Adventures at the land of fairies and goblins, or a fantastic day in dreamland, at Demjén Cascade Cave & Adventure.
You probably already know, Hungary is rich in wonderful scenery, caves, lakes and out of these our unique cave baths, lake caves stand out in Europe, moreover in the world.
Probably many of you’ve heard and maybe even more of you’ve been at the equally famous Miskolctapolca Cave Bath, which I personally love as well, because even as a child, this is where we went with my family, but now I will recommend you another one that quickly became the absolute favourite among my family and group of friends, and if we can we dive into this fantastic, unique wonderland! By the way, Demjén is really close to my second childhood favourite, the Egerszalók bath, which I will write about later.
The legend of Demjén Cascade Cave and Adventure
I don’t know how you feel, but I’m always a fan of stories and legends, and the legend of the Demjén Cascade Cave I straight up love. The legend is about the treasure of Demjén, the secret of the Fátyol-cave, where the evil swamp wizard, Mákony weaved his plans about how he could get the golden empire of the neighbouring King Abos.
In the thick forest around the cave, goblins and fairies resided. The goblins had a great treasure at hand, the Book of Will, which according to the legend could make any wishes come true.
Well, Mákony really wanted this book and decided that he would get it no matter what, and with the help of it he would subdue the empire of King Abos. Kálmos, the king of the goblins learnt of this and turned to King Abos for refuge. The king took Kálmos and the book under his protection and sent his best knights against wizard Mákony.
The battle was almost won by wizard Mákony, but suddenly Lángfog, the dragon appeared and destroyed the wizard’s army with his fire. This is how Lángfog repaid knight Demjén, who saved Lángfog’s life. In the heat of the battle wizard Mákony ran away to Fátyol-cave, but knight Demjén and Kálmos followed right after him on the back of Lángfog.
Mákony ran deeper and deeper into the cave, but he forgot that this is where he had locked up the princess of the fairies – Illangó, to get rid of the light from the world. Illangó carried the light within herself, and this light together with the fire of dragon Lángfog burnt Mákony at the same time, who became ash.
Knight Demjén – to make sure the wizard had perished – put his sword in the middle of the ash pile, from where water burst straight away and slowly started filling the cave. Kálmos, the king of the goblins then threw the Book of Will into the water, so no one could ever get it. Illangó calmed the waves of the water with a sweet charm, and Lángfog strengthened the water with dragon magic so it would keep the secrets.
With time, the evil wizard was forgotten and only the Fátyol-cave remembers the kind king, the dragon, the knights, goblins and fairies – the water keeps their secret – and is now shared with everybody.
This legendary wonderland fills the whole bath, especially when you enter the hall of the goblin king, Kálmos, or when you relax next to Illangó and Villangó – the two fairy princesses.
Healing water from 690m below
By the way, the cave’s water is officially healing water, after the National Public Health Service Office classified Cascade Resort & Spa****-ed Hotel spa hotel in February, 2015.
They drilled the well in 2006, where the Cascade leisure complex were built. The legendary healing water comes up from 690m deep and is rich in natrium-calcium-hydrogencarbonate, fluoride, sulfur, iron, methacrylic acid, which is really good for all sorts of joint issues, but it’s also great for the skin and hair.
So if your back is also sore, or your knee, or other joints, then I definitely recommend a bathing session here. The sulfur water does great for cartilage rheumatic diseases, but it can also help greatly in recovery after surgeries.
Demjén Cascade Resort & Spasuperior
This complexum found in Demjén is made up of a great hotel, an indoor – outdoor spa, an adventure park beach and the cave bath itself.
If you’re guests of the hotel, in normal circumstances you can use the spa and beach for free, and you get a 20% discount off the ticket for entering the cave bath, but there are packages that include the entrance to the cave bath.
If you are planning to spend a few days in Demjén and its area – as there is plenty to discover in the area – then it’s worth to stay at Cascade Resort & Spa. Fact, that it isn’t the cheapest, but they have great deals and offers.
The hotel itself is beautiful, with clean designs and furnishings. You can pick from many different rooms – Natural, Rustik, Aqua rooms, Silver and Aqua family and honeymoon Suites. All of them are beautiful, clean and very comfortable.
The hotel itself also has a wellness section, which you can use without limit while you’re staying there. By the way, the hotel can also be used for team-building, conferences, as they have great and unique offers and how cool is it, that after an all-day-long meeting you can enjoy the healing baths even until 2 am. No need for anything else, but a nice glass of wine, good company and you can finish the business meeting with a night-time bath and by adoring the stars of course.
Demjén Thermal Spa and Aqua Park
The Demjén Thermal Spa and Aqua Park is unique in the country, as they are open until 2am, making it the perfect choice in any season. On the pleasantly warm, summer nights enjoying the stars is magical – I recommend it to everybody!
The water of the spa is the same healing water as the one in the cave. It’s twice as good if you buy a ticket for the cave bath, as that includes the use of the spa and the aqua park too! This does not work the other way around though. But it’s a fact that if you would like to enjoy both baths, plan to spend the whole day, even – a day reaching into the night.
