The thermal waters coursing under Budapest have been in use as far back as the Romans, but Budapest’s bath culture is often associated with the Ottomans who occupied Hungary in the 16th and 17th centuries. There are three historic Turkish baths still in operation in Budapest.
In the early 20th century, Budapest’s thermal waters saw a renaissance in the form of grand spa complexes built across the city, famed for their curative properties.
Today, Budapest’s thermal baths are famous tourist attractions in themselves, where you can swim, pamper yourself, undergo curative treatments and even party the night away.
Széchenyi Baths
Széchenyi Baths
Set in the heart of City Park, this sprawling neo-baroque thermal bath, with 18 pools, is Europe’s largest medicinal bath. The complex is split into indoor and outdoor sections, and while the indoor bit is a peaceful mix of plunge pools and saunas, it’s the outdoor part that’s wildly popular with visitors in the summer.
With sunny yellow walls lined with white colonnades, the architectural beauty of the Széchenyi Baths is worth the admission fee in itself. While it’s wildly popular in the summer, the hot pool is a good place to dip into in the winter to wile the hours away playing chess with the old men who come here to relax.
In the summer weekends, the baths turn into a Bacchanal after dark, with epic pool parties complete with cocktail tents, top DJs, light shows and antics in the bubbling pools.
The Széchenyi Baths are fed by two springs, whose waters are supposed to help degenerative joint illnesses and inflammations. Bathing here is co-ed and you’re expected to wear a swimsuit.
Gellert Thermal Baths
Gellért Thermal Baths & Swimming Pool
This bath complex in the Hotel Gellért is famous for being one of Budapest’s most beautiful baths. Built encompassing Hungary’s secessionist and art nouveau tradition between 1912 and 1918, bathing here does feel akin to swimming under a work of art.
Once you get over the pandemonium of figuring out where your changing room is and the fact that the thermal waters are no longer single sex (which leaves you wondering why there are groups of Italian men in the designated women’s section) you can enjoy the four thermal baths and the colonnaded Roman-style swimming pool. In the summer the outdoor pools are popular for their wave machine.
The thermal water used in the small pools comes from the hot springs inside neighbouring Gellért Hill. The minerals in the water are said to help degenerative joint diseases, spine problems, bronchitis, and asthma, among other conditions.
Rudas Baths
The Rudas Baths
Famous for its 16th century Turkish bath, built by the Pasha of Buda, Sokullu Mustafa, under the Ottoman occupation, the old thermal baths at the Rudas have barely changed since construction. The central pool looks up to the dome filled with multi-coloured glass holes, with four thermal pools flaking it at varying temperatures from 28ºC to 40ºC. The Turkish baths are single sex during the week, with women’s day on Tuesday and men’s during the rest of the week, where bathing often takes place in the nude. On the weekend it’s co-ed, so you must wear a swimming costume. The baths are also open late night on the weekend.
There is also a colonnaded pool, which was built at the end of the 19th century in classicist style, strictly catering to swimmers. The new “Wellness” Complex opened in the fall 2014, with four pools and a rooftop sun terrace with a Jacuzzi.
The water here comes from the “Juventus” fountain, which helps degenerative joint diseases, neuralgia and a lack of calcium in the bone system, among other curative properties.
The Lukács Baths
The Lukács Baths
This bath complex is off the touristic track and is more a bath for the locals. As you enter the spa grounds, placards from patients expressing their gratitude for the water’s curative properties line the courtyard walls. Opened at the end of the 19th century, it was Budapest’s largest and most popular bath at the time, and also became a popular hub for writers and artists.
There are eight pools in total, where the five hot pools are fed by hot springs. The Lukács Baths might be less ornate than other spas in the city, but the facilities, like the Himalayan salt room and various therapies on offer, not to mention the lack of crowds, certainly make up for that. The Lukács Baths take over from the Széchenyi in the winter with its famous “Magic Spa Parties”.
You’ll also find a fountain where you can drink the thermal water for gallbladder, kidney stones and stomach problems, in fact you can even buy the water bottled and distributed world wide.
Király Baths
Another relic left from the Ottoman occupation, this 16th century Turkish bath is a contemporary of the Rudas and the Veli Bej baths. Tucked in behind the Danube banks around Batthyány Square on a small side street, hot steam coils up from the crumpling octagonal rooftops.
Unlike the Rudas, though, this bath complex is co-ed all days and is a standalone Turkish bath made up of four thermal pools and a couple of saunas. While it might not boast the facilities found in other popular baths, the Király Baths have their own charm. Albeit a little flaky and grottier than its counterparts, those who come to Budapest in search of it’s dilapidated ruin bars will love the ancient charm of the Király Baths.
Veli Bej Baths
Down the road from the Lukács Baths, hidden behind a modern façade lies another 16th century Turkish bath. It was hailed as the most beautiful bath of its time, and recently reopened after renovations. The Veli Bej Baths couple the traditional features of the original bath with a modern touch. Despite being a relatively new bath on the block, in that it reopened in 2012, it’s actually one of Budapest’s oldest baths still in use. Prior to the renovation it had the name “Császár Baths”, but after its facelift, it took back its original Turkish name.
The classicist-style building enclosing it dates back to the 19th century, and houses a hospital that uses the thermal waters for treatments.
The Veli Bej complex comes with a traditional octagonal pool, four thermal pools, and even has a swimming pool, a Jacuzzi and a hydrotherapy tub. There are also various saunas, including infrared, and massage treatments. For those curious about the bath’s past, there is a small archaeological exhibition of the excavations. The water used here comes from the same spring as the one used in the Lukács Baths.
-Contributed by Jennifer Walker
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