HungarySpaGuide.com is an independent guide to thermal baths and wellness travel in Hungary. It is written and maintained by one person, and it is funded by affiliate commissions rather than by the baths, hotels or tour operators it writes about.
The site launched in 2026. It covers Budapest’s thermal baths in depth, plus the practical questions that come with them — when to go, what to bring, which ticket to buy, and where to stay.
Why this site exists
Most English-language writing about Budapest’s thermal baths is out of date. Ticket prices change every January. Gellért Baths closed in October 2025 and is not expected back before 2028, yet guides still list its opening hours. Rules about swim caps, cabins and gendered days get repeated years after they changed.
That is the gap this site fills. Not more atmosphere, not another list of adjectives — current numbers, checked recently, with the date of the check on the page.
How the guides are written
Every price carries a date. If a ticket cost is quoted, the month and year it was verified appears next to it. If a figure has not been re-checked recently, that is stated rather than hidden.
Sources are named. Prices come from the baths’ own published price lists. Train fares come from MÁV’s published fare tables. Rules come from the baths’ house rules. Where a claim rests on a specific document, that document is named and dated in the text.
Rankings are not for sale. Where guides on this site rank baths, the order reflects which one suits a given reader — never which one pays a commission. Some of the recommendations on this site cannot be booked through any affiliate partner at all, and they still appear when they are the right answer.
Corrections are welcome. If a price has moved, a rule has changed, or something here is simply wrong, tell us. Being right about this year is the whole point of the site, and it only works if errors get fixed quickly.
How the site makes money
Through affiliate links, and nothing else. There are no display ads, no sponsored posts, no paid placements and no products for sale. If you book a hotel or a ticket after following a link here, the site may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
The full detail is on the affiliate disclosure page.
Who writes it
The site is run solo by Melinda Szokola, who lives in Dunakeszi, 20 minutes north of Budapest by train, and writes every guide here. There is no content team and no freelance byline pool.
Which baths she has actually been to. Széchenyi and Rudas in Budapest. Hévíz, Egerszalók, Demjén and Gyula beyond the capital, plus the smaller thermal bath at Veresegyháza near home. Living 20 minutes from the city makes Széchenyi and Rudas a local trip rather than a holiday, and the baths outside Budapest are the ones she has travelled to deliberately.
What she has not been to, and says so. Some guides here cover baths researched rather than visited — the Cave Bath at Miskolctapolca and Anna Baths in Szeged among them. Those pages are built from the baths’ own published sources, named and dated. Where a page rests on research rather than a visit, it says so.
Get in touch
Questions, corrections and press enquiries: contact page.
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