I am planning to visit soon, and I will definitely share my experience with you. See it for yourself: The project may appear surreal but the site is well and truly under construction! A colleague from this city once told me that he had never felt the need to go elsewhere for his summer holidays because he had everything one could hope to find in a summer holiday at home! Built in 1918, the Gellért Baths is best known for its pools filled with mineral water from the Gellért Hills, the art nouveau architecture, and luxurious spa treatments. Locals who do go to baths mainly consist of diehard regulars, and patients looking to treat ailments like rheumatoid arthritis, muscle pain, or skin diseases. All rights reserved. The outdoor wave pool is a popular Gellért activity during the summer days. List of thermal baths in Hungary . The bathhouse features a cold plunge pool, thermal pools, and a rooftop hot tub with a panoramic view of the city. “The facilities that are built above … The caves are fed by a source of medicinal water at 68°C, offering visitors a wide variety of areas with temperatures ranging from 30 to 38°C. This combination of periods gives the place a unique atmosphere. Rudas Baths is the only thermal bath in Budapest, which has men only and women only days on weekdays, when aprons are worn by many guests instead of traditional swimwear. While it is true that the city has a dozen spas and impressive thermal parks, you may not be aware that spas can be found in abundance in all regions of the country and that there are more than 200 across Hungary in its entirety. It became a healing spa in the 19th century and features plaques of gratitude on the wall from guests who claim they were cured there. Király Baths features four indoor pools and a wooden outdoor hot tub during the summer months. There are many reasons to visit Budapest, and thermals top that list. Over the ages, bath complexes were erected and today you can find a variety of styles, from traditional Turkish baths to modern establishments. Since we are in the vicinity of Debrecen, it is impossible to avoid this exotically-named city: Hajdúszoboszló, the city with the second largest number of spas after Budapest. A little bit like your regular bar where you go after work to relax, Hungarian people go to the thermal baths. ‘Taking the waters’ has been a part of everyday life here for centuries, and the spas are must-see sights in the city. The country’s fifth Turkish bath, outside of the famous four of Budapest, is located in Eger. Heviz. Thermal Baths Pools in Hungary. © termalfurdo.hu, Juventus Pool at Rudas (modern south building). Why? As an added incentive, the Hungarian national health insurance plan subsidizes these prescribed visits. Many Romanians tourists make the trip here to bring back this water in their own bottles. Budapest has a total of nine medicinal baths today (and 123 hot springs). The region of Csongrád in the south, the country's leading agricultural region where 80% of paprika is produced, is also home to high-quality thermal water with a relatively high temperature compared to the rest of the country. If the most beautiful historic baths from the Ottoman Empire and the Hungarian Neo-Renaissance are in Budapest, it is in the East in Hajdú-Bihar, the second largest thermal region of the country, that the most immense spas exist on a disproportionate scale. Roman settlers discovered that the waters were rich in dissolved minerals and could be used for relaxation and medicinal purposes. Szechenyi Spa Baths Budapest Budapest Thermal Baths. The difficulty of the Hungarian language coupled with a lack of content on the internet about the country’s spas outside of the 5 or 10 best-known resorts in Budapest sparked our desire to offer you the most optimal search engine and the most complete information source in existence. It seems that Debrecen wants to compete with the extravagant baths of Budapest with this pharaonic project, which will indeed have nothing to be ashamed of in comparison to Budapest’s offerings. But in all of them, I have never had issues with attitude of the staff, ability to get by on just English, or cleanliness. The small bath in the outdoor courtyard is the only bath in the capital where I always get to chat with Hungarians. Further north-east, you can find the Miskolctapolca spa near Miskolc, unique in Europe due to its location in a cavern above natural underground hot springs. Hungary may lack ocean access, but it has its own brand of water wealth. The following photo will allow you to get a sense of what the resort looks like. Thermal Lake of Heviz. The Lukács Baths are heated naturally by the oldest hot springs in Hungary. The resort has the largest outdoor swimming pool in Eastern Europe. You will get to see several remote spas that, because of their own unique qualities and infrastructure, really hold their own against those found in the capital. Rudas Baths (Budapest) Thanks to a recent rejuvenation, Rudas offers an ideal combination of old … They used them not only for bathing but also for floor heating in