The Hungarian capital Budapest is an ancient city known worldwide for its sights and memorials. First of all, it is the majestic Danube, on the banks of which there are magnificent structures (for example, the building of the country's parliament). The city has many places of worship - St. Stephen’s Basilica, a synagogue, many palaces and castles.
Perhaps someone, when reading information about Budapest, was faced with the fact that sometimes it is called the "city of baths." And this is no coincidence - today more than thirty establishments of this type work in the city, which differ in the cost of tickets, the level and quality of the services provided. The slightly pompous Gellert baths, the very popular Secheni or modern Rudash, like many others, await their guests throughout the year. There are several complexes that meet vacationers only in the summer. Probably, it would be more correct to call them bathing beaches, because here, as a rule, they are not treated, but enjoy the local water, fresh air and comfortable living.
Gellert baths in Budapest, with great competition, are recognized by experts and vacationers as the most beautiful. It's funny that at 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 wastewater of Mount Gellert.
History
Budapest residents love to tell the legend of a hermit monk who lived in a cave above a future bathhouse. He was the first to experience the healing properties of local water and began to offer patients to plunge into the waters of a muddy lake. It is the mud that distinguishes the Gellert baths from other institutions of this type.
The thermal springs on this earth were discovered back in 1433. Local chronicles keep mentioning that King Andras II of the ancient Arpad dynasty visited Gellert (Budapest) baths and baths. He ruled the country in the 13th century. Here he took baths, and he ordered the springs to build the first water hospital. The Ottomans who conquered Buda destroyed it and built Turkish baths in this place.
In the first half of the 19th century, Blocksbad (the so-called baths in the German manner) became the property of Istvan Segits. He discovered a "healing magical spring" for visiting the general public. A single-story building of very modest sizes was built above the baths. Immediately, the inhabitants of Buda and Pest began to contemptuously call it "muddy shed." The situation was corrected by Emperor Franz Joseph I, who had heard a lot about the healing properties of "dirty baths." He ordered the construction of a building over the baths “equal in beauty to the palaces of the kings” to begin. The construction of the complex lasted six years. Its official opening took place in 1918. So there was a healing bath and a Gellert pool.
Building description
The magnificent complex, which is a hotel and a hydropathic center at the same time, was made in the Art Nouveau style that was fashionable at that time. Famous architects Negedus Armin, Sebastian Arthur and Shtork Isidor led the project. They managed to create a real masterpiece: marble columns, arched gates that adorn the statues, huge stained-glass windows depicting scenes from epic poems, magnificent floor mosaics, huge pools of rare Zholnai pyro-granite.
The building looks more like a magnificent palace than ordinary hydropathic centers, which until that time had rather modest interiors. The four-story building of the Gellert Hotel with stucco molding on the facade and a dome has been attracting visitors for almost a hundred years, and the interiors are amazing with magnificence.
Beach bath
In 1927, the complex was supplemented by a beach bath with "jacuzzi baths" and waves. The original wave generating unit still works today, although the hotel-palace did not spare the Second World War. The Gellert baths were bombed several times, and the complex was almost completely destroyed.
The difficult economic situation in the postwar years did not allow to restore it to its original form. It took years to recover. Only a grand reconstruction of 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 Gellert-baths look today. Prices for visiting the complex are quite high, but we will talk about this later.
Saunas and pools
The sources of Mount Gellert provide baths with mineral water. Its temperature ranges from +19 ° C to +43 ° C. Water is used to treat many serious ailments.
To date, the Gellert baths have twelve pools. Two of them are in the open air, and the rest are indoors. Among them are the following:
- wave pool (open) with an area of five hundred square meters (+26 ° C);
- a sitting pool (open) with an area of sixty square meters (+ 36 ° C);
- with hydromassage, an area of more than two hundred square meters (+26 ° C);
- medical thermal pools (+36 and + 38 ° C);
- with underwater stretching (+35 ° C);
- indoor sitting pool (+26 ° C);
- cooling (+19 ° C);
- adventure pool (+ 36 ° C);
- children (+30 ° C).
