The Széchenyi thermal bath is the most famous and biggest in Budapest, also the biggest of its kind in Europe. Visit it during a saturday in January, here you can read the most important information with an honest review and everything you need to know.
Where is it located?
Budapest is basically located in the center of Hungary, all important streets are entering or leaving the city. It is hard to not see it, when going through the country. With its seven neighboring countries, Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, many places are easy to reach.
The Széchenyi thermal bath is located not far away from the city center. From where we were located it was just a three kilometer walk, which is for most people a similar distance, due to the most famous locations of people staying.
It is inside a big park, in which you are able to explore a little bit too and wander around. In the park you are able to find the castle Vajdahunyad, which is looking amazing from the outside and from the air.
What makes it special?
It is the biggest of its kind in Europe and has the status of being THE place to visit, when being in the city. Usually every week, there is at night a big party going on in the outdoor pool, to which many people always attend.
The place is adding to the above mentioned a good place for all the influencers, because of how it looks, quite beautiful. Especially when in winter the steam is covering the pool.
There are three outdoor pools, two are for relaxing and the other one is for swimming. In the one for swimming only, it is important to have a swimming cap or being bald, otherwise you are not having a chance to use it. For 2000 Forints or $5 you can rent one, which is in my opinion too much.
In the inside of the building are more pools and also saunas, which are not getting pictured as much, so there is more peace from phones. We also did pictures, of course just for the blog, just kidding, but before people were there.
For me especially, I really enjoyed the surroundings. There would have been many things to do and it seemed really peaceful.
How much does it cost and what is included?
During the week it would be for nothing, besides a locker included, 9400 Forints which equals $23,5 per person, at the weekend it is a bit more. Also when coming only for the last two hours, you are saving 300 Forints, which is less than a Euro/Dollar. Card is accepted.
It is possible to spend more, way more for everything else.
For around three times as much extra, it is possible to book a beer spa for 45 min, in which beer is included. Seems unnecessary for me, but whoever is interested, there you go.
Also when forgetting things, like a towel or bathing things, you can rent everything, for a high amount of money. So it is easy to double the entrance when needing things.
For the entrance, it is possible to use all the pools, indoor and outdoor. It is possible to use the saunas, all types of saunas are there.
What to do around it?
Around it, as mentioned, is the castle, which is located in the park next to the thermal baths. The castle is surrounded by a lake, which is possible to use a paddle boat in summer, according to pictures on the internet. In winter, they are not operating.
In general the park is a nice place to relax a little bit and walk around. Interesting places are there to discover, for example a little place, in which you are able to play some music. Another interesting place is some houses, covered in a green area. On these it was possible to walk up.
A balloon ride is also possible, but it is not long in the air and you won’t receive the greatest view from it.
On the other side of the thermal baths, there is a zoo, with a nice looking mosque in front and also nearby is a place for ice skating in winter. It was quite big and filled with many people.
What is important to know before?
It will be crowded, most likely at the weekend. The place is opening at 9 in the morning, so try being there on time, in order to enjoy it more.
Like mentioned above, there are many people with their phones and not going to stop in the water. If that is something, which you don’t like, then just come early and spend some time outside after being outside for some time inside.
It is not really cheap, especially when not having things on you, which you need to rent. Also all the extras, are of course for some people something to enjoy, but in the entrance is so much included, that it felt like not being necessary.
The most important pools are the ones outside. These ones are cleaner than the ones inside. It feels in general not really hygienic and everything is a bit older.
When being in the bath, it is important to not disrespect the rules. It is not liked to be seen, to wear short bikinis for example and things which are inappropriate, for mens as an example the borat suit, please also outside of this place don’t wear it, nobody wants to see it I guess.
Also for people with long hair, they can’t be open when going in the water. Also it didn’t feel hygienic, I am a professional cleaner, I have maybe a more specific view for things like that.
My experience
We arrived there on a Sunday at the opening time. After paying with a card, we got lost in the building, because it was not easy to have a good overview.
After finally finding the outside pools it was great, because not many people were around and the bath was nearly empty. It was still cold outside, so it was really steamy, so it was a bit hard to see if there was someone near you.
The outside pool was too hot for me, but it seemed like nobody else had this problem.
After being done with the outside it was time to explore the inside, where it was sadly a bit disappointing. Quite dirty and pools, which are not slightly possible to compare, with the ones outside.
The Saunas were quite decent, with being crowded, especially the steam sauna, but still possible to relax.
After nearly two hours of the place being open, you could feel that now all the tourists are coming, which made it less enjoyable. It was personally nice to see many people from East Asia, because Chinese are able to travel again.
The review
I want to separate it, with the outside and inside sections.
The outside section is the reason people are coming. It is a great place, with a good possibility of relaxing. You are able to breath fresh air and have a great surrounding. Even with many people inside it was not strongly annoying and I was still able to enjoy the time. Everything seemed to be quite clean.
The indoor section of it was disappointing, besides the saunas, they were okay. Mold was visible on many walls. It just didn’t feel like being worth calling a must see from the city.
I personally find it too expensive for Hungary, in other countries that would be considered of course cheap.
In the end I was not super disappointed, like how it usually is, when visiting a place with higher expectations, or with expectations at all. I would strongly suggest arriving there, as soon as it opens, to just have some peaceful moments before the rush is happening.
Can I recommend it?
It really depends on what type of person you are. When you don’t like crowded places and just want your peace, then probably most popular places in Budapest are nothing for you. This place is neither, because of its famous status.
It is a great place to relax, even with the big amount of people, which I found actually surprising. Not only is the place pretty, it also has many things to offer, but most of them are not as good.
Being outside and floating around in hot water is not bad. It is a place to relax and most people are also wanting to do it there. At the beginning you are also able to see many locals, which are getting more invisible, as later it gets.
It is not a bad place to visit, but I would not say that you need to see it 100%, I personally just went to a thermal bath in Budapest, during my second visit.
Summary
It is of course annoying to have all the fake posing for instagram people there, but they are at all famous destinations of every city. It is important to overview it in order to enjoy things in general.
In a thermal bath it is just not the type of people you want to have, when wanting to relax.
I liked it there, it was a place where I thought of spending the whole day there, but we ended up just being there for two and a half hours.
For just going to a thermal bath in Budapest, you can also choose any other one, there the Széchenyi thermal bath doesn’t need to be the one.
When not having a problem with crowded places and like to be in thermal water, it is the place to go! I would not consider it a “must see” but would also not say it is a place, which you don’t need to visit as well.
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