Visiting bathhouses in Budapest, the city of spas

Sometimes called the “city of spas,” Budapest is home to over a dozen thermal spas. The bathhouses make perfect destinations for weary tourists, sore backpackers, and families — as well as hung-over concert-goers.

I visited two of Budapest’s biggest and most visited baths, Szechenyi and Gellert last summer. They were filled with 20-somethings wearing bracelets from the annual Sziget festival, a seven-day music event that’s one of the biggest in Europe.

Many of my fellow spa-goers looked like they could have used some of the healing powers the therapeutic waters have to offer. A week of partying can have that effect on your facial expressions.

The Szechenyi baths are located in City Park. The Neo-Baroque building is beautiful inside and out.

The three outside pools are decorated with various statues of water gods and marine life. Many of the statues have hot water shooting out, creating popular spots for hot water massages.

Visitors have their choice of 18 pools, five swimming pools and 13 thermal baths. The water temperatures range from 68-104 degrees Fahrenheit.

The inside is huge and made up of many different rooms, making it easy to get lost. In addition to hot and cold pools, there are sauna and steam rooms at various temperatures. There was even a pool with medicinal waters containing various minerals.

Bathhouses with indoor pools are open year-round, of course, but Szechenyi also has one huge hot pool outside that remains open all winter, with clouds of steam rising into the cold air.

Several outdoor pools outside of Budapest also operate in the winter, including those in Harkany, Heviz, Visegrad, Egerszalok and Hajduszoboszlo.

The Gellert Baths have many of the same features as Szechenyi. The baths are in the Hotel Gellert, on the opposite side of the Danube River. Gellert is on the Buda side of town, while Szechenyi is in Pest.

The Gellert’s facility is beautiful, if somewhat touristy. It features outdoor pools, including a wave pool and eight indoor thermal baths. But be prepared for a wait in the locker room on busy days. There were some 20 people waiting for their lockers to be opened or locked and only one attendant on the day I visited.

While you’re on the Buda side of the Danube, it’s worth a 20-minute city bus ride to Memento Park, where you’ll find monuments from the communist era. The park is a tribute to Hungary’s political struggles, from the Soviet takeover in 1949 to the Freedom Fighters’ protests against Communism in 1956, which were ultimately crushed, to the fall of communism in 1989.

On the Pest side of town is the House of Terror. The building was used as a headquarters and prison by the Nazis and the communists. Hundreds of Jews and anti-communists were killed in the basement.

After visiting the House of Terror, we needed a place to relax and decided to check out one more bathhouse.