Prior to visiting Budapest, I was quite torn as to whether or not I wanted to visit a Hungarian Bath House. On the one hand, it is such a big part of Hungarian culture that I felt it was necessary to visit. But on the other hand, I had heard quite a few negative things about bath houses that I wasn’t sure if I was entirely comfortable visiting.
In the end, I decided that I had to do it, as it is such an important part of their history and culture. I really wanted to see for myself what all of the fuss was about.
On my food tour of Budapest, our guide had advised us that many locals who attend the baths actually have prescriptions from doctors, who have asked their patients to go to the baths, must like how our doctors here would prescribe a massage or physio. The locals who have prescriptions can enter the baths at a reduced cost, which is how so many locals can afford to go.
The baths are definitely not cheap. The entrance fee for Szechenyi set me back HUF6000 (which is just under $30CAD), but if you visit on a weekend the cost is even slightly higher. I did splurge or a private cabin, which I would highly recommend. The cost of a private cabin versus a regular locker is only a couple of dollars, but it is much more secure and private. The regular lockers are in a public locker room and there is no privacy at all, meaning you just change in front of everyone and everyone can see what you are putting into your locker. The private cabins are individual stalls and you can change inside of them and then lock the door to the stall, meaning no one else has access to your things. The cabin is big enough to store the belongings of several people, although you may not be able to fit more than 2 adults in there at once.
From the outside, I would never have guessed that it is a bath house. It just looked like every other beautiful European building.
Szechenyi is exactly what I had imagined it to be like. It is huge and you can easily get lost, because all of the baths look quite similar. Most people prefer to spend their time outdoors and that is what I did as well. The water temperature of each pool is slightly different and I had heard that each pool caters to a different healing technique. Unfortunately, none of this was posted in English, so I just entered the pools without knowing what each of them are for.
Perhaps because I didn’t grow up in a place with a bath culture, I’ve never really understood why people love going to baths. From Japanese onsens and Korean jimjilbangs to Turkish and Hungarian baths, I’ve never been the type to plan a trip around these things. However, it was quite a unique experience and I’m really glad I got to try it.
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