Aloha,
I'll be in Budapest in a couple of weeks and have about 2 hours in the late afternoon to visit a thermal bath. I'll be near Castle Hill and the Chain Bridge. Any suggestions for one close by? Tips for the novice? I've been to the Onsens in Japan and understand that they are very different from the ones in Budapest.

The Gellert hotel has baths. My husband loved it. My advice. Make sure you bring your bathing suit. We were shopping and DH decided he'd had enough and took off for the Gellart. They renting him a suit (YUCK!) and he said it was 2 sizes too small, but besides that he loved it and was glad to go.

Thanks, Zwho! I've read about the Gellert and it's a good possibility. Yes, we're planning to bring our own suits and flip flops.

I didn't find the Gellert Baths a very relaxing experience. Got herded around and shouted at by unreconstructed communist-era women bath attendants. The hot water was nice as was the indoor pool and the art deco stained glass. Maybe it's better for blokes?

Sorry you didn't have a good experience. I experienced the same type of service from a restroom attendent in Paris (by the Notre Dame) Wonder if there's a "tourist" friendly place to experience the baths.

There are many medicinal baths in Budapest besides the Gellert.

Szechenyi Spa Baths - has indoor pools and the outside pools are open in the winter and equally popular.

It is one of the largest bathing complexes in Europe. They have the deepest and hottest thermal wells in Budapest.

I think this bath is out by Andrassy Avenue in the area of the Heros Square and easily reached by bus.

http://www.szechenyibath.com/

I have a guidebook from Budapest which lists many other baths. If you have any questions, let me know.

I just returned from Budapest and it is a great city. If you can, be sure to go to the top of the hill on the Buda side to the Freedom Statue at night and view the lights of the city. Beautiful!!

We had dinner one night at a restaurant on the Danube called "The Spoon". Very nice place. You will be staying close to it.

Dear Bratsandbeer,
Thanks for your suggestions. I've surfed the internet and saw the one you mentioned. I guess I'm looking for people who have experienced going to the baths and their recommendations. So far, one positive and one negative!
Looking forward to going to Budapest but will have to take my chances on the baths.

We stayed at the Gellert and loved the pools and baths as well as the hotel.

However, this was several years ago (2000, I think), and things might have changed.

Loved Budapest!

Byrd

Allivian... There are many thermal baths located throutght Budapest. I have been to quite a few of them. I must admit my favorite is Szechenyi. It has about 6 pools inside and 3 outside. Easy to get to, and it is kind of cool to be swimming outside in steaming H20 when it is cold outside.

Some of the baths have men or women days. Some even have men or women sections (such as Gellert's steam area) not so of Szechenyi. I don't think you will be disapointed if you choose it.

Hi Allivian,
I've been to Budapest several times and have enjoyed many soaks on each visit at several of the thermal baths.

My 2 favourite are the Gellert and the Szechenyi. Given your location and the shortness of your available time, you will be closest to the Gellert, which is a good place. It's a short and easy walk from the chain bridge along the Danube, over to the next bridge which I believe is called the freedom bridge. It is attached to the Gellert hotel which is a huge castle-like building facing the Danube and the freedom bridge so you can't miss it. Or take the tram (# 49 I think) which lets you off right in front of the hotel.

The spa is divided into mens and ladies halves. Each is identical (so I've heard, having only been into the mens side, of course !) and quite beautiful. They have just undergone a restoration and cleaning (beautiful Art Deco tile work) since I was last there so you will have to tell me how it looks now. The bathing halls are huge and high ceilinged which fills the space with the sound of warm splaashing water and muffled/echoes of voices. There are two pools in each of these areas, one set at 36C and the other at 38C. There is also a sauna, and an extremely hot steam room (with eucalyptus oil) and a cold plunge pool which is about 5C.
Ther are showers and drinking water fountains to cool off as well.

The co-ed areas include a beautiful pool where a bathing cap is mandatory and where one does laps around the pool. If you're lucky, they will also turn on the 'sparkling' jets at one end of this pool every so many minutes which makes you feel like you're swimming/floating in a champagne bath. In this same area, there is a smaller co-ed hot pool at one end. Bathing suits are obviously mandatory in this area.

I made this distinction about suits because in the gender segregated areas, my experience on the mens side is that you get all types of attire, or none at all. Some men wear trunks/shorts, others nothing, and some a short cotton apron that they hand you as you enter the spa, which covers your front but not your back.
So take your suits (and sandals) and decide what to wear when you're there depending on your comfort level.

I would decline any of the treatments here as they will probably fall short of your minimum expectation and I think are a bit of a waste of time and money if you're not doing a full week stay type of treatment. (I've tried one or two just to see what it was all about and was grossly underwhelmed). There are many you can have in other areas of the complex, with appropriate medieval-looking contraptions.

