4 Best Sights in Hungary

Széchenyi Thermal Bath, the largest medicinal bathing complex in Europe, is housed in a beautiful neobaroque building in the middle of City Park. There are several thermal pools indoors as well as two outdoor pools, which remain open even in winter, when dense steam hangs thick over the hot water's surface. You can just barely make out the figures of elderly men, submerged shoulder deep, crowded around waterproof chessboards. To use the baths, you pay a standard price (unless you get a doctor's prescription, in which case it's free), plus a surcharge if you prefer having a private changing cabin instead of a locker. Facilities include an outdoor lap pool, Finnish and steam saunas, medical and leisure massage treatments, carbonated bath treatments, and other wellness treatments and wraps. A great way to sweat away last night's pálinka (fruit brandy).

At the foot of Gellért Hill, the gorgeous Gellért Baths has beauty and history in spades, with mineral-rich hot springs that have supplied curative baths for nearly 2,000 years. The entrance to the spa is on a side street to the right of the palatial (but now closed) Hotel Gellért. Budapest's baths, once segregated, are now primarily co-ed (with special hours for segregated bathing for some baths), and it's the same story here: men and women can now use all steam and sauna rooms as well as both the indoor pool and the outdoor wave pool—a Jazz Age classic that claims to be one of the first wave pools in the world—at the same time. These baths are very popular so book ahead online, and remember to bring your own towel, slippers or flip-flops, and (if using the indoor pool) swimming cap, otherwise you will have to buy them in the shop. Come for the lovely tiles, architecture, and painted glass, stay for the range of massages and treatments (some of which require a doctor's prescription).

It's worth paying the extra 1,000 HUF for a cabin ticket; you'll get a private changing room with a safe for valuables.

This bath on the riverbank boasts perhaps the most dramatically beautiful interior of all of Budapest's baths, with the original Turkish pool the star of the show. A high, domed roof admits pinpricks of bluish-green light into the dark, circular stone hall with its austere columns and arches. The central octagonal pool catches the light from the glass-tiled cupola and casts it around the surrounding six pools, capturing the feeling of an ancient Turkish hammam. The highly fluoridated waters here have been known for 1,000 years—and the baths themselves date back to the 16th century. The baths vary in temperature from 16 to 42 degrees Celsius, and you can also drink the water from three springs in the drinking hall (open Tuesday and Thursday only). The thermal part is open to men only on Monday and Wednesday, as well as the mornings of Thursday and Friday; to women only on Tuesday; and to both sexes on Thursday and Friday afternoons and all day weekends. Soak after-hours here on Friday and Saturday nights from 10 pm to 3 am.

A little off the beaten path and about a ten-minute cab ride from the park, this spa is popular with locals who don't want to contend with visitors at Széchenyi and features indoor and outdoor thermal baths, full-length lap pools, a Finnish sauna, and hot and cold plunge pools, as well as some massage and medical treatments. For families, there is even a pool for small children and another for babies. For the older crowd, the connecting indoor-outdoor leisure pool welcomes patrons with a swim-up water bar. Just remember to bring a bank card or top up your entry card, as they don’t accept cash inside the facilities.