Most of the thermal bath houses in Budapest are open every day, often including bank holidays like Easter, Christmas, March 15 or August 20. Below you can find the general opening times of the major thermal baths in the city of Budapest.
Minimum age of entering the thermal bath pools: 14 years of age. Read more about Children / Teen / Student Tickets in Szechenyi Bath.
Szechenyi Bath Opening Hours
Out of the 18 pools in Szechenyi Bath, 3 pools are open air, while 15 pools are indoor. The outdoor and indoor areas have different opening hours
- Mon- Fri: 7 am to 8 pm Last entry for convenience: 2h before closing time
- Sat-Sun: 8 am to 8 pm Last entry for convenience: 2h before closing time
- Saunas and Steam rooms: from 10 am to 7.30 pm every day
- Palm House: Mon-Wed: 9 am to 6 pm and Thu-Sun: 9 am to 7 pm.
- Check-in for the online bookings: minimum 2 hours before closing time, possibly 3 hours in order to enjoy the bath facilities in a convenient way. Shorter bath visits are less likely to be satisfactory or ‘enough’. Note: in festive periods Szechenyi Baths tends to run full house with waiting time of approx. 30-60 minutes. For a more relaxed bath experience we suggest taking a look at alternative baths, like Gellert Bath, Rudas Bath or Lukacs Bath which tend to have calmer, less busy pools and bath facilities as well as shorter waiting times on special holidays (e.g. Christmas or New Year).
Opening hours for the festive season
24 December 2024: from 7 am to 1 pm
25-26 December 2024: from 10 am to 8 pm
27-30 December 2024: from 8 am to 8 pm
31 December 2024: from 8 am to 6 pm
1 January 2025: from 10 am to 8 pm
From 2 January 2025, regular opening hours will apply.
Gellert Bath Opening Hours
- Opening hours, Mon – Sun: 9 am to 7 pm Last entry: 2h before closing time (Steam rooms and Saunas from 10 am to 6pm)
- The outdoor Leisure Pool & the sunbathing terrace (former ‘wave pool’ – no waves currently!) is open in warmer months, from mid May to October (depending on weather conditions), while the rest of the pools, saunas etc. are open all year round.
- Festive holidays: please note that the Bath operates with shortened hours on special holidays (usually closing at 2pm on Dec 24, 6pm on other Christmas days, and opening later at approx. 10 am on Jan 1, New Year’s Day)
Opening hours during the festive season:
December 24, 2024: 9 am to 1 pm
December 25-26, 2024: 10 am to 8 pm
December 31, 2024: from 9 am to 6 pm
January 1, 2025: from 10 am to 8 pm
Lukacs Bath Opening Hours
Lukacs Bath is one of the historical thermal bath houses in Budapest, which is free to visit if you have a Budapest Card.
- Lukacs Baths is open from 7 am to 7 pm every day. Last entry: 6 pm
- Festive days have shortened opening hours.
More: Lukacs Bath opening hours
Rudas Bath Opening Hours
Rudas Bath is one of the Turkish baths in Budapest, built during the 16th century, and extended with a modern swimming pool later on.
Rudas Bath is currently the only bath in Budapest that offers men-only and women-only days at the Turkish Bath section. Rudas Bath has variable opening times, and is the only thermal bath in Budapest with gender-separated days.
The wellness area is open every day for both genders.
- Opening hours: Monday – Sunday 6 am to 8 pm.
- Late night opening hours (no party, just bath): Friday and Saturday from 10 pm to 3 am (no party. Bath Parties are in Szechenyi Bath on Sat nights)
- Last entry: 1h before closing
- Turkish Bath only: Men-only days: Mon all day, Wed all day Thur mornings, Fri mornings. The rest of the pools, like the big swimming pool are mixed on these days.
- Turkish Bath only: Women-only days: Tue all day
- Turkish Bath Mixed days: Thu – Fri- afternoons Sat-Sun all day
- Rudas Bistro inside Rudas Baths: open every day, except for special events when the Bistro operates as an event venue for private events
- Festive days have shortened opening hours and are always co-educated (including the Turkish Baths)
Palatinus Bath Opening Hours
Palatinus Baths is open every day of the week. It is an excellent choice for hot summer days close to the city centre when Palatinus Bath and Lido, situated on Margaret Island, offers a large green area with multiple open air pools (in addition to the indoor thermal bath).