What I normally do is spend the morning and most of the afternoon in the cave bath, and at night I go to the spa and aqua park. What’s good about this is that there will be less sliders everywhere, so I can use them perfectly to my liking and I can still relax in the outdoor baths of the spa, while peeping at the stars. There is no traffic at the motorway at night, so there is no problem with getting home to Budapest – Demjén isn’t too far away anyway – Budapest is app. 95km from the M3 exit.
In the spa and aqua park there are 2 indoor swimming pools, 1 indoor paddling pool, 6 outdoor adventure thermal pool, steam room, saunas with submersible pool, Kneipp pool, salt chamber and massages, and in addition rubber float and rafting slides, divided slides and and 3 different heights of the diving pool awaits you. Everything can be used with the armband that you receive when you buy a ticket.
As you can see, it’s absolutely worth visiting here, at the Spa and Aqua Park, as you can spend your whole day here! The ticket prices are friendly and there really isn’t another spa in the country where you can dip in the water until 2am every day.
Cascade Cave Bath – Wonderland
I left the best for last – the cave bath itself. This is my absolute favourite in the whole complexum, but I think I’m not alone with this.
The car park is pretty big and free of course. You can count on a queue when entering, but it isn’t too bad.
It’s due to this that I recommend you visit the bath during a weekday, as it is very popular and there can be a smaller-bigger crowd during the weekend, which I really don’t like. You can choose from 3-hours long or all day long tickets – I recommend the full day one for sure – as there is app. 500 HUF difference between the two tickets, and if you stay even a minute longer than 3 hours, you will have to pay the 500Ft anyway… so buy the all day ticket.
You will get a watch, that will grant you access to everything – locker in the changing room, entrance to the restaurant, entrance to the spa and aquapark, right to use the slides, etc.
The checkout ladies often forget to say that you can send money to the watch, and you can use this to pay at the water-bar, restaurant, cafe – so you don’t have to carry cash around. I think it’s a great idea, I always use it.
I don’t like to carry cash at the beach or bath, as in the big bathing I can’t always pay attention. If I put the money on the watch, I can completely relax while swimming around.
One more thing: besides the entrance fee, have 1000 HUF on you, as they ask for a deposit for the watch. This, and the money uploaded to the watch but not spent will be given back to you when you’re leaving. Leaving also has a procedure, you can expect a queue here too, but it’s not too bad.
Well, you got in and you can head to the changing rooms. Here you can pick an empty locker for yourself. It’s good to connect the watch to the locker, by touching the watch to the locker while it’s open, then locking it, then touching the watch to the locker again and opening it. If this works, you are good to go.
I only recommend this, because at the beginning, after finding our empty locker, we packed our things and locked it to the best of our knowledge using the watch, we went swimming and when we came back to open it again it wouldn’t for some reason so we had to ask the checkout lady for help. This happened to others as well. So since then we always “try” the locker and the watch first.
Advice
You probably already know that it’s not worth to bring serious cash, bank cards, full wallets to any baths. It’s good to really only bring the most important things (ID, minimal amount of cash) in your wallet and then go to the bath.
Unfortunately, theft is still a thing and no Hungarian bath/beach is an exception to this. Of course there are cameras at most places, but the devil never sleeps. Regarding phones, naturally, take a few pictures, but after that it’s worth to put it away and enjoy the experience of the cave bath.
Restaurant and gift shop
Entering the cave bath you will see the showers and the first aid room straight away, as well as some of the cave baths. Here you can enter the pool, or you can walk to the right. If you go to the right and turn right at the end of the hall, you can go to the restaurant and gift shop (you will need your watch), and turning left at the end of the hall will take you deeper into the cave.
You can get in the pool in many places and at first it may seem a bit tangled and labyrinth-like, but you will be quick to figure out what – where – how. It’s worth to pick out a chair or two, or a sunbed and putting your things down, but it’s not worth to bring in many things. Robe, slippers, towel and that’s it. Nobody will steal these, so you don’t have to worry about them, you can freely enjoy the tangled pools of the cave.
Fairy Tale Island
If you’re with children, this is also where you will find the entrance to the kiddies pool called Fairy Tale Island. It’s important to know, adults CAN’T use the kiddies pools (but based on what I’ve seen, not many parents care).
The interior of Fairy Tale Island is adorable, the kids will love it. They can meet Mother Holle too and they can read into her secret book, or at least the first paragraph, as Illangó has hid the rest of the story under magical water, but the brave and curious children can continue to read the story with the help of swimming goggles at the bottom of the pool!
Close the the Fairy Tale Island is the water-bar, which can be approached on land or in water. It’s really cozy to have a glass of wine or beer here. There are lounging chairs along the corridor, which runs along the whole cave. On the right there are many doors and corridors. All of these take you to awesome places.
