4. Where is your car based? 5. Car size How many thermal parks can I realistically do in one day by car? Which thermal park has free parking? What does a spa day on Ischia cost per person? Do I need a car or can I take the bus to the spas? Is Baia di Sorgeto safe and free? When do the thermal parks open and close for 2026? Castiglione Casamicciola Terme 10 thermal pools 30–40°C + Olympic sea-water pool. FREE parking, funicular down to the sea. Opens 10:00. Negombo Lacco Ameno 13 pools in a botanical garden on Baia di San Montano. Priciest stop; EV charger in the lot. Opens 08:30. Poseidon Gardens Forio (Citara) Island's largest park — 20+ pools + private Citara beach. €5 cash wristband deposit (refunded). Opens 09:00. Baia di Sorgeto Panza FREE natural geothermal cove (35–37°C, vents to 90–95°C). ~230–250 steep steps down. Open 24/7. Sant'Angelo Serrara Fontana Car-free village + path to Maronti. Park at Cava Grado; explore on foot or by taxi-boat. FREE to enter. ("castiglione", "poseidon", "sorgeto"); const season, setSeason = useState s.ring); const minR = Math.min(...rings); const maxR = Math.max(...rings); const distToMin = sumSeg(baseRing, minR, "km"); const distToMax = sumSeg(baseRing, maxR, "km"); const spanKm = sumSeg(minR, maxR, "km"); const timeToMin = sumSeg(baseRing, minR, timeKey); const timeToMax = sumSeg(baseRing, maxR, timeKey); const spanTime = sumSeg(minR, maxR, timeKey); const nearMin = distToMin Thermal Spa Day Planner Ischia's geothermal spa parks are the island's signature draw — but Castiglione, Negombo, Poseidon Gardens and the free Baia di Sorgeto springs sit kilometres apart along the SS270 ring road, each with its own parking, opening hours and entry fee. This planner builds your own one-day loop, then totals the 2026 entry costs, parking, drive times and fuel — and flags where a rental car beats the bus. Build Your Ischia Spa Day Pick the spas and coves you want to combine, set the season and your group, and the planner sequences them along the SS270 and adds up the day. All prices are 2026 figures from official park lists; drive times reflect Ischia's real single-lane reality, which roughly doubles in July–August. 1. Choose your stops 2. Season 4. Where is your car based? 5. Car size Compact (Panda / 500) Larger / SUV Your day Select at least one stop to build your loop. Parking (per car) Day total Rental car billed separately — economy cars from about €35/day on Ischia. Entry fees apply whether you drive or take the bus. Car vs EAV bus, transport only ⚠️ Three paid thermal parks in one day is a lot — that's €120+ per person and most visitors are spa-tired after two. Pair one paid park with the free Sorgeto springs instead. ⚠️ Peak season: SS270 drive times roughly double and the Porto, Forio and Casamicciola lots fill by 09:00. Start before 09:00 or you'll lose the morning to traffic and parking. ⚠️ Larger car + south coast: the lanes to Sorgeto/Panza and the Sant'Angelo–Maronti switchbacks are single-lane with tight hairpins. A compact (Panda/500) is strongly advised here. 💡 Sorgeto: ~230–250 steep steps down to the cove (no vehicle access). Wear thick-soled water shoes — vents reach 90–95°C — and keep daylight for the climb back, or take the €5–8 taxi-boat from Sant'Angelo. 💡 Sant'Angelo is car-free — park at the Cava Grado lots above the village (around €15/day in summer) and walk down or take a taxi-boat to Maronti. These are the headline numbers the planner uses. Prices come from each park's 2026 list; the free Sorgeto springs and car-free Sant'Angelo add no entry cost but each has its own access catch. For the full parking-by-beach breakdown, see our beaches & thermal parks by car guide. Spa / spot Town 2026 adult day Parking Hours / season Driver note Castiglione Casamicciola ~€33 (deckchair incl. pools; premium sunbed ~€55) Free First stop from the port; funicular to the sea Negombo Lacco Ameno €55 shoulder / €70 Jul–Aug ~€8 (EV charger) Priciest; terraced & stair-heavy Poseidon Gardens Forio (Citara) €40 low / €42 high / €47 Aug €6 (free weekdays May & Oct) €5 cash wristband deposit; biggest park Baia di Sorgeto Panza Free €6 (lot above steps) Open 24/7 ~230–250 steps; 90–95°C vents Sant'Angelo Serrara Fontana Free ~€15/day (Cava Grado) Village always open Car-free; park above & walk 💡 The locals' loop: open at Castiglione (free parking, 10:00), drive west to one paid park — Negombo or Poseidon — then finish at the free Sorgeto springs near sunset. One paid park plus Sorgeto keeps the day under roughly €45–60 per person and avoids spa fatigue. Lock In Poseidon Before the August Queues Poseidon Gardens is the park most likely to queue at the gate in July and August. Booking the entry ticket online