Aquaworld is an indoor water park on the northern edge of Budapest, attached to a hotel and open every day of the year. A tower of giant slides, a wave pool, warm adventure pools, a children’s area and a Sauna World sit under one see-through dome 72 metres across, with an Angkor-style temple in the middle.
Two things shape the day. The slides and the waves start at 10:00, not at the 07:00 opening, and on school-term weekdays the big slides take turns. And the ticket is a time ticket. You pay for a full day, three hours or an hour and a half, and staying past your time is charged by the minute.
- Visit length
- Three hours, or a full day with children
- Entry
- Full-day, 3-hour or 1.5-hour ticket
- Book ahead
- Advised at weekends, online sales end the day before
- Opening hours
- Daily 07:00 to 21:00
- Best time
- Term-time weekday, 12:00 to 16:00
- Nearest stop
- Bus 230 Káposztásmegyer, AquaworldAbout 2 minutes to the water park entrance. The end of the line
- Accessibility
- Step-free inside, slides excluded
- Under 14s
- Only with an adult
- Giant slides
- From 120, 130 or 140 cm, by slide
Aquaworld tickets
Aquaworld sells its own tickets, on its website and at the cash desks in the entrance hall. Neither of our ticket partners sells them.
Tickets are sold by time. The full-day ticket runs from opening to closing, the 3-hour and 1.5-hour tickets run from when you go in, and the 1.5-hour ticket is sold on weekdays only. Each comes as an adult, a student or senior, and a child ticket for ages 3 to 13. The morning swimming ticket gets you into the swimming pools from 07:00 to 10:00, with entry until 09:15, and has no child version. Children under 3 go free.
Family tickets cover two adults with one, two or three children under 14, or one adult with two. Weekdays cost less than weekends and the peak periods Aquaworld marks on its calendar. A student ticket needs a valid student card and runs from 14 to 26, and a senior ticket needs proof that you draw a pension.
- Buy online for a weekend or school holiday. Aquaworld says the park often fills on those days, and an online ticket guarantees you get in. Online sales stop the day before, so a ticket for today is bought at the desk
- An online ticket is for one date. It cannot be refunded and the date cannot be changed
- The clock runs on your wristband. The 3-hour and 1.5-hour tickets allow 15 extra minutes for changing, then every extra minute is charged
- Extras go on the wristband too, and you pay for them at the exit: a locker, towel and bathrobe hire, food and drink, the water walking ball. The Sauna World is included in the full-day and 3-hour tickets for anyone 14 or over
- One ticket, one entry. Leaving the building ends it
Highlights
Giant slides from a temple tower
Kamikaze, Whirlwind and Flying Carpet drop from the top level, with UFO, Rainbow and Black Hole a floor below.
Waves every hour
The wave pool slopes from a beach edge to two metres deep, and the waves start every hour.
A whole area for small children
Their own pools and slides, the Bongo Tree House, a spray park and a free indoor playhouse.
Plan your visit
Opening hours
Open every day of the year from 07:00 to 21:00, with the pools closing at 20:30. The slides and the waves start at 10:00.
Daily 07:00 to 21:00Which slides run when on a weekday, the seasonal outdoor pools and the quietest times to go: Aquaworld opening hours.
Getting there
Bus 230 runs from Keleti station through Heroes’ Square and Újpest-központ on the M3 to its last stop, Káposztásmegyer, Aquaworld, two minutes from the door. It runs about once an hour with a gap in the middle of the day, so when it is not due, take bus 30, which follows the same streets and stops ten minutes’ walk away. There is no shuttle bus.
Nearest stops
Every route, the timetable gap, driving and parking: how to get to Aquaworld.
