A gas well that turned into a spa
This spa exists by accident. In 1978, while prospecting for natural gas and oil, drillers found something else: hot, heavily mineralised water in the chalk. For years nobody knew what to do with it. Only in the 2000s did the local authority build first a geothermal heating plant on top of it, and then swimming pools.
In 2008 Uniejów obtained certificates confirming the therapeutic properties of its water and its local climate, which opened the way to the remaining formalities. Spa status arrived in 2012, by regulation of the Prime Minister, and covered Spycimierz, Spycimierz-Kolonia, Zieleń and Człopy as well as the town itself. It was the first case of its kind in Poland: a thermal spa, where the principal resource is the water's temperature and not only its chemistry.
The water comes from boreholes reaching more than two kilometres down and arrives at the surface at about 68 degrees. It is a hot brine carrying sulphur, radon, fluorine, chlorides of copper and iron, metasilicic acid compounds and iodine, with an iodine content compared to that of the Baltic. The same water heats buildings in the town, which is the quieter of the two things Uniejów is proud of.
Bathing in hot brine
The thermal pools opened in 2008, and on 26 May 2012 a larger facility followed, with indoor and outdoor basins and a sauna area. All of it is municipally owned and runs year-round, because the water comes out of the ground hot whatever the weather.
Bathing in hot brine is not swimming. The water is heavy and distinctly mineral, and at this temperature the body heats up fast, which is why the usual advice is cycles of a quarter of an hour with breaks rather than an hour at a stretch. A residue is left on the skin afterwards and is worth rinsing off. Anyone with uncontrolled high blood pressure or heart disease should ask a doctor first: hot brine puts real load on the circulation.
Winter makes the strongest impression. In frost the steam above the outdoor pools is thick enough to hide the far side, and that is when the contrast in temperature is sharpest. In summer the effect fades, because the gap between water and air is smaller.
Castle, collegiate church and town
Uniejów belonged for centuries to the archbishops of Gniezno, and the two most important buildings are theirs. The castle, of the fourteenth century, stands over the Warta in a park laid out in the second half of the nineteenth century, and has been on the register of monuments since 1967. Its history is eventful even by Polish standards: castle and town were looted in 1492, and Swedish troops sacked the place in 1656.
The Collegiate Church of the Assumption is Gothic, built between 1342 and 1349 and consecrated in 1365. Between the market square and the church stands a free-standing neo-Baroque bell tower of 1901, some twenty-five metres high — one of the features that orders the view of the town from a distance.
The remaining monuments are small but add up to a coherent picture of a provincial church town: a manor house of about 1845, the Toll family chapel on the road to Dąbie, restored in 2022, and several Second World War bunkers in and around the town. For the record, Uniejów received town rights around 1285, lost them in 1870 as a reprisal after the January Uprising, and regained them in 1919.
Getting there and what to know
- By car — easiest on the A2 motorway, leaving near Wartkowice or Dąbie, then some fifteen kilometres of local roads.
- From Łódź — about an hour to the north-west; longer from Poznań or Warsaw, but motorway all the way.
- By train — no station in the town; the nearest services are at Kutno and Koło.
- By bus — services from Łódź, Poddębice and Koło, stopping in the centre.
- Spycimierz — a village inside the spa area that lays a flower carpet along the whole Corpus Christi procession route each year.
- Time needed — a day for the town and a bathe; a weekend or more for a course of treatment.
How to get there and practical info
- Location
- Łódź Voivodeship, on the river Warta, about an hour from Łódź
- What it is
- Poland's first thermal spa; status granted in 2012
- Healing resource
- hot brine from over 2 km down, at about 68 degrees
- Water chemistry
- sulphur, radon, fluorine, copper and iron chlorides, metasilicic acid compounds, iodine
- Spa area
- Uniejów plus Spycimierz, Spycimierz-Kolonia, Zieleń and Człopy
- Monuments
- fourteenth-century archbishops' castle, collegiate church of 1342–1349, bell tower of 1901
- Geothermal heating
- the same water heats buildings in the town
- Time needed
- a day; a weekend or longer for treatment
- Note
- hot brine loads the circulation — check with a doctor if you have heart or blood pressure problems
- Current opening times and tickets
- official website of the Uniejów commune
When to go
The Warta is at its fullest and the castle park looks its best, while the pools are still quiet. A good time to combine a bathe with an unhurried walk round the town.
The busiest season and the time for events in the spa grounds, including a knights' tournament and a market. The temperature contrast in the water is least noticeable now.
Quiet weeks: the warm water starts to make sense and the crowds have not arrived. The flat countryside colours only briefly.
The best season for the outdoor basins: thick steam above the water and the widest gap from the air temperature. The town is silent, with no queues at castle or church.
Other sights in Łódź Voivodeship
Straight-line distances from „Uniejów thermal spa" — calculated from real coordinates. By road it is often further.
Where to stay nearby
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