ahead of your drive means you park at Citara, walk past the ticket line, and still have the €5 cash wristband deposit as the only thing to handle on site. Browse Ischia tickets and entry times on Tiqets The SS270 is a single two-lane ring of about 34–40 km around the island — roughly 1.5 hours nonstop, far longer once you stop and once July–August traffic hits. The spas sit on the north and west arcs, so a base in Ischia Porto, Casamicciola or Forio keeps the driving short. Read the full road rules in our driving on Ischia guide, and plan your pickup with the port pickup guide. ⚠️ ZTL cameras (€83–€332 fines): the centres of Ischia Porto and Forio are camera-enforced limited-traffic zones, broadly active from 10:30–13:00 and again from about 17:00 into the night. Keep your rental on the SS270 ring and in the spa/beach lots — never cut through the historic centres during these windows. Fines reach the rental agency and a €40–60 admin fee is added; paying within 5 days cuts the fine ~30% (≈€58). On the north arc through Casamicciola Terme, the SS270 has carried post-2022-landslide reconstruction works near km 26+100; expect the possibility of a short alternating one-way stretch, and build in a 10–15 minute buffer heading to Negombo or Castiglione. In a severe weather alert the stretch can close entirely, so check local notices on stormy mornings. Parking on Ischia uses coloured lines: blue is paid (about €2/hour, ticket on the dashboard) and white is free with a disco orario time disc. The spa lots above are the simplest option; only Sant'Angelo forces you to park high and walk in. The honest answer depends on how many stops you want. The EAV bus reaches every park — Line 2 to Citara/Poseidon, Lines 1/CS/CD to Negombo and Castiglione, then a walk to Sorgeto — on a €5.10 all-day pass. For a single park, that's hard to beat on cost. But the EAV buses are 12-metre coaches stuck behind the same single-lane hairpins and ferry-day traffic, and they stop nowhere near the bottom of Sorgeto's steps. Once you want two or more spas in a day — say Castiglione, then Poseidon, then the Sorgeto springs at sunset — a compact rental turns a stop-start bus marathon into a flexible loop, and splits the parking and fuel across the group. The planner above shows the transport-cost gap for your exact selection so you can decide with real numbers. 💡 Sweet spot: two or three people, two stops plus a free swim, on a shoulder-season weekday. The car cost per head drops below the bus once you split it, and you keep your own schedule for the climb back from Sorgeto. How many thermal parks can I realistically do in one day by car? Two at most if both are paid parks, and most visitors are happier with one paid park plus the free Baia di Sorgeto springs. Each paid park is a 2–4 hour visit and €33–€70 per person, so three in a day means €120+ each and very little time in the water. The planner flags this when you pick three paid parks. Which thermal park has free parking? Castiglione in Casamicciola offers free parking for ticket holders, which is why it's the natural first stop from the port. Poseidon charges about €6/day but is free on weekdays in May and October. Negombo's lot runs around €8 and includes an EV charger. At Sorgeto you pay roughly €6 for the lot above the steps. What does a spa day on Ischia cost per person? Budget around €45–€60 per person for one paid park plus Sorgeto, including a share of parking and fuel — more if you choose Negombo in peak season. Entry fees dominate the total; parking and fuel for the short SS270 distances are minor by comparison. The car rental itself starts near €35/day for an economy model. Do I need a car or can I take the bus to the spas? The EAV bus reaches all the parks on a €5.10 day pass, so for a single park it's the cheaper choice. For a multi-stop spa day a compact rental is faster and more flexible, especially for reaching Sorgeto and getting back up before dark. See our full car rental FAQ for costs and insurance. Is Baia di Sorgeto safe and free? Yes — entry is free and the cove is open 24/7, but the geothermal vents reach 90–95°C, so thick-soled water shoes are essential and you should never step into the boiling pool nearest the rock. The catch is the 230–250 steep steps down and back; if that's too much, a taxi-boat from Sant'Angelo runs about €5–8 per person. When do the thermal parks open and close for 2026? All are seasonal: Negombo runs 23 April–11 October (08:30–19:00), Castiglione late April–4 October (10:00–18:00), and Poseidon through 31 October (09:00–19:00). Sorgeto is open all year. Shoulder months (May–June, September–October) give the best mix of warm water, lower prices and quieter parking.