Before you go
- No food or drink of your own. Only what is made or bought inside may be eaten or drunk, and nothing from the food counters goes into the pool areas
- Swimwear fabric only, in the pools and on the slides. Baggy T-shirts, long sleeves and water shoes are not allowed on the slides
- Bring slippers and a towel, or hire a towel or bathrobe. The shop opposite the cash desks sells swimwear, towels, slippers, goggles and swim nappies
- Shower first, and no sun cream in the water. Oily or sun-creamed bodies are not allowed in the pools
- Under-14s must be with an adult aged 18 or over, and cannot go into the Sauna World at all
- Your photo is taken at the entrance. Aquaworld photographs every guest on entry and can refuse anyone who declines
- Leave valuables in a safe deposit box at the reception before you go in. Aquaworld takes responsibility only for what is kept there
- Take your phone off the slides. Nothing in your hand, and no loosely fastened phone or action camera
- Paying: cash in forints or euros, or a card, and there is a cash machine in the water park lobby. There is no Wi-Fi in the water park itself
Accessibility
- Step-free inside. Aquaworld says disabled guests have obstacle-free access to all its facilities
- The slides are closed to anyone with limited mobility or a condition that affects movement, and to pregnant guests, even at their own risk
- The slide tower is climbed by stairs, and there are a lot of them
- No pool hoist is published, so do not count on one, and ask at the information desk when you arrive
- Buses 230 and 30 are wheelchair accessible. The step-free route from the metro is on how to get to Aquaworld
- Assistance dogs are the only animals allowed in, with their documents and harness identification
Slides, pools and saunas
Everything below is included in a full-day or 3-hour ticket, except where it says otherwise.
Climb the temple tower for the big slides
The giant slides all start from the tower in the temple building. From the top level go Kamikaze, Whirlwind and Flying Carpet, the three hardest, for riders of 140 cm and over. From the level below go UFO, Black Hole and Rainbow. Several of the slides loop outside the dome and back in, which is the tangle of turquoise tubes you see from outside.
Kamikaze and UFO are the two to queue for. Aquaworld supplies everything you ride on: single or double tubes on UFO, a single tube on Rainbow, a sliding mat on Whirlwind, and a sliding carpet on Black Hole and Flying Carpet.
The queue is where the time goes. At weekends and in school holidays expect to wait on the tower stairs, and when it is busy you hand your tube to the next rider and queue again. Each slide starts on a green light.
Save the Onion for the afternoon
The Onion is the big blue bowl beside the temple. Aquaworld expects confident swimmers on every slide and names it as a rule for this one, which lands in two metres of water. Riders must also be at least 130 cm. On school-term weekdays it opens at 14:00.
Two more slides do not start from the tower. Mountain Stream, of medium difficulty, is for riders of 130 cm and over. The Family slide is the easy one, with no height limit and a landing in under a metre of water, and it is the slide a whole family can do together.
Catch the hourly waves in the wave pool
The wave pool slopes like a beach, from nothing at the edge to two metres deep, and is kept at 28 to 30°C. The waves start every hour, so note the time when you arrive and be in the water when they do.
At weekends and in the school holidays this is where the entertainment team works, with water aerobics and games through the day. The water walking ball, a big inflatable ball you walk on the water inside, runs here from Friday to Sunday and on holidays, from age 5 and for an extra charge.
Warm up in the adventure pools between rides
The indoor adventure pool is two large pools with a current channel, bubble jets and loungers built in under the water, 140 cm deep and at 30 to 34°C. Swim through to the outdoor adventure pool, which is heated and open every day of the year, with neck showers. The two jacuzzis are hotter again, at 34 to 36°C and 36 to 38°C.
It can feel cool by the slides, especially in winter, and these are where people go to warm up. The sun loungers are first come, first served, and on a busy day they are taken early.
Give small children the Bongo Tree House and the spray park
The children’s area is the strongest part of Aquaworld for anyone under about eight. The indoor children’s pool is 30 to 60 cm deep, with slides for ages 3 to 10. The Bongo Tree House has two children’s slides, water cannons and interactive water games in 40 cm of water at 32 to 34°C, built for children not yet tall enough for the big slides.
The Aqua Spray Park is a watery playground of nearly 400 square metres for toddlers up to young teenagers, including children who cannot swim. Out of the water, the Bongo Kids Club is a dry playhouse with a slide, a climbing wall and a ball pit, free to water park guests. Staff look after over-3s there for up to three hours, and socks are compulsory, so pack a pair.