If it was the Spring or Summer, I'd also recommend the Gellert's beautiful outdoor pool and wave-pool but I think its closed for the season at this time.

The Szechenyi Baths are also wonderful (near Heroes Square; or exit from the Mexicoi subway stop) but are a little further away from you but still within distance. Lots of treatments to be had here and these I'd recommend. 2 fantastic outdoor pool spas, one of which has an amazing 'Whirl pool" which sends everyone in it whirling around at quite a speed, as well as the sparkling baths. Theres also a swimming pool for laps in between these two heated pools. There are underwater chess tables to play while you soak. Or lie back in warm water and read a book or the newspaper.

In both the Gellert and the Szechenyi, hold onto your ticket and return it at thet time of your leaving. If you haven't used the full time, you'll get a refund for the remaining time.

Have fun.

Thank you all! I'm excited about checking out this Budapest experience.
Mathieu, I appreciate your detailed description. Thanks!

Allivian, Mathieu really summed it up for you. Just one little mistake. Szechenyi actally has it's own on the "Little Metro" line one, the yellow line. About a 1 min walk from the stop. Also in that same area is the zoo, circus and the area know as Varos Liget, city park. It should be an area that you definately have on your agend to check out.

Whichever bath you check out, it should be qutie a unique experience. Enjoy.

for true history go to Rudas - located near the Chain Bridge. "...an outstanding example of architecture dating from the Turkish period. The central feature is an octagonal pool over which light is thrown from a 30-foot diameter cupola, supported by eight pillars...."

I remember there being a better range of water temps - from mild to parboiling - than Gellert. That central pool under that dome is marvelous.

Not sure if it's still open - but a restaurant near Rudas called the Golden Stag served wonderful game dishes.

GREAT INFORMATION!
We are considering visiting the SZECHNYI BATHS in December, but I am still gathering more information about what it is "actually like."

It seems like an experience that will be a real "taste of BUDAPEST & Hungarian life style."

However, I am not really a fan of public type of facilities.
Not sure yet if my friend and I will like this, or if we are better off staying within "OUR COMFORT-ZONE" at more Spa/pampering type places.
Is it safe to leave your coat and clothes "locked up" at these type of places?
It will be winter, and I am certainly not going to somewhere where I have to worry about leaving my coat, and clothes.
Counting the days before BUDAPEST!

We visited the Szechenyi Baths last December. Before taking the trip I was semi-interested in going to them, but once we were in Budapest for a couple days I lost interest in the idea. Actually, I started to chicken-out. Not knowing the language had become a bit of a problem at times during this trip. I wasn't eager to venture into uncharted waters in asituation where i wouldn't even know what the locals might be yelling at me. My wife pushed the rest of us in our family group into going and we ended-up loving it.

It is a very unique experience, especially the process of getting into the baths. We stood in a line of about 15 people waiting and waiting to get to the front of the ticket kiosk. As the line dwindled to just two people ahead of us we seemingly had to wait forever for the little old lady being taken care of at the window. Not understanding the local lingo I had no idea what was taking so long until I ventured to stroll by the window. It seemed the little old lady was handing the attendent her docter's prescriptions for whatever treatments she needed for what was ailig her. The bath employee was then logging all the info into her accounts and printing out the necessary tickets for the baths, different massages and various excercise regimes.

When we eventually made it to the check-in window the initially gruff Hungarian ticket lady began to take a liking to us as we stumbled with our phrasebook in an attempt to purchase bath tickets. She switched over to English and explained the whole process to us adding that if we left early we would get a refund on our all-day entrance tickets.

Getting into the bathing area was also a trip. A worker garbed much like the attendents in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" escorted us to changing stalls where we had to leave all our possessions and change into our bathing suits. It was a bit creepy being in a locker room reminiscent of my old junior high gym from back in the 1960's, but Igor promised to watch over our stuff and made a big flourish of locking each of our changing cubicles for us.

It was a little uncomfortable at first as my much too overweight self headed through the corridors following a pack of anorexic Budapestians toward the actual baths. It was downright cold as we sprinted after them. We finally walked into a huge room with two big green pools situated under a high domed ceiling. Looking down into the nearest pool it appeared that the remake of "Cocoon" was taking place in the Szechenyi Spa. It was a vertitable stew of old wrinkly seniors lolling in the water. With somewhat empty vacant stares they rested against the pool walls watching every step we made. My kids were more than a little grossed-out, but I was sick of the gaggle of geezers gazing at me so I hopped right into the waters. I was instantly warmed-up and the staring quickly stopped. My family soon worked-up the nerve to jump in. We spent a nice 15 minutes luxuriating in the warmth. But when I saw some unusual debris starting to float in the corner of the very warm pool I decided it might be a good idea to get out of this possible fermenting tank of bacteria.

