Moravske Toplice, the village that went looking for oil

The spa and its thermal pools

There are now hotels, one of them five-star according to RTV, pool complexes, B&Bs, holiday homes and even a golf course. The tourist board speaks of black thermal and mineral water, one of three distinctive waters in Pomurje. RTV Slovenia adds that some old-style pools use untreated water with the same oily aroma as in 1960. For me, that’s the detail that makes this place unique.

Back in 2015 RTV was already counting more than 100,000 visitors a year from all over Europe, and it credited the spa with reviving tourism in an area that had lived purely from farming. The 2025 SURS figures bear that out, as the old farming village on the Pannonian plain is now by a wide margin the most visited municipality in Prekmurje.

How the hot springs appeared

RTV Slovenia tells the story well. In the 1950s, state companies were searching for oil in Prekmurje, the land once covered by the Pannonian Sea, encouraged by small finds near Lendava. In 1960 they began drilling around the village, then called Moravci. Instead of oil, hot water came up with just a faint aroma of oil, and the project was written off.

The villagers didn’t forget the water, though. They asked for a swimming pool, and when nothing happened they built a makeshift one themselves. It was an instant hit, and the water gained a name as good for people with rheumatism. In 1964 it was officially declared healing, in 1974 the first overnight guests stayed in straw-roofed cottages built in the local style, the first large hotel went up in the 1980s and in 1984 the village was renamed Moravske Toplice.

How many days to stay

I’d book three or four nights and head somewhere different each day, to Bogojina, to Murska Sobota or to the Vinarium tower near Lendava. It’s one of the most convenient bases for exploring Prekmurje.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Moravske Toplice on Expedia and filter by area before price.

Bogojina and the surroundings

Within the municipality lies Bogojina, with the Plečnik church the tourist board calls the most famous shrine in Pomurje. The Goričko hills and Grad castle start to the north, and the Mura plain stretches away to the south. Pomurje has over 600 km of cycle routes, including one along the former Iron Curtain, and at the table the Prekmurje layer cake, gibanica, rules.

A village remade by water

SURS puts the village at 926 people and the municipality at 5,967 on 1 January 2026, across 28 settlements. In 2025 it recorded 164,739 arrivals and 541,493 overnight stays, just over half of all arrivals in Pomurje. It’s also a gold-level Slovenia Green destination, according to the tourist board.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Moravske Toplice and pick one that fits your day.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Moravske Toplice on Booking.com and filter by area before price.