Protocol P-03, Hungary
Budapest sits on more than a hundred thermal springs, and its people have bathed in public for four centuries. This protocol takes the city one bath a day, so each one gets a morning and nothing has to be hurried.
Duration
5 days
Group
Up to 12
Season
Mar to May, Sep to Nov
Effort
Gentle
Meet at
Hotel hall, Mariánské Lázně
Indicative price
From CZK 24,900 per person
The price is indicative, per person in a shared double room. A manager confirms the final price when you send a request, because flights and hotel rates move with the season.
We travel by train and stay in one hotel near the river for all four nights. The pace is easy enough for anyone who can manage stairs; the effort is mostly in the heat of the water, which we time.
Effort profile
Day by day
Day 1
Train to Budapest
We leave the hotel hall at eight for the station and take the train via Prague. Supper near the river on arrival.
Day 2
Pest
The Széchenyi bath in City Park, opened in 1913, with its outdoor pools steaming in all weathers. An afternoon walk along Andrássy Avenue.
Day 3
Buda
The Rudas bath under Gellért Hill, built in the sixteenth century under an Ottoman dome. In the afternoon, a slow climb to the hill for the view.
Day 4
Margaret Island
A walk on Margaret Island between the two halves of the city, then the Lukács bath, used by Budapest families more than by visitors.
Day 5
Home
A last morning by the Danube and the train back to Mariánské Lázně, arriving for a late supper at the hotel.
What we arrange
- Rail travel from the hotel and back
- Four nights near the Danube with breakfast
- Entry to three baths, with cabins where offered
- Two suppers with the group
- A leader from the hotel hall and back
What we leave to you
- Lunches and other meals
- Massages and anything sold at the baths
- City transport tickets beyond the planned journeys
- Travel insurance
What to bring
- Flip-flops, which most baths require
- A swimming cap for the indoor pools that ask for it
- A robe or a large towel; hire is possible but slow
- A padlock for the lockers of the older baths
The baths change their opening days for repairs more often than their websites admit. We check each one the week before departure and swap the order of the days if we must.