Taking a Bath in Budapest
Budapest is famous for its baths and spas. Many of the classic promotional pictures of the city will show people playing chess while sitting in a steaming outdoor pool in the middle of winter. These spas have their own hashtag with countless pictures of visitors taking various poses in front of a pool or a fountain, so popular they are again on the tourist trail. It is understandable. From my experience as a keen swimmer and water lover, Budapest has the best spas I have seen in Europe.
There is nothing new about it. In the 1920s and 30s, Budapest was already known as a city of spas, drawing visitors from all over Europe in search of medicinal water and relaxing treatment. The origin of Budapest as a spa city goes even further back to the Ancient Romans -these great lovers of thermal water-, who established a city named Aquincum, west of the Danube, after they spotted thermal springs there. Ruins of the old Roman city can still be seen in northern Budapest. When in turn, the Ottomans ruled over the city from 1541 to 1686, they built a number of Turkish baths that are still in existence today and which include the Kiraly and the Rudas baths, both known for their Turkish architecture, in particular their fine cupola over an octagonal pool.
In the two and a half days I spent in Budapest, I didn’t have enough time to experience them all. I chose the Gellert Baths for their stunning Art Deco swimming pool and mosaic decoration, and the Szechenyi bath, the most famous and largest of all (featured on the promotional pictures of people playing chess). Built in the early 20th century, at the height of Budapest as dual capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, both baths are supplied with natural spring water from local underground sources that is rich in calcium, magnesium, sulphate and other minerals known to treat a number of health problems. Gellert spa opened in 1918 as part of a grand Hotel complex, which in the typical fashion of the times, was needed to accommodate the sudden increase of visitors travelling faster around Europe with the advent of railways. Located on the Buda side of the Danube, by the Gellert hills close to the Citadel, it includes an indoor and outdoor swimming pool and a couple of warmer thermal pools with stunning mosaic walls which have been restored to their former greatness a decade ago. Apart from the beauty of the place and a pleasant swim in spectacular surroundings, it was the quality of the aroma massage I had (one of the best in a long time) that made my experience at Gellert particularly memorable.
On the opposite bank of the Danube, in the Pest side of the city, can be found the Szechenyi baths, the largest bath complex in Europe. Set in the middle of a city park at the end of the prestigious Andrassy avenue, a long and wide boulevard typical of 19th century urbanism, they were completed in 1913 and restored again in the first decade of this century. Szechenyi baths do not have the intimacy and beauty of Gellert, but they have the grand scale and popularity. From the 200,000 visitors recorded the year of opening, their number went up to nearly 900,000 in 1919, the first year of peace in the new Republic of Hungary after WW1 and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire. A decade later, in 1927 to be precise, the baths were expanded to their current size with 3 outdoor and 15 indoor pools. An additional well had to be dug to supply water. Today, they remain the most visited in Budapest judging by the number of online posts. Because of their popularity, I hesitated in going, however, they were not as unbearably crowded as I anticipated. As I went for my sporty laps in the Olympic pool, I was surprised to see people leisurely sitting in the smaller thermal pools next to it, drinking beer and cocktails. I had not expected that as medicinal treatment for various ailments. I was even more impressed when I walked inside in search of a warmer pool after my swim and realized the scale of these baths. They had everything to eclipse other famous spas in Europe: various relaxing pools with water temperature gradually rising from 20 to 40 degrees Celsius, colder plunge pools, steam baths, whirlpools, sauna, massage, as well as more specific treatments. By then, my skin had already soaked in too much water to make the most of it. Never mind, I will go back to Budapest for more spa treatment, especially when the rest of the city is so vibrant, unlike other spa towns which tend to be rather stale if not stuck in time. Budapest’s spas may be the answer to a new ailment in our contemporary world: the excess of stress we all suffer.
