Széchenyi is the big yellow bath in the middle of City Park, with 18 pools, 3 outdoor and 15 indoor, fed by a spring that comes out of the ground at 77°C. It opened in 1913 as the first thermal bath in Pest.
The outdoor pools have stayed open through every winter since 1963, which is why the photo you have seen is of people up to their necks in steaming water with snow on the dome.
Treat it as a public bath, not a hotel spa. Nothing is rented, so you bring your own towel and slippers or buy them in the shop. A day ticket is good for one entry, and under-14s are not admitted.
- Entry
- Day ticket, locker or cabin
- Book ahead
- Advised, online tickets get priority when full
- Opening hours
- Mon to Thu 07:00 to 20:00, Fri 07:00 to 22:00, Sat to Sun 08:00 to 20:00
- Best time
- Weekday, before 09:00
- Nearest stop
- Metro M1 Széchenyi fürdőA short walk. The day-ticket entrance is round the far side
- Accessibility
- Limited: not fully barrier free
- Dress code
- Swimwear and slippers, cap in the lap pool
- Age limit
- 14 and over
- What to bring
- Towel and slippers, nothing is rented
Tickets
Entry is by day ticket, with either a locker or a private changing cabin. The Palm House ticket adds a lounge with everything supplied, and the Saturday night party is sold separately.
Széchenyi Spa Tickets with Optional Upgrades
Best for: A full day in the pools, with fast-track and early-morning options
- Full day, one entry
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead
What’s included and more details
What’s included
- Entry to the 3 outdoor and 15 indoor pools
- A locker or a private cabin, by option
- Fast-track and early-morning pass options
- Morning pass
- Entry until 09:00 only, Monday to Friday
- Bring
- Swimwear, towel, flip-flops, swimming cap, and your passport or ID. Towels cannot be hired
- Not included
- Massages and food
- Age
- Under-14s are not admitted
- Also
- Reserve now and pay later
Széchenyi Spa: Entry + Palm House with Snack and Cocktail
Best for: Arriving with nothing: the towel, robe, slippers and cap are supplied
- Full day, last entry 2 hours before closing
- Non-refundable, cannot be moved
What’s included and more details
What’s included
- Fast-track full-day entry to the bath
- The Palm House lounge, with a cabin
- Bathrobe, towel, disposable slippers and swimming cap
- A cocktail and a fruit bowl each, and unlimited water
- On the signs
- The bath calls the lounge Dayspalm
- Not included
- Tips
Sparty: The Ultimate Late-Night Spa Party Ticket
Best for: A late-night party in the pools, for over-18s
- 21:30 to 02:00, last entry 01:00
- Non-refundable
What’s included and more details
What’s included
- Entry to the party in the outdoor pools
- A locker
- Drink coupons with the premium option
- Not included
- Towels, flip-flops, extra drinks and daytime bathing
- Bring
- Passport or ID, swimwear, towel and flip-flops
- At the bars
- SpartyPay card only, no bank cards
- Not suitable for
- Pregnant women
Paying less with the Budapest Card
Budapest Card: Public Transport, 30+ Top Attractions & Tours
Best for: Taking 20% off a locker ticket at the bath, if you are seeing more of Budapest than Széchenyi
- 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 a standard locker ticket here
- Free entry to Lukács, the card's own bath
- Unlimited public transport
- Free entry to more than 30 museums and attractions
- At Széchenyi
- A discount on the standard locker ticket. It is not free entry, and the card's free bath is Lukács
- Where it is given
- The Steam entrance ticket office, in person. Not online, and not at the ticket machines
- Worth it only if
- You are doing several things in the city. A card bought for one visit costs more than it saves
- Children under the age of 14 cannot visit the bath, outdoor pools included, and staff may ask a young teenager for a passport or ID card
- Weekend dates cost more than Monday to Thursday, and a cabin costs more than a locker
- Only the day ticket can be cancelled (free up to 24 hours ahead). The Palm House and Sparty tickets are non-refundable
What each ticket includes, and how to get fast-track entry: Széchenyi Thermal Bath tickets guide.
Highlights
Sit outdoors in 38°C water
The outdoor thermal pool runs at 36 to 38°C all year, and it is the one where the chess gets played.
