- From Belgrade
- 114 km
- By car
- 1h 40m
- Bus
- Direct from Belgrade
Introduction
Why Torda Is in This Guide
Torda has a water source but no spa: no pools, no hotel, no treatment building, nothing to book. The village lies in the Banat flatlands near Žitište, 114 km from Belgrade. It is covered here because the water itself has a real history, one directly connected to Banja Rusanda, the mud spa on the salt lake near Zrenjanin.
There is no spa at Torda. The village sits in the Banat flatlands near Žitište, 114 km from Belgrade, and what it has is a source rather than a facility: no pools, no hotel, no treatment building, nothing to book.
It is included here because the water itself has a real history, and because it is the sort of place a curious traveller in Banat might want to know about. If you are looking for somewhere to bathe, Banja Rusanda — the mud spa on the salt lake near Zrenjanin, which is directly connected to Torda's story — is the page to read instead.
History
The Bitter Water They Called Jordan
Torda's gorka voda, its bitter water, was well known between the wars and was bottled commercially under the name Jordan. A second well of the same composition was found later and named Sveti Đorđe.
After the Second World War, Banja Rusanda took over the bottling of this water and built a structure over the source. People travelled considerable distances for it — accounts mention buyers coming from as far as Leskovac, at the other end of the country.
Locals attribute the water's effect to a high selenium content and say it helps the stomach, the gallbladder and the kidneys. That is a local account rather than a published analysis, and it is recorded here as such.
Treatments
A Bitter Spring, and 70°C Water Nobody Has Used
Bitter waters of this type are drinking waters, not bathing waters, which is the basic reason Torda never became a banja in the way Rusanda did.
The more striking fact is what lies about 300 m from the bitter-water source: a thermal spring at over 70°C, undeveloped. Plans to build a bath around it have been discussed more than once, and nothing has been done. That is a hotter source than almost every working spa in this guide, sitting unused in a Banat village.
Whether it ever becomes anything is an open question. For now, Torda is a place to look at rather than a place to visit for treatment.
Getting There
Getting to Torda
By car it is 114 km from Belgrade and about an hour and forty minutes, north-east across the Banat plain towards Zrenjanin and then on to Žitište.
Torda has no visitor infrastructure of any kind, so Zrenjanin is the practical base: it is the regional centre, it has hotels and bus connections, and Banja Rusanda is just outside it. Visiting Torda makes most sense as a short detour from there rather than as a trip in itself.
Related