Gellert Baths in Budapest: description, history, visiting features and reviews

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

The Hungarian capital Budapest is an ancient city known throughout the world for its sights and memorable places. First of all, this is the majestic Danube, on the banks of which there are magnificent buildings (for example, the building of the country's parliament). There are many religious buildings in the city - St. Stephen's Basilica, a synagogue, many palaces and castles.

Perhaps, while reading information about Budapest, someone may have come across what is sometimes called the “city of baths”. And this is not accidental - today there are more than thirty establishments of this type in the city, which differ in the cost of tickets, the level and quality of the services provided. The slightly grandiose Gellert baths, the very popular Széchenyi or modern Rudash, like many others, await their guests throughout the year. There are several complexes that meet vacationers only in summer. Probably, it would be more correct to call them bathing beaches, since here, as a rule, they are not treated, but they get great pleasure from the local water,fresh air and comfortable living.

The Gellert Baths in Budapest, with great competition, are recognized by specialists and vacationers as the most beautiful. It's funny that in the beginning the baths were called Sarosfurdo, which means "dirty". This name was associated with a large amount of silt in the lake formed by the sewage of Mount Gellert.

History

The inhabitants of Budapest love to tell the legend of a hermit monk who lived in a cave above the future bathhouse. He was the first to experience the healing properties of local water and began to offer the sick to plunge into the waters of the muddy lake. It is the mud that distinguishes the Gellert baths from other establishments of this type.

The thermal springs on this land were discovered in 1433. Local chronicles keep references to the fact that the baths and baths of Gellert (Budapest) were visited by King Andras II from the ancient Arpad dynasty. He ruled the country in the 13th century. Here he took baths, and he also ordered the construction of the first water clinic near the springs. The Ottomans who conquered Buda destroyed it and built Turkish baths on this site.

In the first half of the 19th century, Blocksbad (as the baths were called in the German manner) became the property of Istvan Segitz. He opened the "healing magical spring" to the general public. Above the baths, a one-story building of very modest size was built. Immediately, the inhabitants of Buda and Pest began to contemptuously call it "muddy shed". The situation was corrected by Emperor Franz Joseph I,who heard a lot about the healing properties of "dirty baths". He ordered to begin the construction of a building over the baths, "equal in beauty to the palaces of kings." The construction of the complex lasted six years. Its official opening took place in 1918. This is how the healing bath and the Gellert pool appeared.

Description of the building

The magnificent complex, which is a hotel and a spa at the same time, was made in the then fashionable art nouveau style. The project was led by well-known architects Negedus Armin, Sebastian Artur and Shterk Isidore. They managed to create a real masterpiece: marble columns, arched gates adorned with statues, huge stained-glass windows depicting scenes from epic poems, magnificent floor mosaics, huge pools of rare Zsolnay pyrogranite.

The building looks more like a luxurious palace than ordinary hydropathics, which until that time had rather modest interiors. The four-storey building of the Gellert Hotel with stucco on the facade and dome has been attracting visitors for almost a hundred years, and the interiors amaze with splendor.

Beach bath

In 1927, the complex was supplemented with a beach bath with "hot tubs" and waves. The original wave-creating unit still works today, although World War II did not spare the hotel-palace. The Gellert Baths were bombed several times and the complex was almost completely destroyed.

The difficult economic situation in the post-war years did not allow to restore it to its original form. It took years to recover. Only a grand renovation in 2008 allowed the Gellert Spa Hotel to return to its former splendor, which, in fact, is a remake.

Bronze statues and marble columns, fountains with mineral drinking water and leather sofas - this is how the Gellert Baths look today. The prices for visiting the complex are quite high, but we will talk about this a little later.

Saunas and pools

The springs of Mount Gellert provide the baths with mineral water. Its temperature ranges from +19 °C to +43 °C. Water is used to treat many serious ailments.

rules for visiting the gellert bath budapest

To date, the Gellert baths have twelve pools. Two of them are outdoors and the rest are indoors. Among them it is worth highlighting:

500 square meters wave pool (outdoor) (+26 °C);
seating pool (outdoor) sixty square meters (+36°C);
with hydromassage, over two hundred square meters (+26 °C);
medical thermal pools (+36 and +38°C);
with underwater drawing (+35 °C);
seating pool indoor (+26 °C);
cooling (+19 °C);
adventure pool (+36°C);
children (+30 °C).