Services
A wide range of spa services and balneotherapy is offered to visitors by the Gellert bath. It:
- carbon dioxide baths before mud therapy;
- salt chambers;
- pearl baths ;
- electrotherapy;
- different types of massage (refreshing, therapeutic, 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:
- the spine;
- joints
- with changes in the intervertebral discs;
- with post-traumatic disorders;
- with narrowing of blood vessels;
- with changes in the nervous system;
- with circulatory disorders.
Paired
Such a number of paired, concentrated in one place, is quite difficult to imagine. This is a Turkish and gas bath with aromas of herbs and mud poultices. Here you can also get a water massage session: radiation and jet, refreshing in warm water (according to the Watsu technique), classic healing and aromatic. They all work miracles, helping a tired body. For the treatment of respiratory diseases, an inhalation is provided.
Rules for visiting the Gellert bath (Budapest)
The first step is to purchase a ticket at the box office of the complex. Together with him, the visitor receives a plastic bracelet, which is a kind of pass for passing through the turnstile.
Locker rooms are divided into female and male. They have a number of lockers and benches. The lockers are all very similar in appearance, and if you suddenly forget which one is yours, just walk along the rows with your bracelet - your locker will “respond”. If you do not want to change clothes in the common room, buy a ticket with a booth. In this case, no one will embarrass you.
In good weather (especially in summer), most visitors prefer to spend time at the outdoor pools with waves. The mechanism that creates them is turned on every hour for ten minutes. On the open part of the bathhouse there is a cafe where you can enjoy aromatic coffee or taste freshly squeezed juice.
Most pools are allowed to visit only with a rubber cap, which can be purchased (or rented) here. Visitors must leave the pools 15 minutes before the complex closes.
Gellert baths are open to visitors throughout the year. In winter, there is an open-air swimming pool located next to the sauna house.
Interesting Facts
In their long history, the Gellert baths were closed only once - due to a pipe rupture.
This complex is often chosen for filming by well-known directors. Films such as "Battery" by Jan Swierak, "Cremaster" Matthew Barney and others were shot here. Views of the baths can be seen in the film by German cinematographers (1936), “Wo die Lerche singt”, during the performance by Martha Eggert of the legendary composition “On the Beautiful Blue Danube”.
In 1934, Budapest received the thiul Spa City. Gellert Baths won the Grand Prix of national products in 2013.
Gellert (baths) price per visit
Please note that the price of admission varies on weekdays and weekends. In addition, the cost depends on where you prefer to change clothes (general locker room or a separate booth). Below we give the cost of tickets, which is indicated in forints (national currency of Hungary) :
- for an adult on a weekday - 4,900;
- on weekends an adult ticket (with a locker) costs 5,100;
- with a cabin on weekdays - 5,300;
- with a cabin on weekends - 5 500.
Children under two years of age attend the complex for free.
On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 11:00 to 15:00 in the baths conducted sightseeing tours. A 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.
Guest reviews
Many vacationers note that they were greatly impressed by the Gellert bath. The reviews of many guests indicate that in comparison with another famous complex located in Budapest - Secheni, in Gellert there are more refined and expensive interiors, the room is much more spacious and fewer 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 most often mentioned is the payment of a deposit by card, and a cash refund. Some guests did not like the complex system of passage in the bath. It is necessary to go to the lockers in street shoes and clothes. In addition, there are often no numbering on keys; locks do not work in many lockers.
But still, the vast majority of visitors consider such shortcomings trifles in comparison with the excellent treatment effect, excellent relaxation, and a lot of positive emotions from staying in a luxurious complex. The staff of the baths tries to make the guests relax pleasant and memorable. And many more note the very friendly attitude of the locals. They are happy to talk about their hometown and invite to come more often.