Thermal bathing in Budapest

It has become part of my Budapest routine that on Tuesday mornings I go to the Rudas Thermal baths where  if I go before 12:00pm I get a pensioner's rate.  It is the only baths in the city which still has a separate day for women - Tuesday - the other days are exclusively for men.  Mixed bathing is allowed at the other thermal baths but there is something about mixing only with mostly naked women.  Some wear full custumes, some only pants and others a dinky little apron over mostly large naked limbs.  Other,s like me, are totally naked.

This is the icy cold pool you come to first but you don't go in there until later.

This is the main pool with the mid temperature water.

The domed  roof that has the mosaic coloured glass.

And the beautiful arches.  The water in the pools are of varying degrees of temperature.  The middle largest pool is the most popular and frequently used.  There is one with 33 degrees with the advice to stay in only 5 minutes.  A lady instructed me to go from the very hot one to the icy cold pool for a quick dip and after much hesitation I tried it and I was addicted.  The tingling, as your blood circulates, is a most invigorating sensation.  Thereafter, I kept going back and forth.  

There is also a dry and a wet sauna.  And the water is also drunk as a digestive.  I tasted it and it reminded me of the horrid Hungarian digestive drink Unicum.  People swear by both.

The baths were all built by the Turks during the reign of the Ottoman Empire when Hungary was one of the conquered and occupied lands.  The Turkish rulers, while much hated by the Hungarians, were nevertheless civilised and in many ways tolerant rulers.  They built these bath houses which have far outlasted the empire and are a big tourist attraction as well as much beloved by the Budapest natives and they are all well utilised.

I treated myself to a massage and chatted to the masseuse.  When asked why there was only one day for women she replied that there was less call by women.  Men were far heavier, that is, frequent, users of the bath houses.  I guess it is once again market forces that dictate the provision of services.

But I also mentioned in a previous posting that the baths are definitely considered therapeutic and many people get a doctors prescription for their use, in which case the cost is much reduced.  For people visiting, they need to shop around a little to find out which bath houses offer lower rates for which hours.  Early morning is cheaper in some places.  The Gellert and the Szechenyi baths are two of the most up market and expensive of all the baths.  There are also separate rates for the outdoor swimming pools and the indoor thermal pools.  But visiting a bath house is definitely something everyone should do once in their lifetime.  I did it in Casablanca in Morocco and I was the only western women there naked among the other ladies.  I was an object of some curosity.  In Budapest, nobody looks at you twice.