The Szecheni Bathhouse (weng. Széchenyi fürdő) is the largest sauna complex in Budapest and Europe. Its construction was started in 1909 according to the plans of Diese Ziegler.
We tried these baths, even twice, during our week-long trip to Budapest, at the end of September 2014. By the way, we had already been to Budapest once before - during our motorcycle trip across Europe in May 2013, but that time we were in the city for only one evening and didn't really have time to see anything. And we didn't know about the baths at all then.
This time we went specifically to Budapest, and before the trip we found out what we could see and visit. And the baths are one of the main attractions of the city.
The main thing is that we did not forget to take all the bathing accessories from home (swimming trunks, towel and flip-flops). Of course, you can buy all this on the spot - but why, if you have your own?
A little historical background from wikipedia:
The first artesian well supplying the bathhouse with water was drilled by Vilmos Gigmondi in 1868-1878. Water with a temperature of 74.5 ° C came from a well with a depth of 970 m. In 1936, under the leadership of Ferenc Pavai, the Vines drilled a second well: from a depth of 1240 meters, the hottest thermal spring in Europe, with a temperature of 77 ° C, beats. Cold water comes from six smaller wells. Szecheni's baths are located in Varosliget Park in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. The official website of the baths - http://www.szechenyifurdo.hu /, here you can see the ticket prices.
The complex has three outdoor and fifteen indoor pools!
The main entrance leads to a large hall under a dome, which is decorated with mosaics.
There are ticket offices in the hall where you can buy a ticket to the baths - a special bracelet with which you can pass through the turnstile to the locker room, and which will be the key to the locker with things.
By the way, it is better to come the sutra, there are not very many people yet, due to the fact that there are two types of lockers - a regular one with a shared locker room and a separate cubicle that closes with a lock (using the same bracelet), but the cubicle is more expensive. So, the usual lockers may run out (especially in the women's locker room) and you will have to pay extra for the booth.
Entering the bathhouse from the main entrance through the changing rooms with cabins, you will enter a hall with two thermal pools: one oblong with a water temperature of 38 ° C and one semicircular with a water temperature of 34 ° C. Behind which there is a semicircular area with a bench for relaxing.
The first time we came to the baths in the morning, at 9 o'clock, and there were no problems with the lack of lockers. We bought wristband tickets and went to change into our locker rooms, without agreeing where we would meet later. I quickly changed my clothes, and rushed to dive into the pool as soon as possible. I got into the very first one, I'm sitting, waiting for Olga to appear. 5 minutes have passed, then 10 and she is not there, how can you change clothes for so long or maybe she got lost? I had to get out of the water and go in search. It turns out that all this time she was waiting for me near the exit of the locker rooms. Where is the logic, because it is obvious that you need to go to the pool right away...
In general, we met and went swimming together.
We sat for a while in the first pools in the central hall. Then we went to see what else was there. From this room you can get into a wet steam room (there is so thick steam in it that almost nothing is visible at arm's length) with a temperature of 40-50 ° C, in front of which there is a shower room.
Going to the left from the central hall, we find a pool with a temperature of 28 ° C, where an artificial current periodically works. It is quite large and you can swim in it for a bit. 28 degrees is considered cold water, so we did not swim in this pool for a long time and did not notice any artificial currents. Going further, we see a small hexagonal pool with medicinal water (judging by the sign "medecne" on the wall) with a temperature of 36 ° C. Next to the pool there are two saunas, a light sauna (it is not clear what it is) and an aromatic sauna, as well as a steam room with a temperature of 50 ° C. And next to them is a small font with a temperature of 20 ° C.
Going further, we reach the exit to the courtyard with outdoor pools. Before going out, there is a special puddle on the floor to wash your sneakers and not apply dirt from the street. Further on there is a hall with pools, decorated with red columns and jugs. The temperature of the thermal water of the oblong rectangular basin is 35 ° C, and the thermal water of the semicircular basin is 38 ° C. At the end of the hall there are two smaller fonts with temperatures of 40 and 20 ° C, as well as a steam room with chamomile (and a hellish geyser in the middle from which steam is pouring). This steam room seemed to me the most brutal, I couldn't sit there for even a couple of minutes, the air burned my skin and nose when I inhaled, so I quickly jumped out of there. But I really liked the small font with forty-degree water. It's especially cool to sit in it first and then quickly run to the next one with twenty-degree water. And then back, and so on until you get bored.
