Terme parkrun

On Easter parkrunday 2026, I visited Terme parkrun in Montecatini, Italy, for the first time. Very different setting, weather and location from my last parkrunday in Malmo, visiting beautiful Bulltofta parkrun in Sweden last week. A bit of an international touristing streak it seems, after not visiting any foreign event since Christmas, when I had another Italian parkrun trip in Padova, at Farfalle parkrun.

I was travelling to Italy for a long weekend because of Easter bank holidays and spent some time wondering which parkrun I could sneak into my travel plans. Since I am a pathologically late booker, flights to many destinations were obscenely expensive, so international legs to add a flag to my collection were not an option, but there were a few intriguing candidates in Italy. I am still hoping I could eventually visit all Italian events over time after all! Terme parkrun pulled there: I had never been in Montecatini before and it is an event that is rarely discussed or recommended on parkrun tourism groups. It should be! And with this visit I have now been at 6 out of 15 Italian events: the journey continues!

Montecatini Terma is a historic spa town sitting roughly half way between Pisa and Florence and it hosts one of the three parkruns in Tuscany. Italy is funny when it comes to parkrun: many major cities still don’t have an event, but where it picked up, it seems to have created clusters of enthusiastic following: Tuscany, Rome, Sicily and Veneto all have multiple events. I continue to quietly hope a new event might eventually pop up in the North West, where I have relatives living. There was one planned before covid (La Mandria parkrun), but it never managed to launch, unfortunately.

When people talk about Italian parkruns, they often mention Mura di Lucca parkrun as a must go event. And it is well deserved: a single lap over historic city walls in a beautiful town is indeed a unique experience. But if you are in the area more than once, or if you stay over two parkrundays, you should definitely come to Montecatini for Terme parkrun. It is set in a gorgeous, green park and the Terme building is stunning. And this is before even mentioning how enthusiastic and welcoming the local team is. Definitely an experience worth having and hopefully the event will become more popular amount parkrun tourists!

Anyway, enough with my rumblings. It’s time to dive into some more info about Terme parkrun!

Trip to Terme parkrun and parking

Terme parkrun is hosted by the gorgeous Parco delle Terme in Montecatini Terme. It is a small town, but it packs a lot of history, being listed by UNESCO among The Great Spa Towns of Europe. The main, historical spa location is Terme del Tettuccio, just 100m away from Terme parkrun meeting point. It is a gorgeous, neoclassical building oozing quiet and relaxation: well worth a visit for a cheap entry ticket. Inside there is also a ‘historical cafe’: you can order breakfast in there and have an alternative parkbreakfast sitting in the open air courtyard, potentially.

I always combined international parkrun adventures with some other reason to travel, but Tuscan events could definitely be a tourism reason themselves, providing a reason to explore this beautiful park of Europe. If you are travelling by plane, the most convenient airport to aim for is Pisa Airport. It is a decent international airport with several connections to the UK and the rest of Europe. BA flies direct from LHR twice a day, among others. Once you get there, the Pisamover self driven train offers a convenient, cheap and quick option to get to Pisa Train Station in less than 10 minutes. It is impossible to miss and you can book a ticket in advance or at the machine by its turnstiles.

From Pisa Centrale, frequent regional trains connect you to Montecatini. Book a ticket online or at the machine to Montecatini Centro. It’s about 1h from there, either with direct train going all the way to Florence or changing in Lucca. I had to change. Also, bear in mind if you book a ticket online, it will look like you have to take a specific train, but tickets for regional trains are not time bound in Italy. If you arrive early and there is an earlier one available, just hop in. It will be fine.

From Montecatini Centro station, you can walk to Terme parkrun in 10 minutes, if you are coming in the morning. It’s less than 1K away. Walk in a straight line, aim for the panoramic wheel and you will be in the park. I booked myself into an hotel for two nights to visit the town a bit: Montecatini is packed full with hotels, so options around Parco delle Terme will be plentiful and, likely, fairly cheap.

If you are coming by car, there are several car parks at the edges of the park. The official event site suggests the closest one is just 50 metres away from the meeting point. I did not check, but I suppose it will not be free.

Terme parkrun: start and briefings

Parco delle Terme was built and landscaped with the stated purpose of allowing visitors to enjoy the spa town and enhance a feeling of peace and tranquillity. It’s beautiful, well tended to, spacious and relaxing. If you are entering the park from where the panoramic wheel is, just keep going ahead in a straight line along a wide paved carriageway. You will soon reach the old Terme Tamerici building. The building seems to be abandoned and not open for visits, unfortunately. Terme parkrun meeting point is here, in front of the building.

The team is extremely welcoming to first timers and international visitors and, once they are done with the initial set up, one of them approached every new face one by one to explain the route. And to explain how parkrun works, there was one local genuine first timer on the day of my visit! The team was proud of their small event and looking forward to event 300 next week. They mentioned it is the smallest parkrun in Italy, but I think they probably compete for that status with another wonderful little one: Salento parkrun in the South, near Lecce.

As 9am approaches, everybody takes their spot along the wide start line. But it is not time to go yet: as many Italian events do, it’s time for a group picture! After that, things transition into a very bare bones Main Briefing, held in both Italian and English. It flies away fast and then it’s time to get going.