buildings. Although the stated temperature is 42°C like that of the Turkish part, the modern upstairs seems slightly hotter to me. For the first time in Hungary, Finnish sauna houses made of logs, the associated plunge pool and showers, as well as naturist sunbathing areas were built in the outer area of the sauna world. There's also mineral-rich sulfurous water available for drinking. Just make sure if you are in a co-ed group, you go to a co-ed bath or on co-ed days. During our trips to Budapest, we connected with locals and took a dip into the city’s hot springs. One is a century-old classical bath (1896), the Annafürdő, and the other is a large Aqualand, the Napfényfürdő Aquapolis, which has a large thermal section, as well as plenty of entertainment pools and slides, including the longest slide in Europe! There are four indoor baths and two outdoor baths for enjoying. The Thermal Bath’s Legacy. My name is Vincent Laurent. Parts of Rudas Baths are coed on weekends with a woman-only day during the week. since, “No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention”. “Taking the water” is said to help combat arthritis, ease blood circulation issues, benefit the joints and more. Allow at least two and a half hours on site to be able to enjoy all of the places at your disposal without feeling rushed. Thanks to the high flow rate of the lake, the water is renewed in its entirety every 72 hours. Narrator: Every year, Budapest is flooded with visitors wanting to soak up some of the city's most famous thermal baths. Lukács is frequented by locals who prefer a less touristy spa culture scene. In this article, I will cover around ten of the 220 or so spas in Hungary, but please bear in mind that I have so far personally visited only 40 of the approximately 220 spas! Supposedly, going there has medicinal properties. Széchenyi features lap pools, whirlpools, and the main pool where most visitors tend to relax and people-watch. Intrigue for Budapest's thermal water supply dates back to the first century AD when the Romans took interest in the city's unique features. Szechenyi Baths address: Budapest, Állatkerti krt. During the 16th and 17th century, this site was known for its natural healing spring. From therapeutic spas to lively nighttime swim parties, there's no shortage of spa experiences in the city. Some are also naturally enriched by dissolved healing gasses like hydrogen sulphide or carbon dioxide. According to Bihari, Budapest should be high on the travel bucket list of any music lover. According to estimates, there are approximately a thousand natural spring water sources in Hungary, many of which have medicinal properties and even the Ottomans knew this back in the 16th century. With so many thermal baths around the city, the question is: Which one is for you? Thermal bathing brought the Romans here and soothed the Turks, while modern Hungarians are as likely to drop into the baths as a café when they want a … There are 15 public thermal baths in Budapest, not counting the private thermal spas established in some luxury hotels. 2020 © ThermalHungary. Lukács is frequented by locals who prefer a less touristy spa culture scene. For a livelier experience, Széchenyi even offers night parties known as "sparties.". Széchenyi was the first hot spring bath palace on the Pest side of Budapest, built between 1909 and 1913. Since Roman times, thermal waters in Hungary have been used for their medicinal benefits. I tend to go off the beaten path a bit when it comes to baths. One thing to bear in mind is that the maximum temperature of this bath is 34°C. However, on the corridors, outside, in the pools, in the saunas and steam rooms, you will have to wear your swim wear. While in Budapest after my Viking River Cruise, we decided that one of the things we absolutely had to see while we were in Hungary was one of the Budapest thermal baths. Both of the two mountainous regions in the North-East of the country are home to a thermal spa carved into the rock, as well as the only multi-century Turkish bath to be found outside of Budapest. You will have the chance to bathe in underground passages shaped by nature over thousands of years, and also to hear the echo of the “starry" naturally dome-shaped room, something else that is the only one of its kind in Europe. The water will have been tested to be at the right temperature and degree of cleanliness. The city of Szentes is largely heated by thermal water in the winter. The capital of Hungary is The City of Spas. The city centre of Szeged is very welcoming and lively, and visiting the streets and squares of the centre makes for a pleasant time. Used by Hungarians at night The Turkish didn’t only lay down the basis of thermal baths, but also introduced people to the tricks of “wellness” treatments. A beautiful city in its own right, Eger is a historical site with a heavy tourist presence. I come from France and have been settled here in Hungary since 2011. Are not expecting it a reader who sold me on the notion of trying out Hungarian! 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