Kärnten Therme Warmbad in Villach, Austria is really a cool place (well, um… warm) and not far from Ljubljana. With just one and a half hour drive it makes for a perfect day trip from Ljubljana.

This is how Kärnten Therme Warmbad looks like from the outside.  It looked like a spaceship to me… but wait until you see the interiors!

There are many great Spas near Ljubljana and around Slovenia, so why am I recommending Kärnten Therme Warmbad in Austria?  Three reasons:

1. The water and air is VERY warm. (I’m always cold in pools.)

2. Everything is SPOTLESSLY clean.

3. No one minds if you have a small snack on the deckchairs.  

Look at this funky architecture!

There are other things, too.  There are indoor and outdoor pools, the slides are cooler than any other I’ve ridden before, and the food they serve in the Kärnten Therme’s restaurant is really yummy.

As you can see I like Kärnten Therme Warmbad for many things, but one thing really stands out — the shape of the place.  It’s simply gorgeous.

I noticed one other thing.  You know how indoor pools and aqua parks can get really noisy.  Not so with the Kärnten Therme Spa.  It’s surprisingly quiet, even when there are many people in the pool.  I’m don’t know why is that, I just noticed this positive change.

How to get from Ljubljana to Kärnten Therme Warmbad in Villach, Austria?  It’s best to take a car or train.

If Karawanken tunnel is temporary closed for works (which happens often as they are building the second tube), or if you simply want to take a more scenic route, choose a Wurzenpass road from Kranjska gora.  It will add 30 to 40 minutes to your trip from Ljubljana to Kärnten Therme Warmbad but it’s a ride worth taking.

If you prefer a train, there are two morning trains, departing Ljubljana at 7:27 am and 9:22 am.  You’ll be at Villach train station one and a half hours later.  You can return to Ljubljana at 4:53 pm or 6:53 pm.  Be sure to check the Slovenian Railways website for the updates.

How did I hear about Kärnten Therme Warmbad in Villach?

My Mum is an architect and being an architect somehow means that you have to know about every cool building in the world.  (Or not so cool but done by a famous architect.)

So the rest of the family had no choice but to follow along, we had to go and check this place out.

It was a cold and snowy morning in January when we got in the car in Ljubljana and head to Villach to warm up in the hot pools of Kärnten Therme Warmbad.  After a long, almost two hours drive (Karawanken Tunnel was closed for 20 minutes… plus my Dad took a wrong turn…), we arrived at our destination.

I couldn’t wait to jump in the pool.  Changing into the swimming costumes was a breeze thanks to the spacious lockers.  There were lots of people in the Kärnten Therme pools that day but no crowd in the lockers area because there’s so much space.

I think there are seven pools altogether at Kärnten Therme Warmbad-Villach.  This includes the Olympic pool on the top floor and the outdoor pool.

This is a central pool.  I love it because it has lots of lights, bubbles and currents.

From up here you can see only about a fourth of the building but there is still a lot of labyrinths of pools, whirlpools and rest areas.

The little slide is meant for small children but because it’s so cool and smooth (it’s covered totally in inox steel) it’s not unusual to see an adult slide down too.

It’s very safe for toddlers.  I stayed here with my little sister for almost one hour.

This is the baby pool where little kids have a kingdom of their own.  It is quite hot in there, so parents like to join their children in the pool.  I think the pool is suitable for children under 6 years old.  There are chairs all around the pool and you can relax while still keeping an eye on your children.

As much as I like the interiors of Kärnten Therme Warmbad-Villach, nothing prepares you for the special outdoor adventure…

Even in the dead of the winter, you can slip through the plastic curtains and go outside for an exhilarating experience.  There’s nothing quite like the contrast between the hot spa and the 10 degree below zero weather stabbing at your face.  If it’s snowing, so much the better.

Unfortunately, on our trip the outdoor pool was closed (because of the icy rain), but we did enjoy it on another visit (and I’m sure we will on our next).  Not counting the slides, and the wild river, the most fun I had was swimming in the outdoor pool with snowflakes landing on my nose.

How many?  Three.  Not counting the baby and toddler slides.

Here is where you come out of the slides.

On one of two slides you have to press these circles on the ceiling.  If you press them they turn green and when you come out of the slide, you can see how many you’ve managed to press (you will see orange dots at the top of the exit of the slide).

Both slides are really fast.  One has transparent walls and the other lots of colorful lights.  If you ask me which is my favorite I couldn’t decide.  I like both of them.

The river is awesome.  You have an inflatable water tube and then you have to push yourself to the machine that pulls you up at an incredible speed and then you slide along the river.

Very hungry after hours of swimming and riding the slides me and my family went to the restaurant. The restaurant in Kärnten Therme Warmbad in Villach is modern, clean and serve food which is really delicious.

I love the water tower – it is the best.  From different sides of the tower different types of water come out.  If you press the button “thunder and lightning” a strong thunder sound will be heard and a heavy rain will splash like in a storm.

There is lots of different buttons like “sprinkle” and “rain” and if you really want to have lots of fun press “hard rain”.

This is the view from the upper gallery.  As you can see I was wowed by what I saw.  I couldn’t wait to go down a and ride the slides again.

Brrr, just to think of it gives me a chill. This is the Olympic pool in Kärnten Therme Warmbad in Villach.  It is very cold (at least for me for) but there were quite some swimmers training or learning swimming techniques.

It’s also a popular spot for kids (mainly boys) who come here to dive from the starting blocks into the deep water.

Our day at Kärnten Therme Warmbad in Villach, Austria was coming to an end.  We had a lovely time and I can’t wait to come back again to this beautiful and fun place in South Carinthia, our favorite spa in the region not far from Ljubljana, Slovenia.