Árpád Fürdő

Árpád Fürdő stands on Kossuth utca in the centre of Székesfehérvár and is one of the few Art Nouveau buildings in the city. The operator's history page records that the bath, designed by Jenő Hübner, opened on 31 December 1905 as the city's most modern institution built for therapeutic purposes, and that it was run by the Székesfehérvár Commercial Bank. An attached hotel of fifty rooms, a theatre and a restaurant were added in the early 1920s and opened on 15 November 1922, and a garden and summer cinema followed in 1926. The same page states that the bath was later part of the county hospital for a period and operated as a bath and swimming pool until September 1989, after which the building stood empty. It passed into private hands in 2005 and, after a full reconstruction, has received guests in its present form since March 2010.

The operator does not publish a well certificate, a source temperature or a mineral analysis on the current site, and it makes no claim of certified medicinal water; the history page instead recounts that the original medicinal water was lost early on, the pipes decayed and the well collapsed, after which the large pool was run on ordinary well water. The pools page states that the water quality is tested monthly by the authorities and that the inspection reports are kept on the reception counter, available to anyone.

The bath consists of a Turkish bath at the heart of the building, now a mosaic-lined seated pool at 33-37 C; a figure-of-eight experience pool in the newer wing with back and lower-back massage jets and bubble beds at 33-36 C; two small built-in hydromassage tubs on either side of the Turkish bath entrance, named the Turkish and the Arab whirlpool; a horseshoe-shaped pool beside the Turkish bath, set among walls decorated with carved lions' heads; and, in the newly built sauna world, one outdoor and one indoor plunge pool at 12-14 C. The operator gives no total number of pools. There is no dedicated children's pool: the FAQ states that children are welcome but that the bath does not have one.

The sauna world is included in the bath ticket. The operator states that the bath has one infrared cabin, three Finnish saunas and one steam cabin, without giving a total. Sauna sessions with pouring rituals are published a week ahead, usually on Monday morning, and participation is included in the ticket price; the operator notes that the schedule can change during the day depending on the sauna masters' capacity and the number of guests. The first-floor sauna may be used in a swimming costume, while the larger second-floor sauna is textile-free. Further facilities listed are a salt room, a tepidarium, massage, a hairdresser, a buffet and a hall for hire.

The bath is open all year except 24 and 25 December, daily from 10:00 to 21:00, explicitly including 26 and 31 December and 1 January. Published admission includes a weekday full-day adult ticket at 9.700 Ft and a three-hour adult ticket at 8.600 Ft; at weekends and on public holidays these are 11.400 Ft and 9.800 Ft. Concessionary weekday tickets for pensioners and students are 8.000 Ft for the day, and there are day-themed discounts such as a Monday pensioner ticket at 5.100 Ft and an after-19:00 ticket at 5.200 Ft. Entry is free under the age of six. The bath has no car park of its own.