To save a night of lodging, we decided to take the 10-hour night train from Krakow to Budapest. This was our first trip in a sleeper car, and we thoroughly enjoyed lying in bed watching the Polish, Czech, Slovakian, and finally, Hungarian countryside whiz by.
We didn’t get much sleep though. The cabin was a bit stuffy with the window closed, so we left it open all night. The noise from wheels screeching to a stop woke me up every few hours, along with the lights from the stations flashing in the windows. Around 3:00 a.m. we stopped somewhere in the rural Czech Republic for about 45 minutes while our car was detached and coupled to a new train. It’s a strange feeling to fall asleep on one train and wake up on another.
After a great dinner at Castro Bisztro (try the carrot soup), we decided to relax at a late night swim party at Rudas Baths– a 16th century Turkish bath on the Buda side of the Danube.
We soon discovered that Budapest is a very pretty city!
Budapest is rich in thermal springs, so there are dozens of baths around the city. The baths are one of many gifts from the Ottoman occupation of Budapest in the 16th century. It is a favorite activity for locals and tourists. Doctors even prescribe bath sessions as therapy! The water in the baths is rich in calcium, magnesium, fluoride ions, hydrogen-carbonate, sulphate and sodium, which supposedly helps all sorts of ailments.
Having read up a little on the baths beforehand, we were prepared for a little confusion about how to pay, where to change, how to work the lockers, etc. Everything we read was accurate. The entry fee was a fair price (around $15), but we forgot towels. Luckily, they had towels for rent, but at the steep price of 15,000 forints– that’s over $7 each! Not until we entered were we told by the smarmy door boy that we would get 4,000 back upon leaving. Good news.
We entered the turnstile with our rubber RFID bracelets and were pointed toward a dour older lady who barked directions at us in Hungarian. After much confusion, we handed her our receipts and she handed us our towels while yelling, “down, down!” repeatedly.
We gathered that we were to go downstairs.
Here we found rows and rows of changing room doors and little electronic kiosks on the walls. We tried a few doors with our bracelets only to get a red light. Denied. We stood watching what other people did for a while. Most were confused like us. Eventually, we realized that we needed to scan our bracelet at at a kiosk for a changing room assignment, and then the bracelet would unlock the door. High tech, right?
After changing into our bathing suits, we were finally ready to take the plunge. We tip-toed out of the chilly locker room and climbed a short staircase. At the top we found a doorway with a little pool of freezing cold water a few inches deep to rinse your feet as you entered. Was the bath going to be this cold?! We timidly walked through and founds ourselves in a huge domed room with a large steaming bath in the center and four more in each corner. There were doorways on all sides leading to saunas, steam rooms, massage rooms, lockers, and showers.
Rudas was built in 1550 and has only recently been opened to women bathers.
Most of our fellow bathers were in their twenties or thirties since this was the late night special (10 p.m. to 4 a.m.). Men were clad in everything from long, Michael-Phelps-style pants to Speedos to long baggy trunks. Nearly all the women were in two pieces, some more modest than others. Europeans are not afraid to show a little skin.
The lights were low, the steam was billowing, and the water was hot. It was a very relaxing atmosphere. The water is not chlorinated. Each of the baths was heated at a different temperature. Bathers casually made their way from one to another and let the temperatures work on their bodies. The saunas and steam rooms also varied in temperature from mildly hot to stifling. I don’t care for the steam rooms, but Clark is a big fan. He probably spent 30 minutes in the hottest one.
As you would expect on a Friday night, there were a lot of couples at the baths. It is the perfect weekend activity after a hard week at work. Most were well behaved, just a little snogging here and there. However, some were more bold.
About 10 feet to our left, one couple was obviously having a good time. In the interest of keeping this post rated PG, I’ll just say they were getting a bit frisky and left onlookers wondering what was going on under the hot, undulating water.
We spent a good three hours at Rudas and were quite limber when we departed, despite another run-in with the towel lady and rude door boy. She was even using one of the handrails for support at one point.
A couple of days later, we tried out the largest bath in Budapest, Szechenyi Baths. This huge complex is even harder to navigate than Rudas, but much grander and beautiful. There are corridors leading to seemingly endless pools of different sizes, temperatures, depths, and even current strengths.
The crowd here is much more varied during the day. Families, young adults, and bus loads of geysers. Physical therapy sessions are held right next to splashing kids. Massages are 20-30 minutes and are only 20,000 to 40,000 forints (about $20).
There is a beautiful outdoor complex of pools with old men playing chess in the water. Each pool is heated to a comfortable temperature (which is good because it was very rainy and chilly that day) and decked out with waterfalls, bubbles, jets, and a fun whirlpool. I highly recommend a visit here if you find yourself in Budapest.
I would have loved to try out every bath if I had more time. The atmosphere is mellow and everyone is there to relax. Well, except for the undulating water couple at Rudas.
It rained for a lot, but we really enjoyed the city. We saw some of the sights, but mostly relaxed and “lived” for a few days (i.e. went shopping, saw a movie, etc.). We spent four nights at Lavender Circus and two night Couchsurfing with a great couple, Aniko and G. They made delicious paprikash that night, and we watched Coffee and Cigarettes on their movie projector.
We also got our Indian visas! Hooray! The Indian Embassy is conveniently located on top of a hill, in the middle of nowhere in Buda. The price tag stung a little (52,600 forints), but what can you do? The only downside from our week in Budapest is that Clark caught a bad cold (probably from the baths), and we think he passed it along to, our main man, G. Sorry, G.
Overall, I’d call our stop in Budapest quite successful. We are wrapping things up in Zagreb, and we moving on to Plitvice Lakes National Park in central Croatia for a few days. I imagine they will be a little colder than the thermal baths.
Posted from Zagreb, Croatia
Kim & Clark Kays quit their jobs for an uncertain trip around the world. Originally from St. Louis, they relocated to Chicago after getting married in 2005. After working for five years in middle school and the Fortune 500, they realized there was more to life than the 9-to-5, so made the crazy decision to exchange money for time rather than the other way around.
Their hobbies include fighting over writing styles and searching for gelato. They think food, beer, architecture, and photography are some of the best things about travel—especially when combined. Their travel blog, To Uncertainty and Beyond, includes long-term travel tips as well as humorous anecdotes from their journey through Europe and Asia. They invite you to experience their journey and learn from their adventures and mistakes.
