Three villages are administered by the town: Căpeți (Kopac), Ilieși (Illyésmező), and Săcădat (Szakadát).

As well as being a spa town, Sovata is on the route of the Via Transilvanica long-distance trail, which also passes through the village of Săcădat.

Due to its salty lakes and warm water it became an increasingly popular health resort during the end of the 19th and the 20th century.

[5] Demographic movement according to census data: The geological events in 1875 gave birth to the Bear Lake, which is unique in Europe, its water being helio-thermal[definition needed] and salty, with purported therapeutic effects for chronic gynaecological symptoms, severe rheumatic pains, peripheral nervous system, and post-accidental motor diseases.

In the interwar period, Sovata became one of the most fashionable spas in the country, visited several times even by the Romanian Royal Family.