Next door was a door labeled "sauna". We headed inside but were beaten back by the intense heat, a dense fog and a seeming writhing mass of humanity inside. It was impossible to see more than a few inches in front of our faces and it appeared that there was a huge room of sweaty semi-naked folks standing around inside.

We promptly retreated then followed the signs directing us to the outdoor pools. I wasn't too keen on actually going out to them, but the wife was in charge and she led us through room after room of varying types of baths. One room had a lap pool. Another had a pool full of people doing exercises utilizing dumbbells. We passed through another room that had a cool bath. The next room had a 100 degree F pool. Since only a couple of people occupied this one and since we had gotten a wee chilly passing through the facility we jumped into warm ourselves up. We got out after just a few minutes because it was depressingly dark inside and we knew there was much more to see. We passed through rooms full of exercise machines, smaller pools, massage therapy tables and lots of showers.

When we reached a nice big room that looked like an old Victorian era greenhouse, we walked into a rather shallow, but very warm pool with much younger swimmers. A high glass ceiling allowed the limited Winter sun to pour down on us. We even saw a few little kids cavorting in the side pools. Bubbling fountains kept the pool water circulating. The only thing I found a bit wacky was the couple that were sipping water from the bubbling fountain. yecccch!!!

Once we started feeling thoroughly warmed-up, relaxed and even a bit sleepy we decided to take a quick look at the outside thermal pools. We foolishly neglected to bring our towels so we ran out into the 20 degree outside air. We couldn't see the actual pool but the mist rising from the warm waters showed us where to run. As my goose pimples threatened to burst I charged into the welcoming warmth, or should I say "scalding heat" of the outside pool. It was hotter than bath water.

Once in the pool the fog was above me so I was able to see the actual size of the pool itself. It was huge. There had to be a hundred other folks inside. Some were swimming, some were bobbing up and down and the oldest denizens were of to the side playing waterproof chess on stone tables. A powerful fountain sat toward the middle of the pool. Neglecting my family I swam to it and simply relished the feel of the hot gushing stream as it pounded on my back. The perfect treatment for my sore neck and upper back pains I incurred after hours of driving. When my son swam over to me I was astounded to see that the hair on the back of his neck had ice crystals in it. Looking around I saw that the metal bannisters leading down into the pool were covered in icicles.

From here we were able to pick-out another Olympic size swimming pool with lanes and very serious swimmers doing laps inside. On the other side of it stood yet another misting pool.

We summoned all our courage and ran for that second pool. There were very few people in this one. It was a bit more shallow than the other outdoor pool, but in the center of this one there was a pair of low concentric concrete walls where the pool water could flow into. By moving around in one direction between the two walls swimmers could create a wicked current. A group of teenagers were stirring things up nicely so I swam in and allowed the current to swirl me around like a Lazy River ride. If one really wanted a work-out you could try to walk against the current.

When we tired of this we made one more hop into the first outdoor pool where we utilized the hydro-massaging properties of the fountains once again. Running back into, then through the building we made one last stop before deciding to call it a day. We returned to the sauna. This time there was no fogbank, there were no detached limbs or naked bodies before us. In fact we were the only ones inside. With much less fog and room to navigate I was amazed to discover that the room was only 8-10 feet deep.

Returning to the lockerroom area Igor instantly recognized us and knew which cubicles to open. We tipped him generously which he really seemd to appreciate. Then he showed us where to dry our hair with electric dryers and how to get a refund for our unused time at the baths.

It's an experience we will never forget. I'm already planning for our next visit. We received hours of entertainment for a very cheap price. Best of all, we were able to get to the baths using the metro which stops right next to the building.

Reading these reports is great, and now I'm even more determined to go back to Budapest--soon.

Byrd

Here is the budapest spa website.
http://www.spasbudapest.com/tartalom.php

Thank you all for the great info! Otzi, your description made me feel like I was there! Hilarious, too! Definitely will find time to get to one of them! Any more stories about your travels that you've posted?

THANK YOU, OTZI for the best description..........of YOUR "BATH" EXPERIENCE.

Your descriptons gave me a clear idea of exactly what to expect, should "WE DECIDE TO TAKE THE PLUNGE." Still not sure if we will "chicken out" yet but at least now I can prepare myself for the experience should I go!
I am counting the days until MY TRIP.
TrendGirl

Allivian, Trendgirl2...
I came across this on one of the local Hungarian Websites. Reg rating the HU baths.

The Barlang Bath is really cool, I remember that place from the very first time I visited at the age of 4. S

http://www.caboodle.hu/nc/news/news_...age/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=5943