An honest review of Therme Bucharest and why we’ll never return to Romania

Like so many before us, we headed out to Romania to experience the TikTok-famous Therme Spa in Bucharest. And like so many before us, we were massively disappointed.

I booked the trip as a Christmas present for my partner (and I, of course). We flew out on 30^th December 2025 for one night and the best part of two days. It turned into one of those trips where, if something could go wrong, it did.

Tl;dr

• We went for a relaxing spa break and got a crash course in stress instead
• We never felt welcome or safe as an interracial same-sex couple
• Therme was so busy we couldn’t find a single sunbed (even with top tickets), so “spa day” turned into “stand in water until you give up”
• If you’re still tempted, I’ve put the practical survival tips at the end

Now for the full story…

The car hire debacle

Our experience got off to a frightful start before we’d even left Bucharest airport.

I had booked our car hire as a Ryanair bolt-on when purchasing our flights. In hindsight, this was my first mistake. I didn’t thoroughly read the post-booking voucher, partly because it was enormous, partly because it arrived only after payment, and partly because I naïvely assumed “car hire at the airport” meant something fairly straightforward.

It wasn’t.

None of the car rental desks at the airport had heard of the company listed on my paperwork, “Direct Rent”, though several staff told me I wasn’t the first confused customer to ask. One even suggested, with thinly veiled amusement, that next time I might want to book with “a company that actually exists at the airport”.

Eventually, buried deep in the voucher, I found instructions telling us to report to the “Departures car park”. After some wandering, we found nothing there except queues of taxis. Calling the number on the paperwork was difficult due to a poor connection, but the man on the other end said he would send details via WhatsApp instead.

What followed was a series of increasingly confusing messages, including directions to a drop-off location. When I pointed out that we were collecting a car, not returning one, the solution was apparently for someone to come and collect us instead.

Eventually, a man arrived in an old car and told us he was taking us to the office to complete paperwork. After a ten-minute drive, we found ourselves on a run-down industrial estate, standing inside a rickety office that inspired little confidence. Outside, at least, were several white electric Hyundais that looked vaguely like rental cars.

I handed over my passport and driving licence, only to be told I now needed to pay a £2,300 “deposit”. This surprised me, as the paperwork repeatedly referred to this amount as an “excess”, something I associate with potential liability, not an upfront charge. Nevertheless, I was told it was non-negotiable.

When I handed over my bank card, he examined it briefly and announced that it was unacceptable because it was not embossed. He said this with such confidence that it was immediately clear he’d delivered this line many times before.

I explained that many UK bank cards have not been embossed for years and showed him three cards from three different banks, none of which had raised numbers. At this point, his tone shifted. He began repeating phrases like, “You’re joking me, right?”, “You’re having a laugh”, and “You don’t even know what embossing means?”, openly mocking me for not having memorised the terms and conditions.

It became clear that we were getting nowhere. He already had our money, and we were in the middle of nowhere, being spoken to with open contempt. We left.

Standing outside on an industrial estate in a foreign country was not how we’d imagined starting our “relaxing” spa trip, but thankfully an Uber arrived quickly and took us straight to Therme.

A disappointing day at Therme

My second, and thankfully final, major mistake of the trip revealed itself as soon as we reached the front of the queue at Therme.

After around fifteen minutes of inching forward, the woman at the counter scanned our tickets, looked up, and said calmly: “These tickets are booked for 27th December. Today is 30th December.”

After the morning we’d already had, and staring at the vast queues behind us, I genuinely thought that was it: we wouldn’t be getting in at all. I burst into tears at the desk.

This is where my partner stepped in. She took over the conversation, calmly bought us new tickets for the day, and even photographed a card the staff member showed us with details for requesting a refund. While I didn’t hold out much hope of seeing that money again (it was my error, after all) I was relieved we could at least go inside. As I often remind myself in moments like this: it’s only money.

So, we changed, headed in, and tried to reset. Surely now the relaxation could begin.

It didn’t.

I don’t mind busy places, but Therme Bucharest the day before New Year’s Eve was something else entirely. There were no sunbeds. No chairs. Nowhere to sit at all. After roughly eighteen hours of travelling and stress, that was hard to ignore.