Going to the right from the pool hall, located on the central axis of the building, there are approximately the same pools. However, instead of an artificial current, which theoretically exists but we did not notice in the left wing, there is one smaller pool and one oblong, with a water temperature of 38 and 30-32 ° C. Free water fitness is held in Oblong from 8 to 17:30 every half hour, which is mainly attended by local pensioners or Japanese tourists. Behind this hall with pools there is a hexagonal swimming pool, next to it there is a sauna and a steam room, both with a temperature of 50 ° C, as well as a font with a temperature of 20 ° C. The equivalents of the two thermal pools located in the other wing are not accessible here because they belong to the balneo clinic. This wing also has access to the outdoor pools.
If there were not very many people in the bathing rooms in the morning, then by 12 o'clock a lot of tourists from different countries come. And it is not always possible to find a comfortable place in any pool. Periodically, in the passages between the baths, there are employees who offer massages, of course, for a fee, and some other procedures.
Near the stairs that lead from the building to the outdoor pools are the entrances to the saunas, which are located in the basement of the building. Each of these saunas, which can accommodate up to 40 people, has one font with a temperature of 16 ° C. Also in one of these saunas there is a special hole in the wall for peeping from which ice-snow is poured out with which you can wipe yourself. Perhaps due to the fact that the entrance to the saunas is not immediately obvious, there are not very many people in them. And in general, I liked the basement sauna in the left wing the most - a good non-scalding steam and the opportunity to choose a bench at a suitable height, plus an excellent font with cold water.
There are three pools in the open part of the Szecheni bath: in the middle there is a swimming pool with a temperature of 26-28 ° C, in which, according to local custom, they swim in a circle. This is the only pool where it is necessary to use a swimming cap (when we were there, this pool was under renovation).
In the pool, located to the left of the central one, there is healing water with a temperature of 38 ° C, on the edge there is a statue of a girl with a swan from under which a fountain with hot water beats.
A sign on the edge of the pool says that it is not recommended to stay in it for more than 20 minutes, but for everyone as usual... and people sit there for many hours. Local pensioners play chess without leaving the water.
There are benches with tables and sun loungers around the perimeter of the pool, where you can sunbathe in good weather. When we went to the baths for the first time, it was cloudy and a strong and cold wind was blowing. So I didn't want to sunbathe. It was only possible to move between the pools in short dashes.
In the right outdoor pool with surprises, the water temperature is lower than in the left - 32-34 ° C.
In this pool there is an artificial current, jet massage for the back, underwater bubbles and there is also a small fountain under which you can swim. In the center of this pool there is a wall in the form of a ring, periodically (about every 10 minutes) underwater currents turn on which create something like a whirlpool inside (and all swimmers are dragged to the bottom by the current in a circle).
There are fountains with drinking water all over the territory of the bathhouse, some of them have mineral water, some of them have ordinary water.
During the first visit, we spent a little time in the baths - about five hours... From about 9 a.m. to about 2 p.m. Then I wanted to eat, and in general, as much as possible...
The day before we left Budapest, we no longer knew what else to do, and decided to go to the baths again. For a change, we are going to visit another complex - Gelert. Along the way, we walked along the Gelert hill with many paths with beautiful views of Budapest and the Danube. At the top of the hill is the citadel and the "Statue of Liberty". And we went down through the park to the Gelert baths. In general, there are probably 20 of these baths in Budapest, but the most famous are Szecheni and Gelert, all the others are small and more designed for therapeutic procedures, not entertainment for tourists. Going down the hill to the baths, we found out that it turns out that these baths have a division into male and female halves, and there are only a couple of common pools. It is also necessary to wear a bathing cap, it is good that at least no hat is needed for a beard. And you can buy a hat right here in the store, for only 700 forints. And the only interesting pool with artificial waves on which you can learn to surf is located outside and is no longer working due to the cold weather. And the ticket price is also higher than in Sections. In general, the expectations were not met. So after consulting, we decided to quickly run to the other side of the city to the Szecheny.
This time, we arrived at 12 o'clock and the lockers in the women's locker room were already over, we had to pay extra for a booth. But this time we took sandwiches with us for a snack.
We took turns swimming in all the pools, visited all the steam rooms. Some of them, which I liked, were several times. In general, we swam until 6 o'clock, with a break for sandwiches. On this day, the weather was calm and sunny, so while swimming in the outdoor pools, we even got a little tan.
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