Budapest is justly famous for its thermal baths. What better way to revitalize after a hard day’s sightseeing than in the bubbling waters of one of the city’s famous thermals baths? In all there are seven spa complexes, most open for mixed and single sex bathing, saunas, and spa treatments daily, and all renowned for the healing properties of their hot spring water. Towels, robes, slippers, and soap are available in most spas – just remember that in baths where mixed bathing is permitted, bathing costumes are obligatory.
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Széchenyi baths in Budapest. Picture courtesy of GOC53 on Flickr.
Of the best spas in Budapest, the lemon-and-white Neo-Baroque fantasy that is Széchenyi baths is surely the world’s grandest thermal complex, open for mixed bathing, steam baths, saunas, and spa treatments daily. It has 18 indoor and outdoor pools – most fed by mineral springs – as well as steam rooms, massage pools with water jets, and saunas under the soaring domes. It opened in 1913 as the first bathhouse in Pest on the Danube’s east banks, and was updated in the 1990s.
Király is Buda’s oldest spa complex, started in 1565 when the city was under Turkish rule. Its plunge pools and steam baths are hexagonal in shape, with rough-hewn stone walls propping up massive domes; no-one under the age of 14 can use the facilities. Rudas was built at roughly the same time and has just been extensively renovated; it’s the only Budapest spa to offer night-time bathing sessions at the weekend and also claims the hottest spring water, at 107°F (42°C).
The elegant, colonnaded Secessionist Gellért complex opened in 1918 and has turquoise-tiled saunas, steam rooms, and plunge pools as well as indoor and outdoor pools, heated by calcium-rich hot spring water. It also offers a medical consultation service.
In contrast to these historic baths, Dandàr and Lukács are all clean modern lines, both opened in the 1930s; the latter has open-air pools as well as saunas and sundecks. Dagàly also has fantastic facilities for families, including a wave pool, adventure pool, and lazy river as well as swimming lessons and a raft of massage treatments.