Services

Gellert bath offers visitors a wide range of spa services and balneotherapy. This is:

carbonic baths before mud therapy;
s altcamera;
pearl baths;
electrotherapy;
different types of massage (refreshing, healing, hot stones, Thai, aroma massage and others).

Who is shown visiting the baths?

Gellert mineral waters contain calcium, sodium, magnesium, silicic and metaboric acids. Doctors recommend treatment for patients with diseases:

spine;
joints;
with changes in intervertebral discs;
with PTSD;
with vasoconstriction;
with changes in the nervous system;
with circulatory disorders.

Pairs

It is rather difficult to imagine such a number of steam rooms concentrated in one place. This is a Turkish and "gas" bath, with aromas of herbs and mud poultices. Here you can also have a session of water massage: beam and jet, refreshing and in warm water (according to the Watsu method), classical therapeutic and aromatic. All of them work wonders, helping a tired body. Inhalation is provided for the treatment of respiratory diseases.

Rules for visiting the Gellert Baths (Budapest)

First of all, you need to purchase a ticket at the box office of the complex. Along with it, the visitor receives a plastic bracelet, which is a kind of pass for passing through the turnstile.

The locker rooms are divided into women's and men's. They have a row of lockers for clothes and benches. The lockers are all very similar in appearance, and ifsuddenly you forget which one is yours, it is enough to walk along the rows with your bracelet - your locker will “respond”. If you don't want to change in the common room, buy a cabana ticket. In this case, no one will embarrass you.

When the weather is fine (especially in the summer), most visitors prefer to spend time at the outdoor wave pools. The mechanism that creates them is turned on every hour for ten minutes. On the open part of the bath there is a cafe where you can enjoy aromatic coffee or taste fresh juice.

Most pools are only allowed with a rubber cap, which can be purchased (or rented) here. Visitors must leave the pools 15 minutes before the complex closes.

The Gellert Baths are open to the public throughout the year. In winter, there is one open-air swimming pool located next to the sauna house.

Interesting facts

The Gellert Baths have only closed once in their long history, due to a burst pipe.

This complex is often chosen for filming by famous directors. Such tapes as "Battery" by Jan Sverak, "Cremaster" by Matthew Barney and others were filmed here. Views of the baths can be seen in the film by German filmmakers (1936) "Wo die Lerche singt", during the performance of the legendary composition "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" by Martha Eggert.

In 1934, Budapest received the title of Spa City. The Gellert Baths won the National Product Grand Prix in 2013year.

Gellert (baths) cost of visiting

Please note that the price of the entrance ticket varies on weekdays and weekends. In addition, the cost depends on where you prefer to change clothes (common changing room or a private cabin). Below we will give the cost of tickets, which is indicated in forints (the national currency of Hungary):

for an adult on a weekday - 4,900;
on weekends adult ticket (with locker) costs 5,100;
with cabin on weekdays - 5 300;
with cabin on weekends - 5 500.

Children under two years old visit the complex for free.

On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 11:00 to 15:00 sightseeing tours are held in the baths. The ticket costs 2,000 forints. Payment for all services is allowed in cash or by credit card.

How to get there?

Many Russians have already visited Gellert (baths). How to get here? You can take the metro - line M4 (green). You should get off at Szent Gellerttrr station; You will be taken to the complex from any district of the city by trams - No. 56A, No. 56, No. 18, No. 4 9, No. 19, No. 41, No. 47. Your stop is Szent Gellertter.

Reviews from vacationers

Many vacationers note that they were impressed by the Gellert bath. The reviews of many guests indicate that in comparison with another famous complex located in Budapest - Széchenyi, in Gellert there are more refined and expensive interiors, the room is much more spacious and smaller.visitors.

Most vacationers are sure that this is the best complex in Budapest. The interiors of the baths are fascinating, and the sensations of taking thermal baths are unforgettable. However, there are also negative reviews. Among the shortcomings, the payment of the deposit by card is most often mentioned, and the return of money in cash. Some guests did not like the complex system of passage to the baths. You must go to the lockers in street shoes and clothes. In addition, the keys are often not numbered, and locks do not work in many lockers.

But still, the vast majority of visitors consider such shortcomings to be trifles in comparison with the excellent effect of treatment, excellent rest, a lot of positive emotions from staying in a luxurious complex. The staff of the baths tries to make the guests' stay pleasant and memorable. And many more note the very friendly attitude of the locals. They are happy to talk about their hometown and invite them to visit more often.