Budapest – The City of Spas

Budapest is richly endowed with natural springs of thermal waters possessing various medicinal properties, and it is these that supply the city’s many thermal baths. Not for nothing is it known as the City of Spas. Among its most precious treasures are its sixteenth century Turkish baths, as well as the Széchenyi, the Gellért and the Lukács Baths, and the Rác Baths, which are currently closed for renovation. All are known for the healing qualities of their waters.

Gellert Spa Baths
XI. Kelenhegyi út 4-6.
Tel: 466 - 6166
Open: 6am - 6pm.
One of most popular baths for tourists coming to Budapest. The medicinal spring here was already famed in the 13th century. The spa is decorated with a wealth of original Art Nouveau furnishings, artistic mosaics, stained glass windows and sculptures, although the interior of the hotel built alongside has lost many of these fittings over the years.

Kiraly Medicinal Bath
II. Fő u. 82 - 84.
Tel.:201-4392
Open: Women:Mon.,Wed.,Fri.:7am-6pm, Men:Tue.,Thur.,Sat.:9am-8pm
M2 Batthyány tér
Bus 60,86
It is believed that a start was made on building the bath by Pasha of Buda Arslan in 1565.It is one of the few remaining monuments from the Turkish times, receiving the visitor in all the original magnificence of a period Ottoman palace of bathing.

Rudas Medicinal Baths and Swimming pool
I., Döbrentei tér 9.
Tel.: 356-1322
Open: Swimming pool: Mon. - Fri.: 6am - 6pm, Sat.: 6am - 1pm, ( Bp. Card)
Thermal bath: Mon. - Fri.: 6am - 8pm, Sat.: 6am - 1pm
Tub bath section: Mon. - Fri.: 6am - 7pm, Sat.: 6am - 1pm
Bus: 7, 7/A, 8, 78, 86, 112
Tram: 18, 19
The bath was built in 1550, and then reconstructed by Pasha Sokoli Mustafa in 1566. Some of the Turkish-period features are still used today: the octagonal pool, the four small corner pools, each with water of a different temperature, and the characteristic Turkish dome.

Szechenyi Spa Bath
XIV., Állatkerti út 11.
Tel: 3633210
Open: Men's and women's thermal baths, swimming pool: daily 6am - 7pm
(October - April: 6am - 5pm)
One of the largest bathing complexes in Europe, the premier medicinal bath of Pest- Its thermal springs were discovered in 1879; they are the deepest and hottest ( 74 - 75 C. ) thermal wells in the capital. The neo - Baroque baths were built in1913, the swimming pool in 1927. The open - air sections with their pleasantly warm waters are equally popular in winter.