18 Feb2019
Where to stay in Poprad – Aquacity Poprad
I remember I used to love Poprad town in Slovakia when I was a kid. We would always stop there on the way to the High Tatras mountains which are located just around the corner from there. For many people, Poprad town is like the entrance to the mountains. But with my mom we were so much in love with the colorful houses at the main square that we always had to make a stop there, too. Then for quite a couple of years I did not revisit the town until 2018. To catch up for lost time, I paid 4 visits to Poprad in 2018. All the 4 times there I stayed at Aquacity Poprad. If you are looking for accommodation where to stay in Poprad, Aquacity would be my recommendation. Why? Keep reading.
What I liked at Aquacity Poprad
- Aquacity Poprad is not just a hotel. It’s a a big complex; a combination of 3 hotels (Mountain View****, Seasons***, Riverside***) and huge aqua world with toboggans, indoor and outdoor pools, 350 water attractions, wellness and spa centre, a few restaurants and bars, congress halls etc. It’s one of those places where you can go for an entire day and never get bored. You can enjoy saunas, massages, pools and water attractions even when not staying at any of the 3 hotels if you pay for a few hour entrance or a full day one.
- Location – the resort is located just a few minute walk from the city centre, and not so far from the train station either. So even if you are getting to Poprad by train or other public transportation, and not by car, it’s quite easy to get there walking. I always walked from the train station to Aquacity without any problems. Going along the main road or city centre takes a few minutes longer than taking the back road you can see from the Mountain View rooms that will take you directly to the train station.
- Mountain View**** hotel – I already stayed there 3 times. I guess its name says it all. You can see the High Tatras mountains from your room balcony. It’s always interesting to watch how within a few minutes clouds can come and the moutains disappear fully. We always laugh with friends that sometimes the High Tatras are there, and sometimes they completely vanish. Watching this happen from your balcony is mesmerizing.
- Really nice bathroom in Mountain View rooms. I loved the mirrors and bath tubs.
- Quite fast wifi. I never had any problems with wifi around the hotel. It even works next to some of the pools, too, and also at the main restaurant.
- If you are staying at Mountain View or Seasons hotels, you can walk directly to pools and wellness without having to get out of the whole complex. That means you can just wear swimwear, put slippers and bathrobe on and walk there through a hallway. That easy. However, when staying at the Riverside hotel it’s necessary to get out of the hotel and walk outside to Aquacity.
- Once I also stayed at Seasons*** hotel. I had a bigger room than the one at Mountain View, but it was not as luxurious. However, they have been renovating all the rooms at Seasons so next time I expect rooms to be a lot more modern. Yay!
- Whole Aquacity complex is trying to be as eco-friendly as possible.
- 13 indoor and outdoor pools – I repeat. Thirteen. I believe that everyone will find a pool they will like there, no matter what. They are all of different shapes and sizes, with different water temperature. There’s also 1 indoor and 1 outdoor swimming pool that are great for swimming.
- Outdoor thermal pools – my last Aquacity Poprad visit was in December 2018 and it was my first time there that I could enjoy outdoor thermal pools with snow around the pools. Wow! What an experience to sit in steaming hot water pool with everything around covered with snow.
Pozrite si tento príspevok na Instagrame
- Fire and Water Wellness & Spa centre with 1,600 square metres in size is the biggest wellness centre in Slovakia. It offers so many things to enjoy on 2 floors: many different saunas, jacuzzi, private pool with water jets etc. Out of the whole Aquacity my favorite place is definitely the Wellness centre.
- Sauna rituals are amazing. Each time I can go there to experience a sauna ceremony, I always do. I think there’s at least 3 sauna rituals per day done by 2 different sauna masters. In my humble opinion I’d say that the younger one of them is more funny while the older one more handsome and calming (but sometimes also very funny, depending on the topic of sauna ritual). Having said that, it doesn’t matter which one of them is doing the sauna rituals because you will have fun, relax and sweat it all out at the same time.
- Massages – I tried one massage which was a combination of classical and hot stones. The masseuse was a really nice person and she found all the spots where my energy was somehow stuck. She helped me to release back pain I had after sitting a lot. Next time in Poprad I will go and get another massage with her. There’s also a Thai relax center but unfortunately, even during my 4 Aquacity visits I did not find time to get a Thai massage there yet. Next time will try my best. I am a big Thai massage lover and get hundreds of massages while in Thailand. At least I will be able to compare but until now I’ve heard just good things about Aquacity Thai relax center.
- Vegan cuisine – Honestly? My first time at Aquacity Poprad vegan meals for breakfast and dinner were not that great. There were very few options at the buffet, if any. For some reason the chef and cooks always add butter or cheese even to those meals that don’t need it at all so they would transform all the possible vegan meals into vegetarian ones and with an allergen (e.g. putting cow butter on top of steamed veggies). But then I ”complained” and asked for vegan meals so then from my second visit it was way better. I could get chia seeds with a smoothie and fresh fruit for breakfast, which is like perfect breakfast to me. And then for dinner they would make me veggie or mushroom risotto, quinoa or buckwheat with veggies, raw zucchini spaghetti etc. They really tried to improve and I was grateful for it. Of course, they have a lot of non-vegan meals at Aquacity as well. But being vegan, I focus at vegan meals in my articles.
- Fish spa – you know what I mean? Where you put your feet and fish eat your old skin? It works like peeling. Well, they have 2 of these at Aquacity, too. The water in fish spa aquariums was very clean so it felt safe to try it. Some people get ticklish feet so at first it might be a weird feeling but after a while you will get used to it. To me it even feels pleasant.
- Don’t forget to check out night light show called 3D Laser show by one of the pools.
- Cryotherapy centre – it’s quite a unique thing to try. However, it’s still on my bucket list. I’ve heard it has many positive effects on our body which is also why many sportsmen go there regularly. Next time I really hope to try it as well.
- Bathrobes are available for all the guests in the hotel rooms. However, you need to bring your own slippers or buy a pair at the reception.
What I’d improve at Aquacity Poprad:
- Back to vegan/healthy food. I believe that every hotel and restaurant should label all the allergens next to each meal to make it easier for guests to find out if they can or cannot eat it. Most people are not like me and they would not ask as they are shy or embarrassed to do so. And then, they might complain or write negative reviews for hotels which is NOT so good. So please use labels next to each buffet meal.
- Write the names of the meals in other language, not only in Slovak. When I was there in December 2018, there was a couple from Great Britain and they did not understand a thing so each time I saw them at the buffet breakfast/dinner, I always went around the buffet with them to translate what they could eat (one was also vegan, the other one was vegetarian).
- To make it easier, the cooks could just not add butter or cheese to many buffet meals and they would be vegan and good for all the people with special diet and allergies. I mean… instead of making a special meal for every single person with allergies on top of all the buffet meals. I always tell chefs, waiters and hotel managers they should think more when it comes to food and have at least 1 or 2 meals in their menu and/or buffet which do not contain any allergens so that everyone can eat them. It’s so easy but not so common at most restaurants yet which makes it harder for both the restaurant staff, and guests.
TIP 1: Here’s more of my photos from Aquacity Poprad.
TIP 2: If you are visiting Aquacity Poprad, then you should also check out my article about 10 things to do in Poprad. It’s a lovely city and it deserves to be seen and not only go through it to get to the High Tatras mountains :)
TIP 3: One of the parts of Poprad is called Spisska Sobota. If you are there, make sure to visit 5 things in Spisska Sobota that will give you an insight into history of the place, too.
I hope to get to Aquacity Poprad many more times in the future to try things that are still on my bucket list. There’s so many things to do! For more information please visit Aquacity website.
