NISKA BANJA Niska Banja lies at the altitude of 250 m.a.s.l., at the foot of the Mount Koritnik, in the south-eastern part of Serbia. The spa is set amidst an enormous park which extends as far as the wooded slopes of the mountain. It is 10 km from Nis, 249 km from Belgrade, and 198 km from Skopje, at the major international junction of railway lines connecting Belgrade with Istambul via Nis and Sofia, and with Athens via Nis, Skopje and Thessalonica. Archeological excavations at Niska Banja have revealed the remains of Roman and Turkish baths, and off the road towards Nis the ruins of a Roman stately summer residence, known as Mediana. Niska Banja has a number of springs with oligomineral, alkaline-earth, homeothermal and radioactive waters ranging in temperature from 19 to 39 degrees C. The use of these waters for therapeutical purposes includes drinking, bathing and steam inhalation. Mud packs are prepared using thermal mineral water and radioactive peat. The spa has eight indoor swimming-pools filled with thermal waters, a sauna and rooms for heliotherapy. MEDICAL INDICATIONS: The spa is recommended for the treatment of: rheumatic fever, chronic arthritis, spondylosis, diseases of the connectie tissue, degenerative rheumatism, discopathy, extraarticular rheumatical conditions, neurological disorders, after effects of injury to bones, muscles and joints, cardiovascular diseases, essential arterial hypertension, chronic stabilised angina pectoris, myocardial infraction and diseases of the peripheral blood vessels. A team of 36 doctors from the Institute for Preventive Medicine and the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Rheumatic and Heart Patients provides medical services and engage in balneoclimatological research at Niska Banja. The Institute is one of the best known of its kind in Yugoslavia and serves as the clinical base for the Medical Faculty in Nis. ACCOMMODATION: Hotels (510).