One of the major attractions of Budapest is its thermal baths. Roman Baths were of course very popular during the Roman times. When Hungary was part of the Ottoman Empire (1541 – 1699), Turkish Baths were built instead.
The two most popular thermal baths are Szechenyi Thermal Baths and Gellért Thermal Bath. We decided on Szechenyi. Bathing suit rules are strictly enforced; if we wanted to swim in the swimming pool instead of just soaking in the smaller thermal pools, we’d have to wear a swimming cap too.
One online reviewer wrote that there are lots of vendors selling bathing suits outside, and that she bought a cheap one for a one-time use. Perfect. Off we went. There were many entrances to this huge place. We circled the building, but no bathing suit vendors at all. We took a few pictures from the ticket area, and left disappointed.
Szechenyi Thermal Baths
Kenric has never been to one. My cousins brought me to the hot springs in Tambun (near my hometown, Ipoh, Malaysia). I was maybe five, and didn’t get to go into the pools. I remember people cooking eggs in the hot pools.
Rent a Suit
We found out Gellért Thermal Bath actually rents bathing suits. We went the next day, and booked a massage each; won’t do the massage again though. People of all ages were really enjoying themselves; relaxing and soaking in all the medicinal goodness of the water. Signs on the wall say thermal baths are not recommended for anyone under 14. We both liked the pools very much, and Gellert seems a lot less crowded than Szechenyi.
There were at least ten different pools; thermal, swimming, wave, indoor, outdoor, etc. The water temperatures in the different pools varies from 8 degrees Celsius (46.4 F) BRRRR……to 36 C (96.8 F) to 40 C (104 F). We didn’t have time try to the sauna or steam room. The 40 C / 104 F pool felt a little too hot for me, and I raised my hands out of the water to cool down. Every time I did that, I felt like I was drifting away from the underwater bench I was sitting on. That made me nervous because I haven’t swum in many years, even though the pool was probably only four feet deep (1.22 meters).
Then, I remembered seeing a photo of our friends, Angélica and Chris, when I was researching this place on Facebook. Trying to not float away and drown, I told Kenric I didn’t know how Angélica, who is super petite, managed to look so relaxed in the photo when she was constantly floating away.
“Angélica has zero fat. She won’t float.”
“You mean my fats are keeping me alive?” Kenric nodded, and my fear of floating away and drowning disappeared.
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