Széchenyi Thermal Bath

Széchenyi Gyógyfürdő és Uszoda stands in the Városliget (City Park) in the 14th district of Budapest, at Állatkerti körút 9–11. Construction began in 1909 to designs by Győző Czigler, and the operator records that the bath, until then referred to as the Artesian Bath, was opened on 13 June 1913 under the Széchenyi name. Its water comes from artesian wells drilled beneath the park. The first, sunk by the mining engineer Vilmos Zsigmondy between 1868 and 1878, reached 970 metres and yielded water at 74.5 °C; a second well, drilled from 1936 and completed in 1938, took over the supply. Later measurements give that well's temperature as 77 °C, and the total dissolved mineral content of the water is 1774.53 mg/l. The operator characterises the water as a calcium-magnesium bicarbonate and sulphate medicinal water that also contains sodium.

The complex has three outdoor and fifteen indoor pools. Outdoors, a swimming pool of 910 m² water surface is held at 26–28 °C and is flanked by a thermal pool at 36–38 °C and an adventure pool at 32–34 °C fitted with a current channel, underwater massage jets, neck showers and built-in benches. The indoor medicinal pools run between 28 and 40 °C at depths of 1.0 to 1.3 m, with a recommended bathing time of twenty minutes, and are complemented by plunge pools at 18 °C and 40 °C. The sauna section comprises cabins labelled S1 to S10: the Vulkán sauna at 70–80 °C, the Dante and Főnix saunas at 80–90 °C and the Aroma sauna at 50–55 °C, alongside salt-inhalation, aquarium and general steam cabins at 50–60 °C and a salt room at 35–40 °C.

Alongside bathing, the complex operates as a medical facility. A complex balneotherapy department has worked there since 1982 with capacity for 178 patients a day, treatments are available on specialist referral through the Hungarian health insurer, and underwater group physiotherapy sessions run daily at 9:00, 10:30 and 14:30 with fifteen places each. A separate drinking hall dispenses the medicinal water for internal use, with a recommended single dose of 300–500 ml and a documented list of indications and contraindications. Between 1998 and 2006 every pool was renovated, the outdoor pools receiving water circulation systems and the medicinal pools modern hydraulic equipment; since 1963 the outdoor pools have also operated in winter.

The bath is open every day of the year, from 07:00 to 20:00 Monday to Thursday, 07:00 to 22:00 on Friday and 08:00 to 20:00 at weekends, with the pool halls, saunas and steam chambers closing twenty minutes earlier and cash desks an hour before closing. Individual services keep their own hours: the Private Spa runs 08:00–19:00 daily, the Pálmaház 09:00–18:00 on weekdays, and the medical departments close at weekends.