Get carried round the whirling corridor
The leisure pool has a circular current, underwater bubbles, neck showers and back-massage jets.
Go indoors for 15 more pools
They run from an 18°C plunge to a 40°C hot one, with 10 saunas and steam rooms alongside.
Plan your visit
Opening hours
Open every day of the year, from 07:00 on weekdays and 08:00 at weekends, with a late close on Fridays. Last entry is an hour before closing.
Mon to Thu 07:00 to 20:00, Fri 07:00 to 22:00, Sat to Sun 08:00 to 20:00Public holidays, the Palm House’s shorter day and the quietest times to come: opening hours guide.
Getting there
The bath has its own stop on metro line M1, Széchenyi fürdő, which comes up at the building’s south-west corner. Which way you turn from there depends on the entrance your ticket uses.
Nearest stops
The three entrances, walking routes through the park and parking: how to get there.
Before you go
- Bring a towel and slippers. Slippers or flip-flops are mandatory and nothing is rented. The shop sells towels, robes, slippers and caps, but not in every size
- Wear proper swimwear. Swimsuits, bikinis, swim shorts and burkinis are all fine. Street clothes, underwear, leggings and gym kit are not allowed in the pools
- A swimming cap is only needed in the lap pool
- Food is fine, alcohol is not. You can bring your own food and soft drinks and eat them on the terrace or in the restaurant. No alcohol and no glass
- Massages are extra. Aroma and refreshing massages of 20 or 45 minutes are booked at the bath, subject to availability, and only from the age of 14
- Leave the good jewellery at the hotel. The bath takes responsibility only for valuables left in its safe deposit boxes
Accessibility
- Not fully barrier free, and not wheelchair accessible into the water. Both are the bath’s own words: its visitor information says the first, and its contact page says flatly that the bath is not accessible by wheelchair. It is a 1913 building
- Guests with disabilities are welcome. Ask staff when you arrive for a private changing cabin large enough to keep a wheelchair in
- Do not count on a hoist into the pools. Getting into the water means steps and a handrail, so come with someone who can help
- No discounted ticket is offered for guests with disabilities, and prices are the same for every guest
- Assistance dogs are the only animals allowed into the bathing area
- Metro line M1 is not barrier free, so plan on a taxi or another route if you cannot manage stairs
Pools and saunas
Everything below is included in every day ticket.
Start in the outdoor thermal pool
The big hot pool in the courtyard is what most people come for, and it is the one in every photograph: yellow Neo-Baroque wings on all sides and steam coming off the water. It is kept at 36 to 38°C and is 1.3 metres deep, so you stand, or sit on the steps, rather than swim.
This is also where the chess is played. The bath itself calls the pool a famous place for playing chess, and you will usually find locals with a board set up at the side of the pool.
It is at its best in cold weather, when the steam is thickest and the contrast between the air and the water is the whole point. The bath recommends no more than 20 minutes at a time in the hot water, so alternate with the cooler leisure pool next to it.
Ride the whirlpool in the leisure pool
The second warm pool is cooler, at 30 to 34°C, and built for playing rather than soaking. Its centrepiece is the whirling corridor, a circular channel with a current that carries you round. It is stronger than it looks, and it is the most fun you can have in the building, whatever your age.
The rest of the pool has underwater bubble beds, neck showers and benches with massage jets at back height. Because the water is cooler, this is the pool to settle in if you are staying for a few hours.
Swim lengths in the lap pool, with a cap
Between the two warm pools is a 50-metre swimming pool at 26 to 28°C. It is for swimming lengths, not for lounging, and after the thermal pool it feels properly cold.
It is the one place in the bath where a swimming cap is compulsory. No cap, no swim, and a hat or a towel round your head does not count. If you did not bring one, the shop sells them.
Don’t skip the indoor pools
It is tempting to stay in the courtyard all day. That would be a mistake. Inside are 15 more pools, spread through a run of connected halls, each at a different temperature from 28°C up to 40°C, with cold plunge pools at 18 and 20°C. The layout is confusing on a first visit, so allow time to wander rather than looking for one pool in particular.
The interior is plainer than the courtyard, but look for the hall with the dark red marble columns and tall arched windows, which is the best-looking room in the building.
This is also the medicinal side of the bath. The water is classed as healing water, with calcium, magnesium, sulphate and fluoride, and the bath recommends it for arthritis and joint problems. Keep to 20 minutes at a time in the hottest pools.
