A day ticket at Lukács Baths costs 7,000 HUF (~€19) from Monday to Thursday and 8,000 HUF (~€22) from Friday to Sunday — a little over half what Széchenyi charges. It is the bath Budapest locals actually use, it has three thermal pools, an outdoor pool open all year and a sauna world, and nobody under 14 is allowed in. Checked 2 September 2026 against the bath’s own website.
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What does a Lukács ticket cost in 2026?
| Ticket | Mon–Thu | Fri–Sun & holidays |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | 7,000 HUF (~€19) | 8,000 HUF (~€22) |
| Senior or full-time student | 3,800 HUF (~€10) | 4,900 HUF (~€13) |
| Afternoon ticket, last 2 hours before closing | 3,800 HUF (~€10) | not sold |
| Sauna world supplement | 1,300 HUF (~€3.50) | 1,300 HUF (~€3.50) |
| Cabin | 1,000 HUF (~€2.70) | 1,000 HUF (~€2.70) |
| Safe for valuables | 1,100 HUF (~€3) | 1,100 HUF (~€3) |
Two of these are worth knowing about, because almost nobody writes them down. The afternoon ticket at 3,800 HUF (~€10) is valid in the last two hours before closing on weekdays — on a Tuesday, when the bath stays open until 22:00, that means a two-hour soak from 20:00 for the price of a coffee and a cake. And the senior and student rate is the same 3,800 HUF (~€10) on weekdays, which makes Lukács the cheapest serious thermal bath in central Budapest for anyone who qualifies.
Prices are the same online and at the door. We keep every Budapest bath’s current ticket price in one place on our Budapest thermal bath price tracker, re-checked monthly.
Is Lukács cheaper than Széchenyi?
Yes, by a wide margin — and the gap is the main reason to consider it. Both baths’ prices below were read from their own price pages on 2 September 2026.
| Lukács | Széchenyi | |
|---|---|---|
| Adult, Mon–Thu | 7,000 HUF (~€19) | 13,200 HUF (~€36) |
| Adult, Fri–Sun | 8,000 HUF (~€22) | 14,800 HUF (~€40) |
| Thermal pools | Three, at 32, 36 and 40°C | Far more, and far busier |
| Outdoor pool in winter | Yes, 33–35°C, all year | Yes, the famous ones |
| Crowd | Mostly Hungarian regulars | Overwhelmingly visitors |
| Photogenic | Not especially | That is the point of it |
The honest way to put it: Széchenyi is the postcard and Lukács is the bath. If this is your only visit to a Hungarian thermal bath and you want the yellow palace and the chess players, go to Széchenyi and pay the difference — our Széchenyi Baths guide covers it. If you are here for a week, or you have already done the famous one, or you simply want to soak without queueing, Lukács is the better afternoon.
Check Lukács tickets and availability for your date →
Can you take children to Lukács?
No. The bath’s own English site states it plainly: “Bath can not be visited by children under the age of 14.” This is not a rule about the medicinal pools only — it covers the whole facility, and it has applied at Széchenyi and Rudas as well since 1 August 2025. There is one narrow exception, a specialist medical certificate submitted in advance, which our bath etiquette guide explains.
This catches families out constantly, because most English-language guides to Lukács still do not mention it. If you are travelling with children under 14, Palatinus on Margaret Island is the alternative — an outdoor lido with children’s pools, where an adult day ticket is 6,000 HUF (~€16) on weekdays until 13 September 2026 and 3,800 HUF (~€10) after that, when the outdoor season ends. Palatinus prices checked 2 September 2026 as well.
What pools does Lukács have?
| Pool | Temperature | Depth | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three thermal pools, indoors | 32, 36 and 40°C | 0.9 m | The core of the bath. The 40°C one empties fastest. |
| Outdoor leisure pool | 33–35°C | 1.13 m | Open all year. Bubble beds, neck showers, back massage jets, a current channel. |
| Plunge pool | 20°C | 1.05 m | For after the sauna. |
| Kneipp pool | 20°C | 0.5 m | Walk-through foot bath. |
| Swimming pool 1 | 22°C | 1.4–1.9 m | Lap swimming. Swim cap required. |
| Swimming pool 2 | 26°C | 1.0–1.9 m | Lap swimming. Swim cap required. |
| Medical fitness pool | 30–33°C | 0.9 m | Medical referral only. |
| Weight bath (underwater traction) | 33–35°C | 0.9–1.2 m | Medical referral only. |
The last two rows are the part visitors misread. Lukács is a working medical facility as well as a bath: the fitness pool and the weight bath are reached through the treatment wing, on a doctor’s referral, and a standard day ticket does not open them. What your ticket does open is everything above them — which is still eight pools, more than most people get through in an afternoon.
The outdoor leisure pool is the one to head for in January. At 33–35°C it runs all year, and sitting in it while steam comes off the surface is the closest thing Lukács has to the Széchenyi photograph.
What is in the sauna world?
