Cave Bath

The Cave Bath is a thermal bath in a natural cave in Miskolctapolca. The thermal water is reputed to reduce joint pain, and since it has a lower salt content than most thermal waters (around 1000 mg/liter), people can bathe in it for much longer, practically an unlimited amount of time. The Cave Bath can be visited all year long, except for January. In September 2024 the entrance building caught fire due to an electric short circuit. The bath is currently closed, but it's scheduled to be reopened by early summer 2025. The city's other main attraction, Diósgyőr Castle is also closed, as it's being renovated; this makes the reopening of the bath an urgent matter as tourism is a major income source. The cave and the thermal spring have been known since ancient times, but Tapolca became a popular bathing place only after the Ottoman occupation of Hungary (16th-17th century). During this time the area belonged to the Greek Orthodox abbey of Görömböly; the development of Tapolca into a bathing place was the idea of the abbot in 1711.