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Budapest is justly famous for its
thermal baths. Lucy Mallows
finds out about the etiquette of
taking a dip – Hungarian-style
Two liquid experiences that make
Budapest a destination with a
diff erence come courtesy of the
Ottoman Empire: the coff ee houses and
the thermal baths. Although the inventive
Hungarian mind can claim many things
(Rubik’s cube, vitamin C, biros and the
hydrogen bomb, among others) as its idea,
two of Budapest’s main tourist attractions
can be attributed to the Turks.
Buda was once home to 26 mosques. Today
only the baths remain from the former
imarets (inns or hospices). Situated along the
Danube, these are (from south to north) the
Rudas, Rác, Király, Lukács and Császár baths.
The Turkish-built Király and Rác baths are
great watering holes with history and ritual,
and the more modern Széchenyi and Gellért
baths are delightful places to wallow away
an afternoon.
However, visitors to Budapest seeking
the quintessential Magyar-Ottoman
experience should visit the Rudas baths.
Unlike the striking egg-yolk yellow Baroque
Széchenyi or the art nouveau masterpiece
of the Gellért, the Rudas is found in an
unspectacular square, pink building just
south of Erzsébet Bridge on the Buda side,
at the foot of Gellért Hill. The only eyecatching
detail is the 16th-century dome,
giving off plumes of steam in winter.
Inside the Rudas it is like another world.
Visitors are transported back in time to
the luxuries of the Ottoman Empire. The
octagonal thermal pool and surrounding
corner baths are steamy and atmospheric,
lit by shafts of light from tiny skylights in
the turquoise cupola.
In the four corner baths the temperature
varies from 10°C to 42°C. Sybarites begin in
the main middle pool (36°C), then dip into a
hotter corner pool, and then perhaps brave a
dip into the cold pool for a few seconds. Then it’s off to the sauna or the steam room and
perhaps a massage before returning to do the
whole routine over again.
In the single-sex domain of the thermal baths,
bathers wear miniscule white cloth aprons to
cover their modesty and lounge on marble
seats in the hot, steamy water, exchanging
gossip or doing business. The baths are
popular with local businessmen, expatriates
in the know and adventurous tourists.
The steam baths, or hammam, has two
rooms with differing temperatures: a choice of hot or very hot. Fortunately, the
eucalyptus essence in the steam helps
make the tropical heat more bearable.
To reach the saunas, visible through a glass
window, bathers have to go back to the
entrance. The four saunas follow each
other in a row, getting hotter and hotter
like Dante’s Inferno, until the temperature
reaches roasting level.
After cooling off in the chilly pool (10°C),
you can taste the healthy, but very eggy, spa
water from a drinking fountain. The Rudas
also has a pump room (ivócsarnok) under
Erzsébet Bridge off ering Juventus, Attila and
Hungária waters, all rich in minerals and said
to be excellent for the digestion.
Since 1936, women were prevented from
splashing about under the historic cupola
because the water’s radioactive content
was considered unsuitable for the fairer sex.
But in December 2005, the Turkish thermal
pool section of the Rudas baths reopened
after renovation work, which lasted almost
18 months and cost HUF 410m (€2m). At
last women bathers could find out what the male fans of the thermals had been
whispering about with a Masonic furtiveness.
The restored baths changed its rules and
mixed bathing is now allowed on Friday
and Saturday evenings and all day on
Sunday. On Tuesday mornings and Thursdays
afternoons, women even have the steamy
baths to themselves.
The Rudas building also contains an
outpatient hospital off ering water-based
physiotherapy as the high mineral content
is considered excellent for joint problems.
There are also massage rooms, steam rooms,
bath tub rooms and a mixed swimming pool
where everyone can do lengths. The elegant
pool, which dates from 1896 and was the
second indoor pool to open in Budapest,
was also renovated in early 2005. It is
surrounded by columns with a high gallery
running around. The only thermally heated
pool in town, the water is kept at 29°C.
The Rudas is believed to have been built in
the 1550s and rebuilt in 1566 to the orders
of Pasha Sokoli Mustafa, possibly by Sinan
the Magnificent, the greatest architect in the
Ottoman Empire. At that time it was called
the Green Columned Baths
The central Turkish bath was created
during the Ottoman occupation. It has
an octagonal pool under a 10-metrespan
cupola supported by eight
columns and surrounded by a barrelvaulted
corridor. The great size of the
Rudas’ cupola is unique. It is the largest
in Europe and only two of its size exist
in Turkey.
A kávé és a termálvíz: két
különlegesség, ami Budapestet
kedvelt célponttá teszi.
Mindketto az Ottomán birodalom
hagyatéka.
A törökök által épített Király- és
Ráczfürdonek hosszú története és
jól orzött hagyományai vannak, a
modernebb Széchenyi vagy Gellért
pedig elragadó helyszín a délutáni
ellazuláshoz.
