Snow and bathing suits...

The Széchenyi Bath

30°F weather. Gentle snow falling. Icy sludge covering the streets.

Most people would choose to sit around a cozy fire and drink hot chocolate. Not us. We suited up…bathing suit-ed up! That’s right. Amidst the snowflakes, the four of us were running around a Budapest city park in our wet bathing suits.


Ceiling at the entrance

The Széchenyi Bath (or Széchenyi-gyógyfürdő if you want to sound like a Hungarian) is the largest medicinal bath in Europe. Its water is supplied by two thermal springs, the deepest and warmest thermal wells in Budapest, which were discovered in 1879. The baths were built in 1913.


Hall at the entrance

Enough with the history lesson. What’s it really like to soak in thermal baths with the locals? Well, there are a lot of Speedos (Dad and Jonathan were way over-dressed). But once I got used to that, I could enjoy the 15 or so pools, ranging from large hot tubs to pools that looked like church baptisteries, whirlpools to long rectangular pools for swimming laps. We decided to dive in.

We each had a small towel and slip-on shoes. (Two of us did not bring flip-flops, so we cruised around looking all sorts of cool in our fluffy bedroom slippers.) Each pool had storage cubbies for your towels and such, so you could soak and then get out and move your stuff to the next one. In all, we visited three or four pools and two saunas.


Our changing cabin

Use charades to talk with cabin attendants who usher us to our assigned changing rooms. Change into bathing suits. Head to pools, a.k.a. Speedo Land.

Pool 1
Mini-description: Semi-circle indoor pool designed to seat 25 people. There were about 24 Hungarians already soaking when we got in. It was warmish, but we left fairly quickly in search of hotter waters.
Temperature: 34ºC/93ºF
Score: 4

Hesitantly walk through the door leading to the outdoor pools…and outdoor weather!



Pool 2
Mini-description: Massively huge, lavish-looking circular outdoor pool with a whirlpool in the center. Fountains spewed water into the pool and one side had bubbling jets coming up from under your feet. Ambiance was amazing – snow falling on your head as you swim around in circles in the whirpool or lean into jet bubbles strong enough to hold you up like an invisible arm. But we were all still cold, which affects the score below.
Temperature: 34ºC/93ºF
Score: 7.5

Walk as quickly as is safe on the icy paving stones and haul it indoors.

Sauna 1
Mini-description: Long narrow room with wooden benches and tile floors, gorgeously hot. Jonathan claims he hasn’t been this happy since last August. Just outside the door is a cold dipping pool chilled to 27ºC/80.6ºF for people braver (crazier?) than we.
Temperature: Sauna-rific
Score: 9

Decide to brave the elements again. Walk/run to the pool at the other end of the complex. Oh. Brr.



Pool 3
Mini-description: The one in all the brochures. A huge fountain of Venus pours hot water into a large round pool, like a waterfall massage on your shoulders, while old men sit on submerged chairs and play chess.
Temperature: 38ºC/100.4ºF
Score: 10!





Sufficiently prune-fingered and steam-treated, run back indoors.

Sauna 2
Mini-description: Stadium seating wooden benches on three sides of a square room. All facing the clock that reminds you not to over-bake. Kari discovers saunas are her new happy place.
Temperature: Heavenly
Score: 9

Make our way back to changing cabins. Dress suitably for winter and walk outside into the snow.