Rudas is the Ottoman bath at the foot of Gellért Hill, on the Buda end of Elisabeth Bridge. Its Turkish bath was built between 1566 and 1572 and has been in use for more than 450 years: six thermal pools under a dome, the octagonal one in the middle. Around it are a 19th-century swimming hall and a modern wing with wellness pools, a sauna world and a pool on the roof over the Danube.
The one thing to know before you pick a day is that the Turkish bath is not always mixed, and the timetable below says which day is which. Treat Rudas as a historic public bath, not a hotel spa. Nothing is rented, and nobody under 14 is admitted.
- Entry
- Day ticket, night ticket online only
- Book ahead
- Advised at weekends and from noon
- Opening hours
- Bath and wellness section: Mon 06:00 to 22:00, Tue to Sun 06:00 to 20:00Turkish bath: Mon 06:00 to 22:00, Tue to Sun 06:00 to 20:00Sauna world: Mon 08:00 to 22:00, Tue to Sun 08:00 to 20:00Drinking hall: Mon closed, Tue 10:00 to 14:00, Wed closed, Thu 10:00 to 14:00, Fri to Sun closed
- Best time
- Weekday morning, or 06:00 at weekends
- Nearest stop
- Tram 19/41/56/56A Rudas Gyógyfürdő2 min walk
- Accessibility
- Not accessible, stair lift out of service
- Dress code
- Swimwear and slippers, cap in the swimming pool
- Age limit
- 14 and over
- Turkish bath days
- Tue women only, Wed men only, men only until 10:45 Mon, Thu, Fri
Rudas Thermal Bath tickets
Entry is by day ticket, sold by the bath online or at the desk, and the one partner product is a day in the bath with a three-course meal at the bath’s own bistro.
Budapest: Rudas Turkish Bath or Spa Day Pass & 3-Course Meal
Best for: A weekday in the bath with a three-course meal at Rudas Bistro
- Valid 1 day, with a table time you pick
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead
What’s included and more details
What’s included
- A full day in the whole bath, or in the wellness side without the Turkish bath, by option
- A 3-course à la carte meal at Rudas Bistro, or the chef's offer
- A coffee, a fruity lemonade, a wine or a champagne, by option
- Options
- Turkish bath, wellness and dining, or wellness and dining without the Turkish bath, each with coffee, wine or champagne
- Days
- Sold for weekdays. The calendar shows which dates are on offer
- Turkish bath days
- Women only on Tuesday, men only on Wednesday, men only until 10:45 on Monday, Thursday and Friday
- Not included
- Towels, bathrobes, swimwear and slippers, which the bath sells at its cashier. Nothing is rented
- Bring
- Swimwear, a towel and flip-flops
- Night bathing
- Not covered
- Not suitable for
- Children under 14
- Also
- Reserve now and pay later
Paying less with the Budapest Card
Budapest Card: Public Transport, 30+ Top Attractions & Tours
Best for: Taking money off an adult day ticket at the bath, if you are seeing more of Budapest than Rudas
- 24, 48, 72 or 96 hours from first use
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead
What’s included and more details
What’s included
- 20% off some adult day tickets here
- Free entry to Lukács, the card's own bath
- Unlimited public transport
- Free entry to more than 30 museums and attractions
- At Rudas
- A discount on some adult day tickets, not free entry. The bath's English and Hungarian pages word which tickets differently, so check at the desk
- Where it is given
- At the bath's ticket desk, in person, never online
- Worth it only if
- You are doing several things in the city. A card bought for one visit costs more than it saves
- The package is a day ticket plus lunch or dinner. You pick a table time when you book and bathe before or after the meal
- The bath’s own prices are higher from Friday to Sunday than from Monday to Thursday, and higher again on holidays and in high season
- Night bathing on Friday and Saturday is a separate ticket, sold only online by the bath
What each option covers, the bath’s own tickets and the Budapest Card discount: Rudas Thermal Bath tickets guide.
Highlights
Sit under the Ottoman dome
the octagonal pool below a 10-metre dome on eight pillars has been in use since the 16th century.
Soak on the roof over the Danube
the panorama pool is 36°C, with Elisabeth Bridge and the Pest skyline in front of you.
Go from 42°C to the cold plunge
the hot and cold pools side by side are what the regulars come for.
