Hilton Therme SPA in Klaipėda is planned as a thermal spa and hotel complex worth more than €70 million in Giruliai on the Baltic Sea coast. Across three floors, the project will feature a 2,805-square-metre spa centre with 17 indoor and outdoor mineral-water pools, saunas, treatment rooms and relaxation areas. One of its defining features will be geothermal mineral water extracted from a depth of more than one kilometre, while the outdoor pools are intended to operate throughout the year – even when temperatures fall to –20 °C.
The development planned for Giruliai, in the northern part of Klaipėda, is one of Lithuania’s largest recent tourism and wellness infrastructure projects. It is being developed by real estate company RELEVEN together with UAB “Kopų žuvėdra”, while international operator Apex Alliance is expected to manage the hotel.
The complex will also become the first “Curio Collection by Hilton” hotel project on the Lithuanian coast. From a sauna perspective, however, the most interesting element is not the hotel itself but the thermal and sauna facilities, whose scale will be significant even by Baltic standards.
Hilton Therme SPA in Klaipėda will use geothermal mineral water
The wellness concept of the entire complex is based on a local natural resource – geothermal mineral water extracted from a depth of more than one kilometre.
According to information published about the project, the water has a mineralisation level exceeding 80 grams per litre. Because of this concentration, it has been described as one of the most highly mineralised geothermal waters in Europe.
The mineral water is intended to become one of the defining elements of the new spa. The idea is not simply to build a large hotel spa, but to connect the wellness experience with the natural characteristics of the Klaipėda coast – the Baltic Sea, pine forests and underground mineral water.
17 mineral-water pools across three floors
The Therme SPA centre will cover 2,805 square metres. Across three floors, it will contain 17 indoor and outdoor mineral-water pools, with a combined water surface area of 816 square metres.
That is an area comparable to almost two basketball courts.
Some of the pools will be outdoors and designed for year-round use. Project developers say visitors will be able to use them even during very cold winter weather, when outdoor temperatures fall as low as –20 °C.
This could be particularly important for the Lithuanian coast, where tourism remains highly seasonal. Warm mineral water, saunas and the Baltic Sea could give visitors a reason to travel to Giruliai long after the traditional beach season has ended.
Saunas will be part of a wider thermal experience
Alongside the mineral-water pools, Hilton Therme SPA in Klaipėda will include saunas, treatment rooms and relaxation areas. Sauna will therefore not be treated as a small additional hotel service but as part of a broader thermal-water and wellness concept.
This model is well established in the thermal resorts of Central Europe, where hot or mineral water is combined with saunas at different temperatures, relaxation rooms and treatments. A thermal complex of this scale has so far been unusual on the Baltic coast.
The combination of sauna and mineral water could become one of the project’s most interesting features. Instead of simply offering accommodation beside the sea, the complex could provide a wellness experience lasting several hours or even an entire day.
Sea, pine forest and hot mineral water
Giruliai is located in northern Klaipėda directly beside the Baltic Sea. The area is characterised by beaches, dunes and coastal pine forests, giving the future complex a very different setting from a typical urban spa.
The developers highlight three local natural resources – the sea, pine forest and geothermal mineral water. The identity of the complex is intended to be built around the combination of these elements.
Sauna takes on a different context in such surroundings. After experiencing the heat, visitors will not simply step back into an enclosed city building. They will be on the Baltic coast, where the wellness experience can be connected with the sea, fresh air and surrounding nature.
The project could help Klaipėda reduce tourism seasonality
One of the main challenges facing Baltic Sea resorts is the short summer season. July and August can be extremely busy, while visitor numbers decline considerably during autumn and winter.
A thermal spa can change that pattern. Mineral-water pools, saunas and wellness treatments do not require an outdoor temperature of +25 °C. In fact, a hot sauna and warm outdoor pool can become even more attractive when the weather is cold.
The developers therefore aim to create infrastructure that encourages people to visit the Klaipėda coast not only during their summer holidays. If successful, Giruliai could develop into a year-round wellness tourism destination.
The hotel will have 169 rooms
Alongside the spa complex, the project includes a 169-room hotel operating under the “Curio Collection by Hilton” brand.
This Hilton brand is used for distinctive hotels that retain their own architectural character, local identity and individual concept while benefiting from the systems of an international hotel network.
The development is intended to target higher-value wellness tourism rather than relying solely on traditional summer holidays by the sea. The hotel and spa are therefore being developed as a single destination.
More than €70 million in investment
Total investment in the project is expected to exceed €70 million, making it one of the largest private tourism developments of its kind on the Lithuanian coast.
According to published plans, construction is expected to begin in 2026, with completion of the complex scheduled for early 2029.
However, several practical issues still need to be resolved, including infrastructure, parking, land use and the well required to extract the mineral water. The project therefore still faces significant technical and administrative work before the complex can open.
A deep well will be a key part of the project
Information published in September added another important dimension to the development. Environmental assessment documents provide for a deep well to extract mineral water from land adjacent to the main project site.
This matters because geothermal water is not simply a marketing feature added to the spa’s name. It is intended to be one of the central resources on which the entire Therme SPA concept is based.
The technical side of the development will therefore be closely connected with local geology. Highly mineralised water extracted from deep underground will be used in the pools and become part of the complex’s wellness offering.
A new scale of sauna and spa infrastructure for the Lithuanian coast
Sauna culture is well established across the Baltic states, but large thermal complexes are more commonly associated with Germany, Austria, Hungary and other parts of Central Europe.
The Klaipėda project could begin to change that picture. The plans combine an international hotel, 17 mineral-water pools, saunas, treatments, relaxation areas, the Baltic Sea and locally sourced geothermal water in a single destination.
It is an interesting signal for the wider Baltic region as well. Sauna and spa infrastructure is increasingly being treated not merely as an additional hotel amenity but as a primary reason to travel.
From a summer beach to a year-round wellness destination
Several years remain before the project is expected to be completed, and individual elements may still change during the development of a complex of this scale. Even so, it is already clear that Giruliai is getting much more than a conventional hotel with a small spa area.
Seventeen mineral-water pools, more than 2,800 square metres of spa facilities, saunas, geothermal water and outdoor pools designed for winter use create an entirely different scale.
Hilton Therme SPA in Klaipėda could become one of the most significant new sauna and thermal tourism projects in the Baltic region. If the development is completed at the planned scale, Giruliai could evolve from a traditional Baltic summer destination into a place people visit even in the middle of winter – for hot mineral water, sauna and relaxation.
Sources
LRT / BNS – information about the Hilton Therme SPA project in Klaipėda.
Klaipėda City Municipality – documents concerning the Hilton Therme Spa Klaipėda health and tourism infrastructure complex.
Klaipėda, aš su tavim – information about the thermal mineral water, pools and spa concept.
Atvira Klaipėda – information about the project site, deep well and infrastructure issues.