Lukács splits its saunas in two, and this is where the 1,300 HUF (~€3.50) supplement earns or wastes its money.
| Included in the standard ticket | Sauna world (1,300 HUF supplement) |
|---|---|
| Finnish sauna, 80–90°C | Finnish sauna, 80–90°C |
| Steam cabin, 40–50°C | Naturist sauna, 80–90°C |
| Dry steam chamber, 60–90°C | Salt crystal sauna, 30–40°C |
| Herbal sauna, 60–62°C | Aroma steam cabin, 40–50°C |
| Infrared sauna, 40–50°C | |
| Tepidarium |
Two things to plan around. The sauna world opens at 14:00 on weekdays and runs all day at weekends and on public holidays, so a morning visit on a Tuesday gets you nothing for the supplement. And the sauna world is swimsuit-free — “fürdőruhamentes” in the bath’s own wording — which is normal in Hungary and Central Europe generally, but is not what most first-time visitors expect. Take a towel to sit on.
Guided sauna sessions run on Tuesdays at 18:00, 19:00 and 20:00, and at weekends at 15:00, 16:00 and 17:00.
When is Lukács open?
- Pools and general areas: 07:00–19:00 every day, except Tuesday, when it stays open until 22:00.
- Sauna world: from 14:00 on weekdays; all day at weekends and on holidays.
- Drinking hall: Wednesday and Friday only, 11:00–18:00.
- Medical treatments: weekdays 07:00–19:00, by appointment made at the patient information desk.
- The ticket desk closes an hour before the bath does, and you have to be out of the pools 20 minutes before closing.
The Tuesday late night is part of a rota across the city’s baths, and it is genuinely useful to know if you are here for a few days: one bath stays open until 22:00 every night of the week.
| Night | Bath open until 22:00 |
|---|---|
| Monday | Rudas |
| Tuesday | Lukács |
| Wednesday | Csillaghegy |
| Thursday | Dandár |
| Friday | Széchenyi |
| Saturday | Pesterzsébet |
| Sunday | Paskál |
Is anything closed for renovation?
Yes, and it is worth reading carefully because the two language versions of the notice do not say the same thing.
The bath’s English homepage says: “The private bathtub service and the accessible changing facilities are temporarily not available due to renovation works.”
The bath’s Hungarian homepage says: “Felújítási munkálatok miatt a férfi öltöző, a privát kádszolgáltatás, valamint az akadálymentes átöltözési lehetőség átmenetileg nem elérhető.” That translates as: due to renovation work, the men’s changing room, the private tub service and the accessible changing facilities are temporarily unavailable.
So the Hungarian notice lists one more thing than the English one. No end date is given on either. If you are a man, or you need step-free changing, ring the bath on +36 1 326 1695 before you set out and ask what the current arrangement is — we would rather tell you to make a phone call than guess on your behalf. Both notices were on the site on 2 September 2026.
Where does the water come from?
From under the hill behind the building. The thermal water comes from the Molnár János cave, which the bath describes as 6 km long with water 30 m deep. It is one of the largest underwater cave systems in Europe, and the reason this corner of Buda has had baths on it since the Middle Ages.
The bath describes the water as a calcium-magnesium bicarbonate, sulphate-chloride thermal water that also contains sodium, with a notable fluoride content. You can drink it, on Wednesdays and Fridays between 11:00 and 18:00, at the drinking hall; the bath suggests a single dose of 300–350 ml and lists the conditions it considers the water suitable and unsuitable for. We are not in a position to assess medical claims, and neither is any other travel guide — if you are drinking it for a specific complaint, ask a doctor rather than a website.
What are the marble plaques on the wall?
The inner courtyard is lined with small marble tablets, in Hungarian, German, Latin and other languages, put up by people who believed the water had cured them. They start in the 1890s and they are the most interesting thing in the building. Walk in through the courtyard rather than straight to the changing rooms, and give them ten minutes.
The bath also has a genuine literary history: through the 1950s and 1960s, when Budapest’s coffee houses had been closed down, Lukács served as the substitute. The composer Zoltán Kodály and the writers Géza Ottlik, Emil Kolozsvári Grandpierre, Ferenc Karinthy and István Vas were regulars, and a relief in the building commemorates the circle. This part of the story is documented by the Hungarian architectural archive Budapest100 and by We Love Budapest, not by the bath itself.
Where the name comes from is genuinely disputed. One account has the 19th-century owner Fülöp Palotay elevating the colloquial “Lukas bath” into “Szent Lukács” — Saint Luke, patron saint of physicians. Another traces it to a tenant named Lukász, and a third to the Hungarian word for holes, lukak. Anyone who tells you which one is correct is guessing.
What should you know before you go?
- The wristband is the key. Your ticket is a proxy watch that locks and unlocks a locker of your choice, and a cabin if you paid the 1,000 HUF (~€2.70). Nobody will explain this to you at the desk. Press it to the pad, wait for the click.