Sauna Cave
One of the corridors, take you to the Cave of Secrets – a silent room, where you can rest on heated stone beds, the other brings you to the sauna cave, where you can find many saunas and steam rooms, and a salt chamber as well.
The sauna cave has a dipping pool, shower and drinking fountain, and many lounge chairs. Here, next to the sauna cave is my favourite pool – the Thermal Bay – where I spend a lot of time. The temperature in this pool is usually 36 -38 Celsius (sometimes hotter) and there is great light therapy built in at the bottom and the sides of the pool (the red and the blue are my favourites).
There are many pleasantries in this pool – jets, massagers, underwater jet massagers and this is the pool, where kids under 14 can’t come – it’s quiet.
In the pool of the Thermal bay, they await you with healing water freshly filled from the bath’s own healing-well. According to the legend, those who dipped in this water, had lost all their problems and issues. Those who were ugly got pretty, the unhappy found happiness, the old became young. Well, that’s at least fact, the healing water of Demjén really does magic with painful bones and joints.
Slide tower
Going forward in the corridor, you will reach the Slide tower. What can I say – I love this part (too).
The slides are spectacular – it’s worth to try all of them. All of it is so special anyway – you’re in a cave, but in a slide tower as well… this is where the legend comes back about the battle of the wizard and the fairies, or the battle of light against darkness, this is why the sliding world, that sank into the stomach of the mountain is connected to the 760m long cave system, you can get to its highest point by a leisure elevator.
Giant slide 
At the highest point is the 25m tall giant slide, from which you can slide down to the ground just like knight Demjén did from the back of dragon Lángfog.
Your adventures beside the photocell kamikaze-giant slide, a special UFO, spiraling Anaconda, or lightning-quick Turbo slide makes it full. You can use the slides with the watch.
Fairy cave pool
After the sliding adventure it’s time to dip into the silky, warm healing water of the cave bath, and enjoy the experiences of the pool and unique legends and stories provided by the halls. I really like to leave my robe-towel-slipper combo at the back of the cave, specifically after the last wooden bridge towards the slide park.
I also think that’s the best place to enter the water. It’s true that there aren’t many chairs in the corner, but there is almost always room to put your things down. The reason I like to go in here is because close to this entrance is the Fairy cave pool’s beloved section: the cave of Kálmos goblin king, where there are many better-than-better neck-crackers await you.
The goblin gargoyles found at the two sides of the cave have a very gentle shower, but most definitely make an appearance in front of the king and queen for a lengthy massage. These two super-strong massagers can be found at the end of the cave. I think you’ll understand why this is my favourite part.
By the way, the Fairy cave pool is pretty long with hidden areas, the water is pleasant 35-36 Celsius degrees – exactly what’s enough for you not wanting to leave.
According to the legend it was Illangó fairy princess who live here, when wizard Mákony locked her up, so that there would be no more light in the world, but as we know – he failed. I always remember the legend and Illangó, because the whole swimming pool is lit up with out of this world purple and blue colours – you really feel like you’re in a story here.
There are many pleasantries in the pool – jets, massagers, neck showers and massagers and my favourite of these, the jacuzzi beds. There is nothing better then when the tired body completely relaxes on a jacuzzi bed like this, of course, sparkled with the light therapy.
The Slow river which opens from here, drifts around the cave for 133m. Besides that it makes swimming pleasantly easier, it provides a secret pass from the world of fairies and gnomes to the high Slide park too. I was swept away by the pleasant drifting and the light therapy found in the whole cave.
Market square restaurant
If you get hungry during the day-long adventure, it’s worth to visit the Market square restaurant (Piactér étterem), which you can access with your watch through the glass door next to the Fairy cave.
Great variety – freshly cooked, authentic oven-baked pizzas, pörkölt, all sorts of pastas, tasty desserts, good coffee and drinks await you.
In addition two more bars can be found in the cave, one is the already mentioned Water bar, where you can drink different drinks, coffees, and Bambu bar, found at the top of the Slide tower, where you can also drink different drinks and coffees and simple meals. You can pay with your watch at all of the restaurants and bars, up to the amount that you added when you entered.
So pack your bags and let’s go to Demjén, go for an adventure at the legendary cave that homes fairies and gnomes!
Opening hours of Demjén Thermal Spa and Adventure Park:
The cave bath is open between 9am and 10pm, but the spa is until 2am.
Prices of Demjén Thermal Spa in 2022:
The all-day-long ticket to the cave bath (which includes entrance to the spa and aqua park) is currently 5,790 HUF per adult. Retired and child, and other offers are available of course.
| Daily ticket | |
| Adults | 5990Ft |
| Adult (over 65 years) | 5390Ft |
| Children (under 4 years) | FREE |
| Children (between 4-8 years) | 4890Ft |
| Student (between 8-18 years) | 5390Ft |
More information about ticket prices, opening hours and special offers, deals can be found here.
The address of Demjén Thermal Spa:
H-3395 Demjén, Rózsa Ferenc út 1.
