The spa park at the centre of Vatra Dornei is a legacy of the Habsburg resort era — a pleasant, somewhat faded public garden built around several mineral spring pavilions. Visitors can drink the water directly from the springs (each with a slightly different mineral composition), and in season the park hosts a gentle open-air spa culture that feels almost unchanged from a century ago.
The springs are the main reason people have been coming to Vatra Dornei since the 19th century. The water is taken for cardiovascular conditions and digestive disorders, but you don't need a medical reason to enjoy a walk through the park and a cup of the slightly fizzy, faintly metallic water at the source. The setting — mountain valley, old trees, faded 19th-century architecture — has a particular charm.