Szent Lukács Gyógyfürdő és Uszoda

Szent Lukács Gyógyfürdő és Uszoda (the Lukács Thermal Bath and Swimming Pool) is a certified medicinal bath in Budapest, Hungary, on the Buda side of the Danube at Frankel Leó út 25-29 (district II). It combines covered medicinal thermal pools, outdoor and swimming pools, an extensive sauna area and a medical department offering balneological treatments. Note that the bath cannot be visited by children under the age of 14.

The water

The bath's thermal water is described by the venue as a calcium-magnesium bicarbonate, sulphate thermal water that also contains sodium, with a significant fluoride and metaboric acid content. During a medicinal bath, the venue explains, the warmth of the water dilates the blood vessels, lowers blood pressure and relaxes the muscles while the water's mineral content is absorbed through the skin.

Medical indications & treatments

For its medical pool bath the venue lists indications including degenerative illnesses of the joints, chronic and semi-acute arthritis, herniated discs, neuralgia, and calcium deficiencies of the skeletal system. Recommended immersion times are given as 20-30 minutes in the 32 °C pool, 15-20 minutes at 36 °C and 5-8 minutes at 40 °C. The medical department offers medical pool baths, medical tub baths, bathing in carbonated water, underwater jet massage, mud treatment, underwater traction and complex balneological treatment, alongside physiotherapy, medical therapeutic massage, weight-bath therapy and shockwave therapy. Classic aroma and refreshing massages are also available, from the age of 14.

Pools

The covered thermal section holds three medicinal pools at 32, 36 and 40 °C, each 0.9 m deep. A medical fitness pool runs at 30-33 °C (0.9 m deep) and an underwater traction pool at 33-35 °C (0.9-1.2 m deep). The outdoor adventure (leisure) pool operates all year round at 33-35 °C (1.13 m deep) and is fitted with bubble beds, neck showers, back massagers and an in-pool lazy river. For cooling and circulation there is a plunge pool at 20 °C (1.05 m) and a Kneipp pool at 20 °C (0.5 m). Two swimming pools are kept at 22 °C and 26 °C, with depths of 1.4-1.9 m and 1-1.9 m.

Saunas

With the basic ticket, guests can use a Finnish sauna (80-90 °C), a steam chamber (40-50 °C), a dry steam chamber (60-90 °C) and a herbal sauna (60-62 °C). A separate Sauna World, entered with its own ticket, adds a salt-crystal sauna (30-40 °C), an aroma steam room (40-50 °C), an infrared sauna (40-50 °C), a further Finnish sauna (80-90 °C), a naturist sauna (80-90 °C) and a tepidarium; the venue notes that the Sauna World is a bathing-suit-free zone. Guided sauna programmes run on Tuesdays at 6, 7 and 8 pm and at weekends at 3, 4 and 5 pm.

Facilities & history

The site also names a rooftop sunbathing area and fitness park, a Beerspa, private bathing, and the Lukács Espresso Bar. The venue traces its origins to the 12th century, when knights of the Order of Saint John who cared for the sick settled on the site, followed by the orders of Rhodes and Malta, who built monastery baths. The bath continued to operate under Turkish rule, when the springs were used chiefly to make gunpowder and to grind wheat, and after the reoccupation of Buda it passed to the Treasury. In 1884 Fülöp Palotay bought the bath and began a series of transformations, building the spa hotel, establishing a hydrotherapy department and rebuilding the swimming pool; cured guests placed marble tablets of gratitude on the courtyard wall. The drinking-cure hall was built in 1937, and in 1979 the first department providing complex thermal bath care (a daytime hospital) in Budapest was established here. In 1999 the open-air pools of the swimming section were modernised, with the little-used former mud-pond replaced by a feature pool.

Visiting

The bath opens 7 am-7 pm most days, with extended hours until 10 pm on Tuesdays. Adult entry is priced at 7,000 Ft on weekdays (Monday-Thursday) and 8,000 Ft at weekends and on holidays, with reduced senior/student and afternoon tickets and a separate Sauna World ticket. Ticketing ends one hour before closing and pool areas must be left 20 minutes before closing.