I’d recommend the spa at Permon to just about anyone: it works for couples, for a group of friends after a day on the slopes and for a quiet day on your own. My favourite part was the outdoor area with its cooling lake and the view of Kriváň. Bear in mind that part of the spa is swimwear-free.
- Where I stayed
- At Hotel Pieris, about 15 minutes’ walk through the woods from Permon; as a guest I could use the spa
- No swimwear
- Past the turnstile, swimwear comes off; you get a sheet at the entrance, and I wore a bathrobe
- Worth it
- The outdoor area with its Finnish and steam saunas and the cooling lake; there were always fewer people there
- My tip
- The Shepherd’s Room, a dry sauna furnished like a room, which looks like a Čičmany cottage from outside; it’s no longer on the current list of attractions (2026), so check at reception
- Watch out for
- The small indoor saunas tended to be full; the outdoor ones are bigger, with plenty of room
- When to go
- If you’re shy, go after dark; the outdoor area is in full daylight
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I wrote this article in 2019. Prices, opening hours and transport connections may have changed since then, so check them before you travel.
The spa at Permon is one of the best-known hotel spas in Slovakia. Just about everyone has heard of it, so I was pleased when I got the chance to spend a whole day here. Read my review, then tell me about your own experience of the Permon spa in the comments.
Tip from Milan I’d recommend booking your accommodation as early as you can, because rooms in a good location at a fair price go first. Here you’ll find accommodation offers in the area valid today.
The spa at Permon: my review
Just to be clear: this is not a review of the accommodation at Permon. I stayed at Hotel Pieris, which I’ve also reviewed: Hotel Pieris in Podbanské: my review of a hotel in a national park. A little train runs between Hotel Pieris and Grand Hotel Permon, and on foot it takes about 15 minutes along a pleasant forest path. Hotel Pieris has its own spa, but it’s tiny, and as a guest there I was entitled to use the spa at Permon. So why not make the most of it? Ideally as a spa break for two.
Permon’s Paradise spa: reviews and my experience
Why did my visit to Permon do me so much good? I had come back from India only a few days earlier, still a little disillusioned and unsure what to make of it. Did I like it? No. Did I dislike it? I can’t say that either. It also took me a long time to write my article on whether India is worth visiting or not.
I deliberately waited a few weeks so that I could write about India as objectively as possible. So after a month of smog and rubbish, when I had to put up with a whole weekend staying in a national park, I decided to go for it and try the spa at Permon. Here are the thoughts I posted on Instagram straight after my visit:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqopJBlgF9d/
My experience of the Permon spa
This was my first visit to the Permon spa, and before I arrived I read various reviews on Tripadvisor. Most visitors liked Permon, but some mentioned that it was busy. That’s true, but the spa at Permon is so huge (it’s the largest hotel spa in Slovakia) that the crowds simply get lost in it. At least, that’s how it felt to me. I was there with a friend, and a few times we lost each other and couldn’t find each other again. Perhaps it was the dim lighting.
What’s more, two Czech women in the indoor area asked me where everyone was going. When I told them it was the outdoor area, they were surprised that you could go outside at all and that there were more saunas and a hot tub out there. As a rule, there were fewer people outside than inside.
Saunas and hot tubs at Permon
Here’s a list of everything the Permon spa has to offer. Indoors, I liked the dark zone, a sort of larger pool with a tunnel you could swim through. There are two hot tubs, one inside and one outside, and both were great. I copied this list from the Permon website and can no longer remember exactly what was what, but I’ve put the things I remember and liked in bold. Next time I’ll print out the map and work through it item by item. I think most people have a good experience here.
