Budapest is the only capital resort in Europe that stands on a hundred mineral springs, which is a sin not to use, especially if you want to relax, tidy up your hair and skin, or just reset yourself well – the Széchenyi, Gellert, Rudash baths and several more intimate options are waiting for you! Moreover, that is a great addition to your free walking tour Budapest.
Szechenyi
How to get there: take the first metro line to the Széchenyi fürdő station, get out, and immediately see a joyful yellow house – go there.
Must-do: Play chess with pensioners in the outdoor pool.
The Széchenyi Baths are the largest and most touristic in Budapest. And this is not surprising: there are 18 indoor and outdoor pools and 14 saunas (including infrared, aromatic, Finnish), whirlpools, and artificial whirlpools. The 1913 building, Pest’s first healing bath built in the Renaissance style, has now been renovated and looks great. Water for baths is mined at a depth of 1246 meters, and its temperature is 76 degrees: before filling the pools, it even has to be cooled.
Be sure to go to the outdoor pool in the evening – it is especially sweet in it when it is cold and snowing outside – milky steam rises from 38-degree water, snowflakes melt on approach, but you can still see the stars.
Gellert
How to get there: to the Szent Gellért tér metro station, the baths are a meter from the exit.
What to do necessarily: wait until the artificial waves are launched, or maybe even peel off your knees on the tiled floor, jumping with a dozen cheerful old men on the waves.
In the expensive hotel Gellert there are no less pretentious (and certainly the most expensive in the city) Gellert baths – built in the Art Nouveau style. Therefore, you need to come here with a margin of time: although there are half as many baths, pools, and other entertainment here as in Széchenyi, the interiors are much more refined. Here you just want to:
- wander from room to room;
- slapping your slippers;
- trying to take a picture of at least something with a camera fogged up from the steam.
The audience mostly consists of wealthy British and German pensioners who treat arthritis and improve blood circulation – all the time you can not even hear the Hungarian speech.
Lukacs
How to get there: by tram 4, 6 to Margaret Island – and 10 minutes on foot in the opposite direction from the city center.
What to do: lie on the stone beds of the tepidarium and mentally thank the Romans for such a cool invention.
The Lukács Baths have been in operation since the time of the Crusaders – but they were renovated in October of this year, and therefore they look just fine: 4 thermal baths with a temperature of 24 to 40 degrees, a jacuzzi and a whirlpool on the street, water connoisseurs (they say it is the best in the city) and a total lack of tourists. Get ready: English is tight here, but the entire wall at the entrance is hung with signs – they were driven by those who were cured in local waters – so at least this thought should give you strength when you try to communicate with the Hungarians in order to break through.
Grab your swimming trunks or a swimsuit, take slippers with a towel from the hotel – and go ahead, bask in warm water on the street, sunbathe under the November sun, conquer ocean waves and make new acquaintances in steam rooms with subdued lights.
