source
What you see on the photo above is with sour cream, grated cheese and garlic. A true killer for my gallbladder as I'm not allowed to eat garlic, fried things, nor fat food, but who cares 😂 (don't tell my doctor). No one can resist a good lángos and I'm not any different. To my excuse, I only had 2 this year.
All in all it was a very nice day. If you're in the area, don't miss this beauty.
If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides:
