Lake · Sovata

Paraschiva Lake

AT A GLANCE

Why go?

Tucked between the resort town's more famous waters and reached by a quiet path under the trees, Paraschiva Lake (Lacul Parașiva, known in Hungarian as Piroska-tó) is the gentle outlier among Sovata's celebrated salt lakes. Born in 1980 when a sinkhole in the salt-bearing ground filled with water, this tiny lake—about 84 m long and 28 m wide, some 2,300 square metres in all—has such a low salt content that it counts as a freshwater pool, home to fish, amphibians and even snakes, and a quietly popular spot for anglers.↗↗↗

What makes the lake worth a detour is its setting and its story. It lies in a picturesque dolina near Sovata's Green and Red Lakes, fringed by salt cliffs said to be the most striking rock formations in the area, and it marks the start of the eco-teaching Salt Road, a shaded one-hour hiking loop that winds over the Salt Mountain and back down to Bear Lake. For visitors staying in one of Europe's oldest salt spas, Paraschiva offers the calmer, greener edge of the resort rather than its crowded bathing beaches.↗↗

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Lake · Sovata

Paraschiva Lake

Sovata, RO 4.8 (57 Google reviews)

Photo: Google Maps

AT A GLANCE

Why go?

Tucked between the resort town's more famous waters and reached by a quiet path under the trees, Paraschiva Lake (Lacul Parașiva, known in Hungarian as Piroska-tó) is the gentle outlier among Sovata's celebrated salt lakes. Born in 1980 when a sinkhole in the salt-bearing ground filled with water, this tiny lake—about 84 m long and 28 m wide, some 2,300 square metres in all—has such a low salt content that it counts as a freshwater pool, home to fish, amphibians and even snakes, and a quietly popular spot for anglers.↗↗↗

What makes the lake worth a detour is its setting and its story. It lies in a picturesque dolina near Sovata's Green and Red Lakes, fringed by salt cliffs said to be the most striking rock formations in the area, and it marks the start of the eco-teaching Salt Road, a shaded one-hour hiking loop that winds over the Salt Mountain and back down to Bear Lake. For visitors staying in one of Europe's oldest salt spas, Paraschiva offers the calmer, greener edge of the resort rather than its crowded bathing beaches.↗↗

↗

A lake born from a collapsed salt hill

Paraschiva Lake did not exist in the old spa maps of Sovata. It appeared in 1980 in a huge sinkhole, a dolina that opened up as the salt-rich ground beneath the town underwent major karstic transformations. The waters of an earlier pond, Lake Tineretului, once flowed into this hollow; when the sinkhole's underground drainage became clogged, the water gathered and stayed, forming the small lake you see today.↗↗↗

The lake's youth also shaped a careful relationship with its famous neighbour. In spring, when the snow melted, or after heavy summer rains, Paraschiva's waters would overflow downhill into Bear Lake (Lacul Ursu) and dilute its celebrated salt content. To protect the balance of the spa lake, Paraschiva was partially drained and is kept under observation to this day—a small reminder that the whole resort sits on a restless salt massif.↗↗

Fresh water and wildlife in the middle of a salt country

Sovata is built on a salt diapir and most of its lakes are briny, but Paraschiva is the exception. Because so little salt dissolves into its waters, it is treated as a freshwater lake, and that difference matters: while the therapeutic salt lakes are largely sterile, Paraschiva supports fish, water snakes and amphibians. This low salinity has made it something of a haven for fishing enthusiasts, one of the few places in the resort where the water is alive rather than medicinal.↗↗↗↗

Set somewhat apart from the busier bathing esplanades, the lake has a more secluded, natural feel, ringed by forest and near the small Green and Red Lakes. Its shores also expose the area's most striking salt cliffs, pale craggy rock faces that make the geological origin of the whole landscape visible in a single glance.↗↗↗

Walking the Salt Road from its shore

For most visitors, the lake is the starting point rather than the destination. From its shore begins the eco-teaching Salt Road, a signed hiking route that takes roughly an hour and loops back down through the valley of the Körös-Toplica creek to Bear Lake. Along the way it climbs onto Sovata's plant-covered Salt Mountain, the arboretele de pe sărături—salt slopes overgrown with trees and flowers that are considered unique in Europe—past the Belvedere observation tower and the small ponds of Green Lake.↗↗↗

Hikers describe the loop around the lake as a shaded, easy-to-follow trail of about 2.2 km with some 100 m of gentle ascent, a pleasant 45-minute to one-hour walk that is rarely crowded. It is a good way to take in the contrast that defines Sovata: a green freshwater hollow, bare white salt cliffs, and the forested ridge of the Salt Mountain all within a short stroll.↗

The resort around it

Paraschiva is best understood as one of Sovata's nine lakes and as a quieter complement to the town's main attractions. Sovata has been a recognised medical spa since 1884, prized since antiquity for its salt deposits and thermal springs. The anchor of the resort is Bear Lake, a heliothermic salt lake—the largest of its kind in Europe—whose brine deepens and warms with depth and is used for treatments of rheumatic and circulatory complaints. The lakes, the salt mountain and its network of timber walkways, platforms and viewing posts were rehabilitated as a single 79-hectare reservation.↗↗

If you combine a walk from Paraschiva with a visit to Bear Lake, the Green and Red Lakes and the Salt Mountain's Belvedere, you cover the essential landscape of the resort in a relaxed half-day—freshwater nature at one end, healing brine and salt rock at the other.↗↗

What makes it special

01

A small, spring-fed freshwater lake that appeared in 1980 when a salt sinkhole filled with water.↗

02

Home to fish, snakes and amphibians—the rare living-water lake among Sovata's briny spa ponds, and a favourite of anglers.↗↗

03

The shore exposes the area's most striking salt cliffs.↗

04

Starting point of the eco-teaching Salt Road, an easy shaded loop up to the plant-covered Salt Mountain and back to Bear Lake in about an hour.↗↗

A little planning goes a long way

Pair Paraschiva with Bear Lake (Lacul Ursu): the lakes sit close together, and a walk from the quiet freshwater pool up onto the Salt Mountain and down to the busy spa shore makes a satisfying half-day.↗↗
The Salt Road loop around the lake is roughly 2.2 km with a modest climb and little shade in open stretches—wear sturdy shoes for the salt-cliff and forest paths and go early in summer to avoid midday heat.↗
Treat the lake as a natural sight and walking spot rather than a bathing beach: unlike Bear Lake, it is not set up for spa swimming, and its waters are monitored for their effect on the neighbouring salt lake.↗
Sovata lies about 60 km from Târgu Mureș on the DN13 corridor; the lake sits between the Tivoli and Ursu lakes within easy reach of the resort's hotels and pavilions.↗↗

About this guide

Compiled with AI assistance from the sources below; this is not a first-hand visit. Place details collected October 5, 2026. Hours, access and ratings can change; confirm with the venue before visiting.