The awkward age is five to nine. A child under 130 cm can ride only Rainbow (from 120 cm), the Family slide and the children’s slides, so check the height table below before you promise anything.
Finish in the Sauna World
The Sauna World is set apart from the pools and has two sections. The swimsuit section has a Finnish sauna at 75 to 90°C, a steam room, a bio sauna, an infrared cabin, a salt room, a tepidarium and a Kneipp pool. The swimsuit-free section, for over-18s only, adds an aroma sauna, an ice chamber and a plunge pool, with a relaxation room.
Sit on a towel or a sauna sheet in every sauna, leave your slippers outside the cabin, and keep phones and cameras out of the swimsuit-free section. Sauna sessions with a sauna master cost extra. Book them ahead, or buy an e-token if places are left. The hammam belongs to the hotel’s Oriental Spa, which a water park ticket does not cover.
Aquaworld slides and height limits
Height decides what a child can ride, so it gets its own table. Children are measured at the first-aid point next to the adventure pool, with an adult present, and everyone under 151 cm wears a coloured wristband. Aquaworld makes no exceptions. The three from the top of the tower and the Onion are the hard ones.
| Slide | Starts from | Who can ride |
|---|---|---|
| Kamikaze | Tower, level 5 | 140 cm and over |
| Whirlwind | Tower, level 5 | 140 cm and over |
| Flying Carpet | Tower, level 5 | 140 cm and over |
| UFO | Tower, level 4 | 130 cm and over |
| Black Hole | Tower, level 4 | 130 cm and over |
| Rainbow | Tower, level 4 | 120 cm and over, single tube |
| Onion | Not from the tower | 130 cm and over, confident swimmers |
| Mountain Stream | Not from the tower | 130 cm and over |
| Family slide | Not from the tower | Everyone |
| Wave and Jungle | Children’s pool | Ages 3 to 10 |
Insider tips
Go in through the information desk with an online ticket
The house rules let guests with online tickets enter through the information desk, instead of the first-come, first-served line at the cash desks. Expect a queue all the same on a busy day, and buy by the evening before, because tickets for today are not sold online.
Get the height wristband before you queue
A child under 151 cm cannot ride a slide without a wristband from the first-aid point next to the adventure pool. Go there first, with the child and an adult, rather than finding out at the top of the stairs.
Pack a second towel in winter
Standing wet in a slide queue under a dome in January is cold, and so is the floor. A dry towel or a hired bathrobe for the queue makes a full day much more pleasant.
Check the bus home before you leave
Bus 230 back to town runs about once an hour, with nothing in the middle of the day. Look up the next one before you get changed, and if the wait is long, walk about 12 minutes to bus 30 at Homoktövis utca / Megyeri út. Both timetables are on how to get to Aquaworld.
Nearby attractions
Nothing else we cover is within walking distance of Aquaworld. Bus 230 runs from the door to Hősök tere M, on Heroes’ Square, in about 30 minutes, and these four are a short walk from that stop.
Heroes' Square
About 30 minutes on bus 230, then about 4 minutes from the Hősök tere M stop to the monument.
Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden
About 30 minutes on bus 230, then about 7 minutes’ walk from Hősök tere M. The other big day out with children.
Széchenyi Thermal Bath
About 30 minutes on bus 230, then about 9 minutes’ walk from Hősök tere M. Over-14s only.
City Park (Városliget)
About 30 minutes on bus 230. The park starts behind Heroes’ Square, and the lake is about 5 minutes’ walk from the stop.
Did you know?
- The dome is 72 metres across and five storeys high, and covers 4,200 square metres without a single support. It is a transparent multi-layer foil on glued timber ribs 40 metres long, built with a technique first developed in space research.
- The temple is there for a practical reason. Rather than take the steam extraction out through the dome, the builders hid the pipes inside a building in the style of Angkor’s temples.
- The water park opened to the public on 5 December 2008, the day after its opening ceremony, and the hotel took its first guests three days later.
- The pools are filled from the resort’s own karst well, and the waste water is cleaned on site, then fed partly to the garden lake and partly to the Mogyoródi stream.
- The water park holds at most 1,800 people at a time, which is why it can fill up on a busy weekend.