We have been trying out spas since February, and floating in hot thermal water has made it much easier to bear the otherwise not terribly severe winter this year. We checked out seven places run by Budapest Spa, and it’s now time to summarize our findings.
We started with Király Spa, one of the oldest and cheapest baths in Budapest. Every spring it’s swarming with university students studying in their swimsuits in the inner yard, but even in the winter you are likely to run into a few French coeds. The regular entrance fee is HUF 2400, and a discounted ticket costs HUF 1700. The environment is undeniably retro and Turkish.
It was also in February when we checked out the city’s legendary Széchenyi bath. Wonderful rooms, active social life, young people, old people, all kinds of people. Hungarians playing chess next to English tourists. The Széchenyi is compulsory at least once in a lifetime, possibly more often. Entrance fee: HUF 3800–4800
We went to the Rudas knowing that it had been rated the fourth coolest spa in the world on a very competitive list. There are still men’s days and women’s days here, so you don’t have to put up with all the annoying maniacs of the other sex and you are free to stroll around in a robe from one pool to the other. It’s a beautifully renovated bath with an old-time feel to it. Entrance costs HUF 3000.
The Gellért is another true legend. Try out everything here. It won’t disappoint. The fantastic Zsolnay mosaics, the huge interiors, the natural sunlight, the generous arrangement of space, and the great company make sure that the Gellért is exactly what you would expect on the basis of the photos. Daily entrance fees begin at HUF 4900.
Lukács. Everybody has heard of it, and everybody has passed by it, but not many people know that the place at the Buda end of Margit Bridge is the Lukács Bath. The huge place has many great stories to tell, each of them better than the one before. The stories are replete with all the famous people who have been regular patrons over the past 80 years. Even the famous Hungarian composer, Zoltán Kodály was a regular. He was the only person they ever let swim the pools from side to side instead of end to end. It’s a real hub for intellectuals, just like the cafés on the Grand Boulevard at the turn of the previous century. It’s clean and recently renovated, and there aren’t many tourists around to bother you. Daily entrance fees begin at HUF 3000.
Dandár. There’s no more likable and pleasant bath in the city than the Dandár. Everybody is a regular, at least that’s the way everybody is treated. A small, airy and light space with great plans for the future. The entrance fee starts at HUF 1450, but students can get in for a thousand and relax in the same water people at the Gellért wade in for five times as much.
Dagály. This enormous complex is more than sixty years old and has been a spa for over forty of those years. One of the most popular baths in Budapest, it offers luxuriant tranquility. Dagály is probably the most successful bath at retaining some of the serenity of the beginning of the last century. It’s the kind of thing you only know from old postcards, so you can easily overlook the slightly worn-out furnishings. Ah yes, and the place explodes with flowers every spring. Entrance fee: HUF 2400.
Budapest Spa was a partner in this series.
Translation provided by Helpers Business and Immigration Services. Find us at www.helpers.hu
