Why the Szechenyi Baths are a Must-Do in Budapest

When I was a kid I hated baths. The thought of sitting in your filth (I’m German and a bit of a germaphobe) just didn’t appeal to me. But, as I’ve gotten older I’ve really started to enjoy the Sunday ritual of soaking away the week in a hot bath. When we were given the opportunity to check out the famous Szechenyi Baths courtesy of Hungaria Koncert we quickly jumped on it. I mean who could really turn down a day of soaking in a massive thermal bath surrounded by stunning architecture? We sure couldn’t and were so glad we spent a morning lounging in these beautiful baths. 

What to bring

When reading up on the baths I struggled to find exactly what to bring. I thought about what I would bring to a day at the pool and it worked out pretty well. 

  • Bathing suit
  • Towels
  • Shower flip-flops
  • Hair-tie 

You can rent towels at the bathhouse, but the pricing seemed a bit unreasonable (1000 HUF + 2000 HUF deposit). If you can sneak a towel from your accommodation you’ll save a few bucks. 

Experience with Hungaria Koncert

We visited courtesy of Hungaria Koncert with their bath and dinner cruise package. Unfortunately, the Danube was frozen during our visit so we couldn’t do the dinner cruise, but we had a lovely time at the baths nonetheless. With Hungaria Koncert we were able to stroll right into the main entrance, pick up our entry bracelets, and enter our cabin in about 5 minutes. No waiting in lines?! That’s my kind of service! 

My husband and I aren’t huge people, but we also aren’t tiny. These cabins are pretty small and barely fit my husband and I. In short, while changing I elbowed my husband pretty hard in the face and we then decided it was better if we changed separately. 🙂 The nice thing about the cabin is you can leave everything in there without any fear it might be taken. 

Why the Szechenyi Baths are so special

With over 100 thermal springs teeming underneath the city there’s no wonder why the “Paris of the East” is also often referred to as the “City of Spas”. A visit to Budapest isn’t complete without a stop by one of the beautiful baths and while quite touristy I see why the Szechenyi baths are one of the hot spots (literally!) of Budapest.

Forget the bath for second. The architecture of the Szechenyi baths is out of this world. I couldn’t get enough of the huge columns, Roman-like statues, and the contrast of the blue thermal waters with the bright yellow walls. 

If it weren’t below freezing I could have sat here all day, but the hubs was getting quite cold and my hands were blue from snapping pictures so we had to leave at some point. 

There’s something about swimming outside in freezing temperatures surrounded by beautiful architecture. If we had to do it all over again we would still have chosen the Szechenyi baths over the others simply because the beauty of this “spa palace” is unlike anything else we’ve ever seen. 

Visiting the baths in winter (the BEST time!)

Budapest is COLD in the winter. Swimming in an outdoor pool doesn’t sound like fun when the outside temperature is below freezing. But, floating through thick steam with snow flurries falling on our heads was absolutely magical.

If you happen to be traveling with your loved one this will likely be one of the more romantic moments of your visit to Budapest. We felt so relaxed soaking up all of the thermal energies from these gorgeous baths.

The best part of visiting in the winter? The baths weren’t that busy! We’ve seen pictures of the baths in the summer and were a bit nervous with how “touristy” it would be, but we were so lucky. We never had to push past people and had plenty of room to lounge around without feeling pressured to take up less space. 


Spending the morning at the Szechenyi baths was a perfect way to wind down at the end of our trip to this gorgeous city. With Hungaria Koncert, our visit was free of any extra stress or worries that typically come with visiting tourist hot-spots. Would we do it all over again? Just look at how relaxed I look in the above photo and I’m sure you can guess that YES we will definitely be back

Happy Trekking!

– Boots not Roots

**Special thanks to Hungaria Koncert for sponsoring our morning at the baths. As always, our opinions expressed are 100% our own and we would never promote something we didn’t 100% enjoy!**

Untold Morsels