Lots of people who have travelled to Budapest will most likely tell you to visit one of the other numerous thermal baths in Budapest as the Széchenyi Baths are too crowded with tourists. Even our local doctor told me to go elsewhere in the weeks before our holiday. He had just returned from Budapest and had visited the Gellért Baths. However, the Széchenyi Baths are iconic, so iconic that we weren’t going to be swayed. We’d seen these Baths in all the tourism TV shows and websites; the massive yellow building with various steaming hot pools of spring water. We couldn’t miss it.
I will be honest and say that Hubby wasn’t all that fussed about going. I even offered to go on my own. But after a week walking our way around gorgeous Budapest, we were pretty footsore, and the lure of hot spring water got him over the line on our last day in the city.
Getting There
We made our way to the Baths as soon as we were ready in the morning. We had walked by the Széchenyi Baths whilst we were in the vicinity earlier in the week and noticed how busy it was in the afternoon. Our plan was to avoid the crowds with a morning visit. Our hotel kindly provided some large towels and we took one of the hotel bath gels for showering at the Baths at the end of our visit.
We caught the M1 train metro line from Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út, which was the most convenient station to our hotel, to Széchenyi fürdő station. This station has an exit right next to the Baths, so it is super convenient.
The Impressive Széchenyi Baths Building
The building itself is unmissable as you surface from the metro. It’s located in the City Park (Városliget), and is an enormous Neo-Baroque style structure. It was opened in 1913 and is the largest medicinal bath complex in all of Europe. We were quite impressed with the ornate building the first time we laid eyes on it.
Cabin Chaos
Having researched the Baths, the services, and generally how things worked, we had opted to treat ourselves to a ‘cabin’. A cabin is a small changing room, which you can lock up and leave your clothes and anything else you brought with you secured while you enjoy your soak. We bought our tickets and were given a wrist strap to wear which was our ‘key’ to the cabin. The cabin rental and admission for two totalled 11,500 Hungarian forint (2019). I didn’t think to take a photo of the cabin, but you can see what they are like on this website about the baths (note this is not the official site, the official site is szechenyibath.hu).
We headed to the cabin area and found our cabin, noting that the inside of the Széchenyi Baths building is just as lovely as its exterior. In my excitement, I accidently ran over my big toe with the cabin door as I closed it for us to get changed. This didn’t hurt much, my toenail saved me from too much damage. However, what was a problem was that I accidentally locked us in. There is a mechanical lock which is operated from the outside when you return to your cabin, and I incorrectly pushed this into the locked position. It was at that point that I noticed there was actually a manual lock, like those you find in public toilets, that I was supposed to use.
We got changed and then realised we now couldn’t open the cabin door. The wrist strap ‘key’ didn’t work from the inside. The cabin door had a small curtained window. We pulled the curtain back and had to ask the first passer by to help us, which he kindly did (thank you nice man). He sought the help of a staff member who let us out. I got the impression from her nonplussed expression that this may be a regular occurrence with the tourists.
Navigating the Thermal Pools
Relieved to be out of our cabin, we started to head out to the baths. I mentioned that this is the biggest bath complex in Europe. It houses 15 indoor pools (different temperatures and for different purposes) and three outdoor pools (again, different temperatures). We wanted to start off by enjoying the outside pools before things got really busy. The problem was, we couldn’t find our way out! So many rooms, with so many pools! We passed saunas, shower facilities, exercise classes in various pools, large pools, smaller pools, and we were sure we had walked in a circle and ended up back near the cabins.
On our second lap of the interior we found our way out into the sunny outdoor pool area. The blue pools and bright yellow walls make for a great sight. There are a number of statues displayed around the pools giving it a historical roman feel.
Finally, Enjoying the Water
Fortunately, our early start had paid off. There weren’t too many people around, and we secured two sun lounges quite near the 33 degree celsius ‘Leisure Pool’. The Leisure Pool incorporates a super strong whirlpool (which was great fun) and some seating with jets and other variations on water sprays.
Each of the pools displays its water temperature on a digital sign. We moved on to the outdoor 38 degree celsius ‘Thermal Pool’, which got quite hot with the sun shining down. There was a small strip of shade along one side which we hung out in for a while. This is the pool where you see people playing chess in any show or picture promoting the Széchenyi Baths.
You can purchase drinks and some food if you like, though we didn’t. We had brought our own water.
By early afternoon, the place was filling up. Once we’d had our fill of the outdoor pools, we went inside and relaxed in one of the smaller internal pools. We had it to ourselves for a while, as the classes we had seen earlier had finished, and most people wanted to enjoy the outdoor area for the pools or for sunbathing.
Hubby tried one of the steam rooms. Once he was cooked through, we headed to the showers to get cleaned up before getting dressed in our cabin. We had no trouble opening it with our wrist strap ‘key’ and I did not make the same mistake with the locking mechanism.
Late that afternoon, fully relaxed, we had a lovely glass of wine in a wine bar called DiVino Wine Bar, facing St Stephen’s Basilica (Szent István Bazilika). A perfect way to end our last day in Budapest.
The Wrap Up
We’d recommend visiting the Széchenyi Baths if you are ever in Budapest. On cold winter days, or if we’ve had a particularly active day, we often talk about how we wished we were there enjoying the warm thermal spring water. We’ll return when we are back in Budapest, especially now as I’ve mastered the cabin lock!
After its own run in with the cabin door, my toenail did take a turn for the worse and eventually fell off after quite a few months. In the meantime, it was a constant reminder of the Széchenyi Baths’ cabin debacle every time I laid eyes on it.
By the way, Hubby had a fabulous time!