Gellért Bath has been closed since 1st October 2025 and will remain shut until 2028 for much-needed renovations! We can't wait to see it reopening in all its deserved Belle Epoque glitz and glamour.
Budapest is known for its glorious thermal bath culture and amazing hot springs.
We headed to Gellért Baths in Budapest and share our recommendations with you in this unbiased guide.
TL;DR
Gellért is one of the 4 major thermal baths in Budapest city, that is still open and accessible to the public. The other 3 include Széchenyi, the Rudas Turkish baths, and the Lukacs Baths.
All are historical baths that are located within Budapest, but each is very different from each other. We chose to visit Gellért because it's known for its Belle Époque aesthetics, which is rare anywhere in Europe.
We visited in mid-July (I know, not the best time for hot springs), on a Monday evening from 4 to 7 pm. We didn't have much time.
In a nutshell, pretty as it is, Gellért has many shortcomings, and we don't recommend a visit there, but I'll elaborate further because you might see it differently.
Pros
We'll start with the Pros and the positive aspects of our visit there.
| Pros | Notes |
| Getting There is Straightforward | Gellért is centrally located and easily accessible from anywhere in Budapest, all thanks to the outstanding public transportation network. This is probably also a reason why we decided to visit Gellért instead of the others, as it was closer to our accommodation. |
| Art Nouveau Aesthetics | The main reason why everybody visits Gellért is because of the art nouveau aesthetics. It's like you are stepping back in time, and it's absolutely stunning. The building is over 100 years old, and it's one of the last remaining baths that has the typical old world era vibes. You won't experience anything like this anywhere else in Europe or the world. |
| Natural Thermal Water | Not every European thermal spa has the luxury of being able to draw natural thermal waters from the depths of the earth. Budapest's water is mineral-rich and therapeutic. |
| Special Treatments | Gellért, as well as most other Thermal spas in the region, offer medical treatments which are connected to a national health scheme. These are obtained only with a prescription, and they come with a strict schedule. As far I know, special medical treatments may only be accessed partially by tourists. I recommend reaching out to Gellért Baths for more info. Ask for massage treatments at the ticket counter. |
| Hotel Accessibility | The spa is connected to the historical hotel of the same name, which can be a plus for whoever stays there. Both are not managed by the same entity. |
| Accessibility in General | Gellért is used for medical treatments, and therefore they are set up for wheelchair users. They have special, albeit outdated, equipment to help wheelchair users to get into the main indoor pool. |
Neither Pros nor Cons
| Both Pro and Cons | Notes |
| Swimming Cap Rule | The main indoor row swimming pool, which is the prettiest pool by the way, requires visitors to enter the pool with a swimming cap. In a way, it's a useful rule, as it keeps away the crowds. The swimming attendants strictly enforce the rule, and we loved that. But I can see how this can be annoying if you didn't know about these rules. You'd have to purchase a swimming cap, which is a bit uncomfortable, in the adjoining shop for 2000 HUF ($5). Swimming cap rules are also very rare in Europe. |
| The Lockers | The system is very different from most other places, and the people at the ticket counter don't explain it that well. You can get a ticket with just the lockers (which are tiny lockers) or you can get the ticket with a changing room which can be locked. It's cool that you can get a changing room to lock because of the space (never seen that anywhere else in Europe), which is a pro. You can use your bracelet to lock and open the door (either the red or blue bracelet) What bothered us was how badly maintained they were. The changing rooms are filthy. That said, if you opt for the cheaper ticket with just the lockers, you can still use the changing rooms that are not locked to change your clothes. Nobody explains that anywhere! |
| The Staff | I have mixed feelings about the staff. The people at the ticket counter make you feel unwelcomed, they speak basic English, and they don't like questions (there were no queues and nobody was in a rush). Other staff members within the bath complex were very friendly and helpful. Shout out to the elderly lady in the massage rooms, she was lovely! |
| Bistro Café | We didn't order any food or drink because we didn't stay long enough. |
Cons
| Pros | Notes |
| Size | It's compact and rather small. You will find one main large swimming pool, a hot spring pool outdoors, a large former wave pool outdoors, and two-ish hidden pools in the corners indoors. By the way, this place is a maze. |
| Opening Hours | They are open from 9 am to 7 pm. The thermal baths in Budapest close rather early compared to other spas across Europe. While we were getting ready to leave at 7, we noticed that they didn't make any closing time announcements. So, we asked one of the staff, and they explained that in the summer months when the pools are busy, they tend to close at 8 pm. It would have been nice if they announced it somewhere. To compare, the Rudas thermal bath near Gellért offers special nighttime swimming hours. They frequently close down pools for maintenance lately. |
| Sauna | We didn't get to the sauna as we got there late, and they close by 6, which is on us. But our main problem was, we couldn't find them, just like all the other visitors who were looking for the sauna. That said, saunas in Hungary are with swimsuits and they are not nude areas. Just something to keep in mind. |
| Filthy Conditions and the facility is falling apart | The moment you enter the changing room area, you will notice that things are running differently here. The floor is dirty with water hair and mud mixed. Changing room doors and handles are sticky or oily, the changing rooms are beyond filthy. The toilets looked the same and the pool had weird particles and hair floating in the water (except the row swimming pool). When you get close to the art nouveau themed pools, status and fountains etc, you notice that everything is falling apart. Tiles are missing. The facility hasn't been maintained enough. |
| Prices | We paid a peak season day ticket price with changing room for one ticket, which is 13500 HUF (local currency) or $36 per Person. It's very overpriced for what you get compared to other spas in Central and Eastern Europe. They charge higher rates on the weekends and during the peak season, but they didn't think of providing another option besides a day ticket, such as a 3-4 hour ticket. The historical Thermal spa is a cash cow for somebody. |
| Other Visitors | The facility is aesthetically unique and this attracts countless Instagram photographers and models, and they will stand in one place for 30 minutes for that perfect picture. It doesn't matter whether they bother other visitors or not. The facility is filled with visitors, and it doesn't look like they stop anybody from entering when it's bursting full, which is of course, not nice. Most tourists don't heed the showering rule before entering the pool section. Some tourists are very loud. Thermal baths are never that loud, so that was shocking. The rules point out that children from 0-14 are not allowed into the facility. We saw a couple with a baby. Slippers are supposedly mandatory, but we saw people not having any in the lockers, toilets etc. We did not see any Hungarians visiting Gellért thermals. Gellért is clearly a tourist trap. |
| Electronic Cashless Facility | Modern spas in Europe have implemented a bracelet cashless system to use the paid facilities within the complex in ease. Gellért doesn't do that yet, here you have to use cash, debit/credit card or a totop-upard (which you have to wear around your neck) to purchase food and drink within the facility. |
Photos
Our Conclusion
Visit Gellért Thermal Baths if you want to see and experience an art nouveau ambiance. Don't expect to find a moment to relax in there.
Unfortunately, this facility is a mismanaged and crumbling piece of history that has been turned into a Tourist trap.
The complex is in dire need of a full restoration. After all, Gellért baths is over 100 years old.
They can fix many issues by enforcing more visitor rules and by decreasing the visitor count. The crowd that is visiting Gellért lacks common civic sense. I suspect most are first time thermal bath visitors and they come from all over the world.
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