- Opening Hours: 9 am to 4 pm (during the winter period)
Dandar Bath Opening Hours
Dandar Baths is open every day of the week and is mostly visited by locals. The bath is less spectacular architecturally, compared to Szechenyi Bath, Gellert Spa or Rudas Bath, but it is a locals favourite for its lovely thermal waters and affordable prices:
- Mon- Sun: 9 am to 7 pm (last entry at 6 pm)
Kiraly Bath -is closed until further notice
Kiraly Bath in Budapest is a mixed thermal bath from the 16th century Ottoman Turkish times. When the Turks occupied Hungary, and took the Buda Castle in a siege, several new baths were built with domes and octagonal pools (also featured in Rudas Bath and Veli Bej Bath in Budapest).
Kiraly Bath is currently under restoration, unavailable to visitors (until approx. 2026, TBD), sorry about the inconvenience. For a great alternative, please consider the nearby Rudas Baths or Veli Bej Baths in Budapest.
Last updated on Dec 9, 2024
Hi, i m comming the 30th december and i want to know if these baths are open 31 dec and 1-2 january , and also i don t know how to choose betewwen them. so if it is possible to know the differences and what is your recomandation,
Thanks in advance
Tarek
Hi
We are my daughters and me (their dad) in budapest from the 11 of july 2014 until the 140714.
What are the opening hours of the swimming pools indoor and outdoor?
Is gellert only indoor? And sezcheni?
Thank you
Salvador
Good evening, I would like in the evening with my wife on March 22 2014. I have read it is not a separated bath during the night, is that right? Will it be possible to have massages too?
Hello Bruno, on March 22, 2014, which is a Saturday night all thermal baths in Budapest are co-educated. The only bath that is gender separated is Rudas Bath, but even Rudas Thermal is coed on weekends. Whichever Budapest thermal spa you would like to visit on March 22 you can bathe together. Please bring swimwear as all public bath and spa facilities are mixed and guests are to wear swimsuits / swimwear.
Do some of the spa centers Szečenji, Rudas, Király, Gellert … a sauna for naturists and whether this particular plot?
Hello Arnold, sorry there is no naturist thermal spa bath in Budapest. But Rudas Bath has men only days 4x a week, and women only day 1x a week, when guests where aprons, but no swimwear. Likewise saunas are similarly co-ed and non-naturist. Only Rudas Bath is the gender separated bath in Budapest.
I always reccomend the Rudacs Bath…
There are many others principally The Gellert but having several years ago,when I moved to Budapest ,visited the Gellert bath and had my watch stolen and been treated abominably I vowed never to return.
I hope things have changed in that time…Surely they must have done and it maybe the great experience but still I would never ever return..The memory of that first experience is still with me..
Dear Mr Mark Rimmel, thank you for sharing your views. We are glad that you like Rudas Baths in Budapest. At the same time, we are very sorry to hear that you had such a bad day in Gellert Baths, and can only hope that with recent improvements you will give us another chance to let you enjoy the restored facilities. We admit that there is still room for improvement, and are working of every problem our guests report, or we observe. The staff is learning customer management skills and English.
We are truly sorry about the stolen watch, which we hope you have reported to our colleagues (some items are recovered, but they are typically towels, etc.). Items stored in the lockers and cabins in Gellert Baths, which have been closed by the guests, are not stolen. Items left by the pools are the responsibility of the visitors. Therefore, we strongly encourage visitors not to bring items of value, or to store them in the lockers and cabins, as we cannot control and keep an eye on what other guests are doing, taking, which bag or item belongs to whom in the hundreds and thousands of visitors per month.
It will still take a few years for Hungary to recover from the Communist years and its unfriendly and non-English communication, but we trust that changes are taking place for the better. Thank you for visiting Budapest and her baths.