Ha azonban a Budapestre látogató turista valódi magyar-ottomán élményre
vágyik, a Rudas-fürdot tilos kihagynia.
A Rudasban mintha egy másik
világba csöppennénk. Visszarepít
bennünket az idoben, egyenesen az
Ottomán birodalom fürdokultúrájába.
A hangulatos, gozbe burkolózó,
nyolcszög alakú nagymedencét és a
kisebb medencéket a türkiz kupolába
vágott mennyezeti nyílásokon át
beszurodo fény világítja meg.
A négy sarokmedencében a víz
homérséklete 10°C és 42°C között
változik. A tapasztaltabb fürdozok a
középso medencében kezdik a kört
(36°C), a magasabb homérsékletu
sarokmedencében folytatják, utána pedig
hideg medencében mártóznak meg pár
pillanatra. Szauna, majd a goz következik,
és talán egy masszázs is, mielott újra
elkezdenék az egész kört, hogy aztán a
fürdés végeztével megújulva lépjenek ki a
huvös budapesti tavaszba.
RUDAS – VITAL STATISTICS
District I, Döbrentei tér 9
Tel: 01 356 1322
Getting there
Buses: 5, 7, 8, 86, 112
Trams: 18, 19
Opening hours
Thermal baths men only
Mon + Wed 6am-8pm, Tues 6am-12am,
Thurs 2pm-8pm, Fri-Sat 6am-5pm
Thermal baths women only
Tues 6am-2pm, Thurs 2pm-8pm
Thermal baths mixed bathing
Fri-Sat 10pm-4am, Sunday 8am-5pm
Swimming pool (mixed)
Mon-Fri 6am-6pm, Sat 6am-1pm
Tub bath section (mixed)
Mon-Fri 6am-7pm, Sat 6am-1pm
Prices
Day ticket HUF 2,000 (€7.60), three hours
before closing HUF 1,600 (€6.10), two hours
before closing HUF1,300 (€4.95)
Massages
Start at HUF 2,000 (€7.60) for 15 minutes
ŁaĽnie termalne to jedna z atrakcji,
które miasto zawdzięcza Imperium
Ottomanskiemu. Czyni± one z
Budapesztu wyj±tkowy cel podróży.
Historyczne łaĽnie Kiraly i Rac to ogromne,
napełnione wod± baseny, zbudowane przez
Turkow w XVI w. Popołudniowych k±pieli
można też zażyc w bardziej nowoczesnych
k±pieliskach, takich jak Szechenyj i Gellert.
Jednak ci, którzy przybywaj± do Budapesztu
w poszukiwaniu prawdziwych madziarskoottomanskich
klimatów, ich kwintesencję
odnajd± w łaĽni Rudas, zbudowanej w XV w.
Rudas to inny swiat, to podróż do
przeszłosci, w przepełnione zbytkiem
czasy ottomanskiego imperium. Jest tu
osmioboczny basen główny i otaczaj±ce
go, mniejsze baseny narożne. O¶wietla je
¶wiatło, wydobywaj±ce sie z malenkich
¶wietlików, umiejscowionych w turkusowej
kopule. Rozproszone w kłębach pary, tworzy
niesamowit± atmosferę.
Narożne baseny maj± różn± temperaturę, od
10 do 42°C. Sybaryci zaczynaj± k±piel w basenie
¶rodkowym (36°C). Następnie zanurzaj± się
w basenie z gor±ca wod±, a potem - na kilka
sekund - z zimn±. Wtedy udaj± się do sauny i
do pomieszczenia z par±. W końcu - zanim cały
rytuał zaczn± od pocz±tku - czas na masaż.
Tak zaprawieni, mog± stawic czoła aurze,
niezależnie od jej humorów.
Line and length:
bathers exercise
in the Rudas pool.
A modern swipe-card system
operates in the Rudas, but the
foyer still evokes the socialist ’70s.
What’s available
When choosing between tickets
for pool, Turkish baths or sauna,
you can also opt for a massage
or a range of health treatments.
You also have the choice of a
locker or a cabin to change in.
Front or back bits
At the Rudas, turn left for the
mixed swimming pool. Turning
right, visitors enter the single-sex
section. The attendant hands
you a tiny square of cloth, a miniapron
with strings that are tied
around the waist. The apron can
cover either your front or back
bits – most people cover the
front. On mixed bathing days,
bathing suits are compulsory.
The Turkish bath was men-only for
more nearly 70 years and attracts
a significant gay clientele. New
arrivals should be aware that
they might get a welcoming
grapple under the water.
After changing, close the locker
or cabin door with your key, then
ask the attendant to double lock
it. At other baths, the attendant
will give you a tag and chalk up
its number on the inside of the
door. Ensure you memorise your
locker number as this is different.
Shower before dipping into any
baths, and most pools require
a swimming cap. The Gellért
hands out fetching green plastic
ones if you forget your own.
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