Still, we decided to make the best of it. We bypassed the Galaxy area (sixteen impressive-looking water slides, a wave pool, and literally thousands of children) and headed instead for The Palm. This turned out to be the highlight of the visit: a large thermal pool with a swim-up bar. Despite how crowded it was, we managed to get cocktails surprisingly quickly and genuinely enjoyed ourselves for a while.

One particularly memorable moment was swimming outside through a water door into sub-zero temperatures, still immersed in heated water and sipping drinks. Even with our shoulders above the surface, it was far more comfortable than expected.

After about an hour, we tried to explore Elysium, the spa area with steam rooms and saunas. Every room was so full that there wasn’t even space to sit. We decided to come back later and instead queued for food.

That didn’t go much better. We waited thirty minutes in a restaurant queue that didn’t move at all; not a single person went inside. We gave up and instead joined the queue at the larger main restaurant. The food looked less appealing, but at least the line moved. After another half hour, we were finally seated.

By this point, the exhaustion had fully caught up with us. We’d left home just before midnight, driven for two hours, waited at the airport for three, flown for three, dealt with car hire chaos, and then travelled on to Therme, all without meaningful rest. What we needed more than anything was to lie down.

We left the restaurant determined to find just one sunbed. There wasn’t a single one available. The most frustrating part was that thousands of sunbeds appeared to be empty, but “claimed” with towels or belongings. At Therme, sunbeds are first-come, first-served and can effectively be reserved for the entire day simply by leaving items on them. Even with the highest-level “One Day Holiday” all-access ticket, there is no guarantee you’ll have anywhere to sit, let alone rest.

We walked the entire facility twice without success. We managed to get a short seated rest in one of the saunas, while the others remained too busy to access. We tried getting back into the water to salvage the experience, but it quickly became clear that we were simply too exhausted to function. We’d hoped to try the water slides and wave pool, but neither of us had the energy.

After only a few hours, we gave up and left.

We didn’t even have the strength to shower. We got dressed and headed back to the lobby, where the final insult awaited us: the queues were now even longer than when we arrived, and a huge digital sign announced “Facility full – estimated wait time 90 minutes”.

With nearly 6,000 lockers on site, it certainly felt like close to that number of people were inside, despite capacity supposedly being 4,000.

Bizarre Uber experience

Disappointed but completely exhausted, we booked our Uber and head outside to meet it. The encounter which followed really cemented our feeling of being unwelcome and unsafe in this country, which had thus far been largely unspoken and subtle.

Here’s the complaint I submitted to Uber, which speaks for itself:

The driver found us outside of his car having parked up and was calling for me by name. We found him and before we could get near the car he saw my partner was black and said “I can’t take you, it’s not enough money, no driver will take you”. We were stunned and confused, not to mention scared and vulnerable in a foreign country. We probed further to find out what he was talking about and he just kept repeating “it’s not enough money, I’m cancelling your Uber”. Shocked, we asked why did he accept the trip if it wasn’t enough money, especially as I paid the extra for the “priority” bolt on. He said he couldn’t see a destination when he accepted it which doesn’t make sense to me.

It was unclear whether he was asking for cash we didn’t have, or whether he simply refused to take us at all. We believe it was because my partner is Black and/or because we’re a same-sex couple, though we can’t know for certain. What we do know is that we were left frightened and vulnerable in a foreign country. Thankfully, the next driver took us without a word which was a relief as we were terrified of being left stranded.

Here’s the response from Uber:

Thank you for bringing this to our attention Em, we’re sorry to hear about this experience.

Based on your feedback, these are the actions we have taken:

• We have minimized the chances of you being matched with this partner driver again
• Your feedback has been noted on the partner driver’s account

Rest assured, we have processes to review your feedback and we will be taking any necessary internal actions.

Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to support you.

Well, thank goodness for that. Next time I never go to Romania, at least I can rest assured of a minimal chance of matching with that fine chap.

Saved by the hotel

Thankfully, the hotel we booked was nice enough and great value. We were completely wiped by the time we got there, with barely enough energy to shower and jump into bed. But there was still time for just for one final strange twist in the tail.

We tried to get into bed, only to find the bed had only a sheet on it. No quilt or blanket in sight, while the weather outside was frightful and the radiator not so delightful. We eventually found a quilt in the wardrobe, undressed, with a clean cover folded on top. Just what we needed: homework. Still, in the scheme of things, our final hardship for the day was not so bad, and after a few minutes of duvet dancing we were tucked up and out cold for the next 16 hours.