It is the countdown. 3, 2, 1.

Time to go!

Terme parkrun course review – star ratings

Terme parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 48 parkrunners on the day of my visit to Terme parkrun. Looking at their historical attendance levels, this seems to be a pretty good showing. It was not the largest field this year, since an event in March saw 51 finishers, but it is among the busiest in recent history. Average attendance seems to be around 30-35, with some events going below 20, especially in winter. It seems Terme parkrun does not get overwhelmed by international tourists, but it does enjoy a consistent trickle. It deserves more visibility and it is without any doubt one of the most beautiful urban courses I’ve had the chance to run on. Paths are generally very wide and higher numbers would not be a problem.

With most paths being wide and well paved, there are no obvious bottlenecks or problematic spots around the course. The only one worth nothing is the path coming down from the top of the hill, crossing an open field. It gets narrower up there, but what I am thinking about is its surface underfoot. It is a bit more irregular and roughly half way down there is a hidden step that I did not notice during the first lap. Pay attention to avoid tripping and you will enjoy a fun downhill!

Surface-wise, with the exception of the little irregularity mentioned above, it is a pleasure to run on. Most of the route is on wide, paved paths or roads. In some segments, you can choose if you want to be on the main road or on a compacted gravel path on the side. It’s a great route to run on and road shoes are likely to be absolutely fine in any weather.

Elevation-wise, at 68m elevation gain over 3 laps, this is unquestionably an undulating course. The route is very rarely flat. It starts on a moderate downhill and then it continues going along the side, up and down the hill sitting in the centre of the park. The uphills are never steep, but they are always there and you do feel them in your legs after a while. Downhills can be glorious and fun. If you are used to run elevation, I think this is an event that can be fast, because changes in elevation are usually mild. But they are consistent, be ready for them. I was not. 🙂

In terms of course design, it looks quite complicated if you look at the plot above. However, it becomes very natural as you run on it. It is 3 laps around the park, with a very interesting succession of twists and turns and, even, a short double flow segment. It is definitely a great design!

A quick Relive route plot is on my YouTube Channel, with longer video highlights embedded below.

Immediately after the group picture is taken, the countdown starts. Then it is time to get going, running along the old Terme building. It starts downhill, heading for the edge of the park where the wheel is. After a short while, you can also decide if you want to take the main road or the smaller, side pedestrian path. As you reach the wheel, go all the way under it and take a hard right turn to head back into the park.

Keep going back towards the centre of the park entering a beautiful section covered by mature trees. The wide road goes up towards the back of the building where we started and then turns again slightly left, with gradient increasing slightly. About half way through this segment, you will see the course touching a point further on, with people meeting in later laps. This is always a nice effect. Keep going straight until you turn right at the top of this segment. After the right turn, a short segment leads you to another 90-degrees right turn. A short downhill on a very wide path gets you to another point where the course touches people coming in the opposite direction. As you reach that point, turn hard right for a short diversion. This is a beautiful crossing over a hill on a semicircular shape on open ground.

After you cross this beautiful field, turn hard left. This is where you had touched the opposite direction of travel before. Go down for a short straight segment under trees again and turn 90 degrees left once again. A short segment on open ground before turning left 90 degrees again. You are now at the bottom of the main hill. Run up the gentle slope, with a slight right turn where you meet the opposite direction again. As you pass that, keep going up under mature maritime trees and watch right, to see a beautiful view of Old Montecatini among the trees. At the top, turn right and cross another grassy hill on a small path on compacted gravel. After you reach the top, enjoy the slightly steeper and fun downhill. This is where terrain had a tricky unexpected step. Get to the bottom and through another short straight segment under trees.

Then it’s time to turn right onto the main carriageway where the start line was. It’s probably 100/150 metres to the finish funnel from here. Pass it on the left the first two times you get here and get through it the third time!

Congratulations on completing Terme parkrun!

Facilities at Terme parkrun

Parco delle Terme is gorgeous and it offers a lot of beautiful spots to relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. If you enter it by the panoramic wheel, there are cafes dotted around the square over there and the city centre is seconds away, with a lot of cafes, bars and restaurants.

However, in the immediate area around Terme parkrun meeting point there are no cafes besides the one available inside the historic spa building. Fear not, though. As many Italian parkrun events do, the local team put up a feast for after the event. One of the volunteers had prepared pastiera napoletana cake: I love it and it brought me back to uni days when a girl staying in my same student housing complex brought it every time she came back from home in Naples.

There was also a further cute surprise at the end: memory bibs were handed out at the end, to remember your visit to this small but memorable event.

Terme parkrun: Video Highlights

As usual, I’ve taken a few video snippets during the run to give an idea of the course. If you like it, please subscribe, it’s a fun past time for me 🙂

The other parkrun videos on my YouTube channel are all linked on the course review and video highlights summary page.

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Achievements and performance

Conclusions

Terme parkrun is a gorgeous event and it is criminally overlooked when discussing destination parkruns. The park is truly beautiful, the course is interesting and fun and the team is wonderfully welcoming and fun.

Anyone coming to Tuscany for a short break or a longer holiday should pay Terme parkrun a visit. It is worth it! And Montecatini is a nice place to spend a couple of days. Or more.

Finally, obviously, thank you, Terme parkrun team for your hospitality!