Budapest Thermal Baths / Spas

The City of Spas


Budapest
is famous for its health and thermal baths. Special and unique: Budapest has the prevalence of thermal springs right in the center of the city. There are 118 springs and boreholes all together, supplying the ciry’s spas and baths with 15,4 million gallons of water daily - ranging in the temperature for 70 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit (21-78 °C).

Now let us give you a selection of the best spas of Budapest , with useful English links:

Gellért Thermal Bath The Gellért Thermal Bath and Hotel, known world-wide and highly favoured by foreigners, built in a secession style, opened its gates in 1918 and was expanded in 1927 by the wave-bath and in 1934 by the effervescent bath. In the course of the modernisation accomplished in our days, the sitting-pool in the swimming complex, the outdoor sitting pool and the children's pool were renovated; they were equipped with a state-of-the art water filtering and circulation device. At present, nearly all healing facilities may be used in the Gellért Thermal Bath. The Bath includes a department offering complex thermal bath acilities (daytime/outpatient hospital), it also has an inhalatorium.


Dagály Thermal Bath This Bath first opened in 1948. Later, in 1956 it, among others, was expanded with a 50-m swimming pool. Its water base at that time was provided by a well bored in 1944, which finally secured the efficient use of the thermal waters found under the bed of the Danube . The fancy pool offers a wide variety of facilities to the public - e.g. a whirling corridor, an effervescent bed, a whirlpool, neck showers, geysers, splashing sunbathing.


Király Thermal Bath The construction of this Bath was begun by Arslan, the Pasha of Buda in 1565 and was completed by his successor, Sokoli Mustafa. The Király Thermal Bath had no direct hot water base, nor has it any today. The Turks built the Bath far from the springs to ensure the opportunity for bathing even in the case of an eventual siege, within the walls of the castle. Its water was supplied at that time, and is being supplied now, from the surroundings of the current Lukács Bath.

 

Lukács Thermal Bath In the 12th century, knights of the order of Saint John engaging in curing the sick settled in the area of today's Lukács Bath, followed by the orders of Rhodos and , who built their monasteries baths as well. The bath operated through the time of the Turks but the energy of the springs were used primarily to produce gunpowder and for grinding wheat. After the reoccupation of Buda, the bath became the property of the Treasury. In 1884, Fülöp Palotay purchased the bath from the Treasury, thus a series of transformations began. The spa hotel was built, an up-to-date hydrotherapy department was established and the swimming pool was transformed. People wishing to be healed came from all over the world.


Palatinus Open-Air Bath
The Open-Air Bath, located o­n the Margit island, in a nature conservation area, was opened as a beach o­n the bank of the Danube in 1919. With the construction of the large pool it was transformed in 1921 into an open-air bath. There are sports grounds and playgrounds for children, offering excellent distraction facilities for all age groups. In 2002 the pools of the Open-Air Bath were modernised, the swimming pool was shaped into three sections: swimming pool, fancy pool and beach pool. Of these, the fancy pool is expecting visitors with neck shower, effervescence generator and whirling corridor.


Rudas Thermal Bath The centerpiece of the bath today, the Turkish bath, was built during the 16th century in the period of the Turkish occupation. Below the 10 m diameter dome, sustained by 8 pillars, there is an octagonal pool. The thermal bath has been visited from 1936 o­n exclusively by men. The swimming pool, operating as a therapeutic swimming facility and with a sauna, was built in 1896.


Széchenyi Thermal Bath The Széchenyi Thermal Bath is o­ne of the largest spa complexes in Europe. It's also the first thermal bath of Pest. It owes its existence to Vilmos Zsigmondy, a mining engineer. o­n his initiative, successful deep borings had been performed in the City Park, where later, in 1881 already an "Artesian bath" was in operation. The reconstruction of the pools of the swimming section, their equipment with water filtering and circulation devices was completed in 1999. The so-called fancy bath includes a whirling corridor, underwater effervescence production, neck shower, water beam back massage installed in the sitting banks and many other services