- Herbal inhalation
- Ice refreshment
- Kneipp path
- Roman steam bath
- Tatra shower
- Eucalyptus inhalation
- Vital rain
- Finnish sauna
- Bath of courage
- Ice shower
- Bear’s Den
- Icefall
- Salt cave
- Mint inhalation
- Trout bath
- Shepherd’s Room
- Murmuring Water
- Spring below Kriváň
- Tepidarium
- Marmot Meadow
- Soul of Water
- Prehistory
- Massage loungers
- Wild River
- Steam shower
- Massage fountain
- Bubble pool
- Fox’s Burrow
- Relaxation area
- Otter’s Den
- Lake terrace
- Eagle’s View
A swimwear-free spa and the outdoor area
The whole Permon spa is swimwear-free. That means you’re given a sheet at the entrance and swimwear is not allowed. I brought my own bathrobe as well. Who would sit in a sauna in swimwear anyway? (Sadly, I’ve seen people do it.) The swimwear-free zone doesn’t include the area in front of the spa (before the turnstile), where the big pool is, or, of course, the children’s area. There, swimwear is compulsory, as you’d expect.
Once you’re through the turnstile at the spa entrance, though, the swimwear comes off. Fortunately, everyone sticks to the rule: nobody was walking around in swimwear, or at least I didn’t notice anyone. I don’t like it when people wear swimwear in a swimwear-free spa; the staff should point it out to them. On the other hand, in saunas elsewhere in Slovakia I’ve seen people who didn’t put a sheet under their backside and feet, which is very inconsiderate to whoever sits there after them. Fortunately, I didn’t notice anything like that at Permon. In practice, I walked around the spa in a bathrobe and wrapped a sheet around myself whenever I went into a sauna. In the hot tub, everyone is always naked.
The indoor area is pleasantly dim, with romantic little lights here and there. Outside, though, you’re in full daylight, so if you’re shy, save the Permon spa for after dark. Opening hours at Permon’s Paradise run until 9.30pm every day (2026). Hotel guests can pop out for dinner and then come back to the sauna. Just remember that you shouldn’t go into a sauna on a full stomach. I nearly fainted that way once.
The swimwear-free outdoor area at Permon
The outdoor area is the best part of all, and it’s swimwear-free too. Running out of a scorching Finnish sauna after 15 minutes and plunging into the ice-cold lake is the best feeling there is. There are several saunas outside, but my favourites were the Finnish sauna and the steam sauna. I’d also definitely recommend the Shepherd’s Room (pastierska izba). It’s a sauna furnished inside like a room, and it even has very pretty windows. I felt as if I were visiting someone at home, only naked. It’s a dry sauna, fairly bright inside, and from the outside it looks like a traditional cottage from the village of Čičmany. Here’s my guide to what to see in Čičmany. One caveat: the Shepherd’s Room no longer appears on the current list of attractions on the Permon website (2026), so it’s worth asking at reception whether it’s still open before you go.
I’d also recommend the steam sauna, which struck me as one of the largest. Some saunas (mostly the indoor ones) are tiny, and I never got into them because someone was always inside and I didn’t feel like squeezing in. The outdoor ones seemed a good deal bigger, and everyone had plenty of room. There are sauna ceremonies too, though I didn’t join any.
The spa at Grand Hotel Permon is the largest hotel spa in Slovakia, and probably the best known too. I really liked the sheer choice of things to do. Between the various saunas, hot tubs, pools and the tepidarium, I was never bored. In fact, I barely had time to lounge in the tepidarium, because I wanted to try absolutely everything. Now and then, fresh fruit even appeared for visitors.
The outdoor hot tub, the Finnish sauna and the steam sauna were the real highlights, and I took them in turns, one after another. In the indoor part, I liked the big pool with its dark tunnel best, and the outdoor hot tub, which is nicely lit. The massage jets really work, and it’s pleasantly dark everywhere, so nobody is eyeing anyone up. Some will say it gets busy here, especially at weekends. That’s true, but as I wrote above, the Permon’s Paradise sauna world is truly enormous, and plenty of people still don’t realise there’s an outdoor area you can go out to. The cooling lake and the view of Kriváň don’t hurt either.
I’d recommend the spa at Grand Hotel Permon to just about anyone. I originally wanted to pin it to one group, young couples for example, but I can just as easily picture coming here for a whole day with friends after skiing, as a couple, or even on my own when I need to relax.
A Slovak travel blogger who has been getting Slovaks out of their office chairs since 2013. Author of the book Influencer and founder of the Bez Mapy blog. "Bez Mapy" is Slovak for "without a map".
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