Day 2 spent at the airport

We woke to our alarm at 10am, an hour before checkout, still exhausted enough that sleeping through it felt tempting. Nevertheless, we dragged ourselves up and were out by 11am sharp, not willing to risk even the smallest overstay.

Our original plan for day two had been to explore Bucharest itself. After the experiences of the previous day, and having since seen even more accounts of racial discrimination online, we simply didn’t feel safe doing so. Instead, we made the decision to head straight to the airport, arriving more than six hours before our 18:15 flight.

Ironically, this turned out to be the most pleasant part of our time in Romania. We settled into a comfortable, if eye-wateringly expensive, airport bar. Sammo read on her Kindle, something she can happily do for six hours straight, and I played games on my ROG Ally, likewise. We shared delicious cherry cannoli, mind-blowing garlic cheesy fries, and some genuinely excellent local wines.

It wasn’t the second day we’d planned, but it was at least calm, safe, and restorative.

Extra legroom… or not

Just to round things off, the flight home delivered one final disappointment.

I had paid for extra-legroom seats on both flights, selecting the same seat numbers for the outbound and return journeys. On the way out, this worked exactly as expected, a pair of seats next to an emergency exit with significant extra space.

As we boarded the return flight and approached those same seat numbers, my heart sank. The aircraft layout was completely different. There were no emergency doors in that section at all. Instead, our seats were part of a standard row of three, with a third passenger already seated next to us and no extra legroom whatsoever.

At that point there was nothing we could do, just yet another issue to add to the growing list of complaints awaiting me once we got home.

Updates since returning

Since returning, there have been a few developments.

The Uber complaint is closed – no refund but an apology at least.

For the failed car hire, Ryanair issued a full refund as a “goodwill gesture” following the experience I described.

I contacted Therme on New Year’s Eve to request a refund for the double-paid tickets. As of 4th January 2026, I’ve yet to receive any response.

As for the extra-legroom seats, I’ve been passed back and forth between Ryanair’s live chat and ticket system. Live chat eventually confirmed that they could see I had paid for extra legroom and did not receive it, before directing me to submit a second type of ticket. That complaint is currently outstanding, with no confirmation of the outcome so far.

Top tips for visiting Therme, Bucharest

If you do decide to visit Therme, here are my essential tips for getting the most out of your visit:

• Ensure you can arrive at the facility as close to opening as possible – Opening hours vary so check and plan in advance. If you are not there first thing, there is a high chance you will not get a sunbed and this will have a massive impact to your day as there’s very few places to sit down without queuing for a restaurant, so you’ll likely spend your entire time in the water and/or sauna or steam rooms.
• Don’t visit during peak school holiday periods if at all avoidable – As I understand it, it’s always extremely busy all year around, but the school holidays are particularly brutal. Expect to queue 30-60 minutes for any water slides.
• Don’t hire a car – Ubers are very cheap and plentiful, so even if you run into a bad one like we did, you shouldn’t have to wait for long. Plus, if you’re used to British roads and etiquette, you’ll be grateful to be in the backseat rather than the driver’s seat!
• Take extra care if you identify as LGBTQ+ and/or are a POC – I can only speak for our experience, though since returning I’ve heard many similar stories. We were treated badly by almost everyone we came into contact with. It’s difficult to be sure exactly what caused each instance of rudeness, unhelpfulness, or refusal of service, but I can say for certain that neither me (white British female) nor my same sex partner (black Somali female) felt welcome or even safe throughout the entirety of our trip.

Final thoughts

I’m not sharing this to discourage travel, or to suggest that everyone will have the same experience we did. I’m sharing it because social media hype rarely shows the full picture, and because feeling unsafe or unwelcome while travelling is something many people quietly endure rather than talk about. For us, this trip simply wasn’t worth the stress, the exhaustion, or the anxiety it caused. If you’re considering Therme Bucharest, go in with open eyes, plan carefully, and above all, prioritise your own comfort and safety. For us, this is one destination we won’t be returning to.

Note: in the entire time we spent in Romania, the only two pictures we took were of the unmade bed sheets and of my partner in the airport. So the image I’ve used for this post was sourced from another blog, here.