Árpád Gyógy-és Strandfürdő

Árpád Gyógy- és Strandfürdő is a medicinal and beach bath in Békéscsaba, in south-eastern Hungary, at Árpád sor 3. It combines a 50-metre competition pool with year-round thermal pools, seasonal outdoor pools, a sauna area and a prescription-based medical treatment department, and holds official medicinal-bath status.

The water

The bath draws on deep thermal wells drilled beneath the site. The first successful well was completed in 1959 at a depth of 1,974 metres, and a second borehole followed in 1978 at 800 metres, yielding water at 40°C that supplies the outdoor pools. The water is described by the bath as a certified medicinal water, rich in minerals. In 2006 the Minister of Health formally designated the Árpád Bath as a medicinal bath.

Pools & saunas

The complex includes around ten pools. A 50-metre competition pool is kept at about 26°C and is accompanied by a teaching pool and a water slide. The thermal pools hold mineral-rich medicinal water at roughly 36–38°C and are open year-round. There is a shallow children's pool with a playground, and an outdoor experience pool fitted with a whirlpool, neck showers and other water features; in summer the outdoor pools, experience pool, slides and children's pool operate together as a beach bath. The sauna world offers a larger Finnish sauna, a gentler smaller sauna, an aromatic steam cabin and a plunge pool for cooling down.

Wellness & treatments

Wellness services include classic Swedish massage, underwater jet massage aimed at deeper muscle layers, and group water-exercise programmes open to all ages. A separate medical department provides prescription-based cures of up to two courses of fifteen sessions per year, covered by the national health insurance (TB). These treatments include therapeutic sessions in the medicinal water, medical massage, underwater jet therapy, group aquatic physiotherapy and group therapeutic swimming for those under eighteen.

History

The bath's origins go back to 1922, when a beach facility with a single open concrete pool was built. A covered steam-bath building was inaugurated on 14 November 1927. A new 50-metre Olympic-size pool was added in 1964, and the complex underwent a major reconstruction in 2002–2003. It has served the city as a popular meeting place for more than a hundred years.

Visiting

The bath is open daily from 06:00 to 20:00; the saunas and steam cabin follow their own daily time slots within these hours. Tickets include a three-hour morning entry for 2,200 Ft, an adult day ticket for 3,000 Ft, a student or senior ticket for 2,200 Ft, and a family package for two adults and two children for 8,500 Ft.