Király Thermal Bath — Attraction in Budapest

We asked a work colleague, originally from Budapest, about what to do when in Budapest. They immediately told us about the famous Hungary Thermal baths, which are also considered medicinal. This got us researching online to try and find the right one for us. Some are really touristic with huge swimming pools outside and others or more historic. We decided on Király Bath, because it felt authentic and less touristy.

According to Wikipedia it was the first bath built in Hungary, from back in the 1600’s. Today, it still retains many of the key elements of a Turkish bath, exemplified by its Turkish dome and octagonal pool.

This thermal bath is located on the Buda side in a quiet neighbourhood. Though it has a really old structure, it’s quite beautiful with a medieval style. There are basic and cozy change rooms, depending on your budget. It's well structured, the staff are nice and we felt comfortable during our visit.

The majority of the pools are inside, with temperatures varying between 26-40C. We found a small kind of hot tub outside that we couldn't resist.

We enjoyed more privacy in the morning. 10am is when it started to get crowded so we left because at some point there were a lot of people.

In general it was a great experience and we left feeling relaxed. We thought it was a little too dark inside and small for the amount of people, otherwise we recommend anyone to visit Király Baths!

Serge: 4 Eli: 4

Do we recommend ? Yes, it’s a really historic building and we had a cool experience.

Tips:

1-) If you can get there early morning you will get more privacy; 2-) Bring beach sandals; 3-) We paid around $ 7.59cad (Morning ticket with Cabin included) 4-) Check their website for open hours and there is an information that the baths cannot be visited by children under 14 years old. 5-) If you have some free time and a little more budget you can also get...

Used it today (04/Jan/2020 Saturday ) with my girlfriend it was a pleasant experience. Even though it was a nice weekend with fairly good weather, we didn't have much long queue ( we went at 2pm).

They have different pricing options suitable for different people, I think the best 2 options for couple is the (a) 5600 HUF package with cabin for 2 people and (b) 6600 HUF package for a private room.

If you take (a) you can have a cabin with locker and you can use all of their public facilities, like public baths, public shower, public sauna etc for as long as you want. If you take (b) you will have a private room with a hot thermal bath, a sauna chamber and a shower for 2 hours.

We took option (b). It's better to call and book before you go uf you are taking (b), as the private room has to be available.

We called in the morning and booked the private room for 2pm, we had to reach the place 10 minutes before. We payed with cards.

We bought our own swimsuits, flip-flops, shower gel and towels ( they serve their own towels for free in the private room).

They guy took like 5 minutes to clean the room and let us in. It was nice, the pool was fairly big and it took almost 30 minutes to fill it completely with water. The sauna included was super hot 88-90 digree Celsius.

They don't have a drinking water source in the room, so it's better to bring your own water bottle as the hot sauna and thermal bath will leave you really thirsty.

When it's time, they will give a knock on the door. So you can finish and leave the room.

And in case you want to dry your hair, there's a hairdryer on the inner side of the corridor ( next to the...

Of the baths we visited (along with Rudas and Gellart), Kiraly was our favorite experience! Yes, the facilities are in need of a bit of updating (but, come on, we're here for the baths, not the locker rooms...) but we found Kiraly to be far more charming than the tourist-ridden options. We went in the evening on a weekday and the baths really did not feel crowded at all, especially as it neared closing time. Kiraly may not have as many bath units as Rudas or the grand design of Gellert, but it has certainly maintained its ancient charm. Many visitors seemed to be locals and the pricing is comparably very affordable. If you're looking for a bath with an authentic Turkish feel, then I highly recommend Kiraly. Lastly, I would advise, no matter which bath you are planning on visiting, that you do your research and read guides and reviews beforehand. Many issues that people complain about could have been prevented with some prior knowledge about the culture and specific rules...