Plan your visit
Opening hours
The bath opens every day at 06:00 and closes at 20:00, or at 22:00 on Mondays. The sauna world opens at 08:00, and the Turkish bath keeps its own men’s, women’s and mixed sessions.
Bath and wellness section: Mon 06:00 to 22:00, Tue to Sun 06:00 to 20:00Turkish bath: Mon 06:00 to 22:00, Tue to Sun 06:00 to 20:00Sauna world: Mon 08:00 to 22:00, Tue to Sun 08:00 to 20:00Drinking hall: Mon closed, Tue 10:00 to 14:00, Wed closed, Thu 10:00 to 14:00, Fri to Sun closedThe Turkish bath timetable, night bathing and the pools shut for works: opening hours guide.
Getting there
Trams 19, 41, 56 and 56A stop at Rudas Gyógyfürdő on the embankment in front of the bath, about 2 minutes from the main entrance. From Pest, walk over Elisabeth Bridge.
Nearest stops
Every tram and bus, the walks from Pest and the night lines: how to get there.
Before you go
- Bring a towel and slippers. Slippers or flip-flops are compulsory everywhere, and nothing is rented. The cashier sells towels, bathrobes, slippers, caps and swimsuits
- Wear swimwear, and a swimming cap in the swimming pool, the only pool that needs one
- Aprons on single-sex days. On the Turkish bath’s men’s and women’s sessions two aprons are compulsory, one front and one back, and no aprons are allowed in the lobby. The bath gives a free reusable bath sheet with every ticket on those days
- Shower before and after the pools, with soap
- No glass on the terraces. Drinks bought at the bath’s buffet can go into the panorama pool in plastic cups, and nowhere else in the water
- Pay by card. Any cash has to be in forints
- Massages are extra, from the age of 14 and only with a valid bath ticket
- Valuables go in the safe. The bath takes responsibility only for items left there, not in the lockers
Accessibility
- Not accessible at the moment. The bath says on every page of its English site that it is not accessible to people with disabilities
- The reason is the stair lift. Its Hungarian opening hours page says the lift is out of service, so the wellness section cannot be reached by guests with reduced mobility
- Wait for the lift. Do not plan a visit in a wheelchair until the bath says the lift is working again
- The tram stop is at the door. Trams 19, 56 and 56A run low-floor cars, and 41 is not on the transport company’s low-floor list
Pools and saunas
The all-zones day ticket covers everything below. A ticket for one section only does not, as the tickets page explains.
Start in the Turkish bath
This is the reason to choose Rudas over any other bath in the city. The domed hall is the one the Ottomans built, and the octagonal pool in the middle sits under a 10-metre dome held up by eight pillars. The four smaller pools in the corners were added in the 1700s.
There are six pools at 16, 28, 30, 33, 36 and 42°C, with steam and hot-air rooms beside them. The bath recommends 20 minutes at a time in the thermal water.
It is also the section with the single-sex timetable, so check the day before you come. On a mixed session it is swimwear, and on a men’s or women’s session it is two aprons.
Get to the rooftop pool early
The panorama pool on the roof of the 2014 wing is the other thing Rudas is known for. It is outdoors, kept at 36°C and 90 centimetres deep, and it looks straight across the Danube at Pest, with Elisabeth Bridge beside you and the cliffs of Gellért Hill behind.
It holds 16 people at a time, which is the whole problem, and for most of the day it is full. The 06:00 opening at the weekend is when it is emptiest.
Drinks from the bath’s buffet are allowed in this pool, in plastic cups, and it is the only pool where they are. The rooftop is included in the all-zones ticket but not in the Turkish-bath-only ticket.
Go hot and cold in the wellness pools
The wellness section is the modern half of the bath and the part that is mixed every day. Its four pools run at 11, 32, 36 and 42°C, with neck showers and back massagers in the warm water. The cold plunge pool is the point. Sit in the 42°C medical pool, then lower yourself into the cold one.
Never jump into the plunge pool. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when the Turkish bath is single-sex, this is where mixed groups spend the day together.
Work through the sauna world
The sauna world has two Finnish saunas, one at 60 to 70°C and one at 90 to 100°C, plus an aroma sauna at 40 to 50°C, a steam cabin and a salt room at 25 to 30°C. The salt room is the gentlest of them and the one we would not skip.
It opens at 08:00, two hours after the rest of the bath, and stays shut during night bathing. Take your jewellery off, leave your slippers outside and sit on a towel.