Work through the saunas and steam rooms
All ten are included in the day ticket. The saunas run from the Phoenix at a mild 50 to 55°C, through the Volcano at 70 to 80°C, to the Dante at 80 to 90°C, so start low and work up. On the steam side there is a salt inhalation steam room, the Aquarium steam cabin and a salt chamber. The cold plunge pools are there for cooling off in between.
Two house rules to know. Sit on a towel so that neither skin nor swimwear touches the bench, and leave your phone outside. Free sauna rituals run on weekdays, so ask for the day’s times when you arrive.
How a visit to Széchenyi Bath works
Go to the entrance on your ticket
The building has three entrances and your ticket tells you which to use. The day ticket sends you to the Bath entrance on Állatkerti körút, on the north side by the Circus and the zoo. Fast-track and Palm House tickets use the Spa entrance under the big dome, on Kós Károly sétány on the south side.
Swap your QR code for a wristband
The QR code does not open the gate. Staff exchange it for a wristband, which lets you in and locks your locker or cabin, and which you keep until you leave. Download the ticket before you arrive, because a booking number on its own is not accepted.
Change, lock up and shower
Lockers are in the men’s and women’s changing areas, and a cabin is a private room that stays yours all day. Shower before you get in, and wear your slippers everywhere except in the water.
Stay as long as you like, once
Your ticket is valid until closing time. It covers one entry, so if you go out for lunch in the park you will need a new ticket to come back. There is a restaurant inside, and you can bring your own food and soft drinks.
Insider tips
Be in the water before 09:00
Weekday doors open at 07:00. At 07:30 the courtyard is close to empty. The crowd arrives after 09:00, and the sun loungers are gone not long after that.
Fridays run until 22:00
Friday is the only late night, with last entry at 21:00 and the pools open until 21:40. Come by 19:00 and you get more than two hours in the water.
Check which pools are closed before you pick a date
The bath takes its big pools out of use one at a time for maintenance, and lists the closures on the “Available services” page of its website. If your heart is set on the outdoor thermal pool, look before you book.
Coming straight from the airport? Book a cabin
A locker holds a backpack and nothing bigger. A cabin takes a suitcase, stays yours all day and locks with your wristband, so the bath works as a first or last stop with luggage in tow.
Nearby attractions
The bath stands in the northern half of City Park, so the rest of the park’s sights are a few minutes away on foot.
Heroes' Square
About 7 minutes south-west on foot through the park, with the Millennium Monument at its centre.
Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden
About 5 minutes west on foot along Állatkerti körút, the street the Bath entrance is on.
City Park (Városliget)
The bath stands inside it. Vajdahunyad Castle and the lake are about 9 minutes’ walk due south.
Andrássy Avenue
Starts at Heroes’ Square, about 7 minutes’ walk from the bath, and runs down to the city centre.
Did you know?
- The spring that started it all was drilled on what is now Heroes’ Square, in front of the statue of Árpád. The job began in November 1868 and took until January 1878.
- Six years after opening, in 1919, the bath took more than 890,000 guests, which is why it had to be extended.
- The 1927 extension gave Pest its first swimming pool, 50 metres by 18.
- The water comes from a second well finished in 1938, named the St Stephen spring, which delivers it at 77°C.
- The outdoor pools have run through the winter since 1963, when the changing rooms were made fit for cold weather.
History
Pest had no hot springs at the surface, so its first thermal bath began with a mining engineer, Vilmos Zsigmondy, and a drill. The short version:
- 1868
Pest’s council approves a deep well in City Park, and Vilmos Zsigmondy starts drilling that November.
- 1878
The well is finished after more than nine years, bringing up water at 74°C.
- 1881
A temporary Artesian Bath is operating in the park on the new spring.
- 1909
Building starts on a permanent bath to plans by Győző Czigler.
- June 1913
The Széchenyi bath opens.
- 1927
An extension adds the outdoor pools, including the first swimming pool on the Pest side.
- 1938
A second, deeper well, the St Stephen spring, takes over the supply at 77°C.
- 1998 to 2006
Every pool in the bath is renovated.
The drilling, the architect who never saw it open, and the war: history of Széchenyi Thermal Bath.