Which Budapest thermal bath is right for you

There are around a dozen thermal baths in Budapest that a visitor would consider, and they are genuinely different from one another. Choosing by whichever came up first in a search is how people end up spending three hours somewhere that was not what they wanted.

If you want the famous one

Széchenyi, in the City Park. Eighteen pools inside an enormous Neo-Baroque complex the colour of mustard, three of them outdoors and kept warm all winter. It is the biggest medicinal bath in Europe and the one in every photograph, including the one with the men playing chess in the water.

It is also, by a wide margin, the busiest. Go on a weekday, go early or after four, and go in cold weather — snow falling on a 38°C outdoor pool is the single best thing this city does, and it does not work in August.

If you want the architecture

Gellért. The Art Nouveau interior, with its glazed Zsolnay tiling, stained glass and a main hall that looks like a cathedral built for swimming, is worth the entry on its own. Smaller and calmer than Széchenyi, and the outdoor section is much less impressive — come here for the inside.

If you want the history

Rudas, built in 1566, keeps its original Ottoman octagonal pool under a domed roof pierced with coloured glass. It also has a modern rooftop pool with a view straight down the Danube, which is an odd but excellent combination.

Check the schedule before you go. Rudas still runs single-sex days for part of the week, and this catches out more first-time visitors than anything else in this city.

Király and Veli Bej are the other two Ottoman survivors — small, dim, atmospheric, and a completely different experience from the grand baths.

If you want to be among locals

Lukács. Unremarkable from outside, a genuine neighbourhood institution inside, and the place where you will hear the least English. Dandár in District IX is the same idea, smaller.

If it is summer and you have children

Skip the thermal baths and go to a strand — an outdoor bathing complex. Palatinus on Margaret Island has eleven pools, slides and grass; Római in Óbuda is the old-fashioned riverside one. The hot thermal pools have age limits, and 38–40°C water is genuinely not suitable for small children.

Whichever you choose

Take a swimsuit, a towel and flip-flops. A cap is required in lap pools. Shower before entering. Twenty minutes is a sensible maximum in the hottest pools before cooling off, and alcohol beforehand is a bad idea for reasons the signage explains politely.