Swim a few lengths in the old hall
The swimming pool is in the arcaded hall that opened in the 1890s, the second covered pool in the city. It is 20.5 metres long, 29°C and up to 1.8 metres deep, and it is used by people swimming proper lengths before or after work.
A swimming cap is compulsory here and nowhere else, and the cashier sells them.
How a visit to Rudas works
Pick the day for the section you want
The Turkish bath’s session decides this, so check the timetable at the top of this page. For the rooftop with room to move, come early.
Buy the right ticket
The all-zones day ticket covers the Turkish bath, the wellness pools, the sauna world, the swimming pool and the rooftop, with a locker. Night bathing is a different ticket. Cash desks close an hour before closing.
Keep the watch on
Your ticket comes as a proxy watch, which opens and closes your locker with a tap. Wear it until you leave, and put valuables in the safe rather than the locker.
Slippers on, shower, then the water
Change, put your slippers on and shower with soap before the pools. The pools and saunas must be left 20 minutes before closing.
Night bathing at Rudas
On the bath’s September 2026 timetable, night bathing runs every Friday and Saturday from 22:00 to 03:00, under the name Night above the city. It is mixed, Turkish bath included, and we would call it more relaxed than a party night: music in the swimming pool, the lit-up city from the roof.
It takes its own ticket, sold only online by the bath, and a day ticket does not cover it. What is open, what is not and how to get home afterwards: Rudas opening hours.
Insider tips
Be through the door before noon
The queue at the desk builds from about midday and is at its worst on Saturday afternoons, when the bath lets one in as one leaves. A weekday morning, or the 06:00 weekend opening, gets you in without it.
Monday is the late night
Monday is the one day the bath stays open until 22:00, and the Turkish bath is mixed from 11:00 until then. An evening soak after dinner works only on a Monday.
Check the bath's list of what is open
Pools and showers close in turn for works, and the bath lists them on the Available services page of its website. When we checked in late September 2026 the 28°C Turkish pool was running as a 20°C cold plunge pool.
Bring your own towel
Towels and bathrobes are sold at the cashier, not rented, which makes forgetting them an expensive mistake. On the men’s and women’s days the bath does give you a free bath sheet with your ticket.
Other thermal baths in Budapest
The choice between the historic baths is mostly about what you want from the day. Széchenyi in City Park is the big yellow bath with the outdoor pools. Lukács north of Margaret Bridge is the locals’ bath and the one the Budapest Card gets you into free, and trams 19 and 41 run there direct from the stop outside.
Gellért, along the embankment, is closed for rebuilding until 2028, and Rudas has been busier since it shut in October 2025.
Nearby attractions
The bath stands at the foot of Gellért Hill where Elisabeth Bridge meets the Buda bank, so the hill, the Castle and the Chain Bridge are all within reach on foot. The Great Market Hall is about 18 minutes’ walk, over Liberty Bridge to the Pest end.
Citadella
About 10 minutes up the hill above the bath, by the paths on Gellért Hill, and steep all the way.
Gellért Thermal Bath
About 12 minutes’ walk south along the embankment. Closed for rebuilding until 2028.
Széchenyi Chain Bridge
About 15 minutes’ walk north along the Buda embankment, to Clark Ádám tér at the Buda end.
Buda Castle
About 15 minutes’ walk north-west, with the hill to climb. Tram 19 or 41 to Várkert Bazár or Clark Ádám tér saves the stretch along the river.
History
The Turkish bath has been in use since the Ottomans built it, and the rest of Rudas grew round it over four centuries. The short version:
- 1566 to 1572
Sokollu Mustafa, Pasha of Buda, builds the domed Turkish bath over the springs.
- 1700s
The four corner pools are added under the dome, and the bath grows guest rooms.
- 1890s
The swimming hall opens, the city’s second covered pool.
- 1936
Women’s days end, and the Turkish bath becomes men only for almost 70 years.
- Second World War
The war destroys the north wing, and the Turkish bath survives undamaged.
- 2012
A restoration of the whole building is handed over.
- September 2014
The new wellness wing opens, with the rooftop pool.
- November 2025
Tuesday becomes a full women’s day and Wednesday a full men’s day.
The Green-pillared bath, the bottled water and the long fight over men’s days: history of Rudas Thermal Bath.