- Valuables go in the safe, not the locker. The bath states in writing that it takes no responsibility for anything left unattended in lockers, cabins or the bath area. The safe is 1,100 HUF (~€3).
- Swim cap in the lap pools only. Not needed in the thermal pools. Attendants do enforce it.
- Bring your own towel and flip-flops. The floors are wet stone and the on-site prices at Budapest’s baths are not friendly — see what to wear at Budapest’s thermal baths.
- The building is a maze and the signage is thin. This is the single most common complaint about Lukács, and it is fair. Give yourself ten minutes to get lost, and expect the changing area to look its age.
- Go early or go on the Tuesday late night. Between 16:00 and 18:00 on a weekday it fills with regulars coming off work.
What is the beer spa?
It is exactly what it sounds like, and it is inside the building. Nine tubs of thermal water at 36–38°C, dosed with malt, hops and beer salt, for 45 minutes, with unlimited Czech craft beer poured at the side of the tub. The bath says the water is drained and refilled fresh for each guest, and that the session includes a full day’s admission to Lukács itself. It is booked separately, through the operator rather than the bath’s own ticket desk.
Whether it is a good use of an afternoon is a matter of taste. It is a good use of a rainy November one.
How do you get to Lukács?
The bath is at Frankel Leó út 25–29, in District II, on the Buda side just north of the Margaret Bridge. Trams 4, 6, 17 and 19 stop nearby, as do buses 9 and 109 and the HÉV suburban train. From Pest, the simplest route is tram 4 or 6 to the Buda end of Margaret Bridge, then a five-minute walk north along the river.
It is a short walk from Margaret Island, which makes an easy pairing: the island in the morning, the bath in the afternoon. If you are coming straight from the airport, our airport to city centre guide has the current transfer costs.
Is Lukács worth it?
For the right visitor, yes, and emphatically. You get eight usable pools, a serious sauna block, an outdoor pool that runs through winter and a room full of Hungarian regulars, for 7,000 HUF (~€19). Nothing else in central Budapest offers that.
Book Lukács entry from 7,000 HUF and skip the desk queue →
For the wrong visitor it is a disappointment, and it is worth being straight about who that is. If you are on a two-day trip and you want the bath everyone will recognise in your photographs, this is not it. If you are travelling with children, you cannot get in at all. If a tired changing room will ruin your afternoon, pay the extra 6,200 HUF (~€17) for Széchenyi. Lukács is a functional neighbourhood institution that has stood in this form since the 1880s, not a spa resort, and it does not pretend otherwise.
Where it sits against the rest of the city is in our ranked guide to the best thermal baths in Budapest, and the current prices for every bath are on the price tracker. Every Budapest bath guide sits in our thermal baths hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need to book Lukács in advance?
No. Lukács does not sell out the way Széchenyi does, and there is no timed-entry system. Buy at the desk when you arrive, or online at the same price. The one thing worth checking in advance is whether the sauna world is open at the hour you plan to come — on weekdays it does not open until 14:00.
Is the outdoor pool open in winter?
Yes. The outdoor leisure pool runs all year at 33–35°C, along with the 20°C plunge pool and the Kneipp pool beside it. Winter is the best time to use it: the water holds its temperature while the air sits near freezing, and the bath is quieter than it is in August. The sauna world is a separate 1,300 HUF (~€3.50) supplement on top of the day ticket.
Are men’s and women’s days separate at Lukács?
No. Lukács is mixed every day, all day, and always has been. That is Rudas you are thinking of, which still runs single-sex days — our Rudas Baths guide has the current timetable.
Is a locker included in the Lukács ticket?
A locker comes with the ticket and is opened by the proxy watch you are given at the desk. A private cabin is 1,000 HUF (~€2.70) extra, and a safe for valuables is 1,100 HUF (~€3). The bath states that it accepts no liability for items left in lockers or cabins.
Should you go to Lukács or Gellért?
Gellért is not an option. It closed on 1 October 2025 and its own website gives an expected reopening in 2028. The hotel above the baths is a separate project: Mandarin Oriental announced in December 2023 that it will reopen as the Mandarin Oriental Gellert in 2027. A large number of guides and booking sites still list the baths themselves as open. Lukács and Rudas are the two honest replacements — Lukács for the price and the atmosphere, Rudas for the Turkish chamber and the rooftop pool.
Sources
Prices, opening hours, pool temperatures, sauna list and the renovation notice were read from the bath’s own website on 2 September 2026:
- Lukács Gyógyfürdő — prices
- Lukács Gyógyfürdő — opening hours
- Lukács Gyógyfürdő — pools and saunas
- Lukács Thermal Bath — pools and saunas (English, age limit)
- Lukács Gyógyfürdő — changing rooms and safes
- Lukács Gyógyfürdő — drinking hall
- Lukács Gyógyfürdő — beer spa
- Budapest Spas — late opening rota
- Budapest100 — Frankel Leó út 25–29 (history)
- Mandarin Oriental — Budapest project announcement (2027 hotel opening)
- European Central Bank — EUR/HUF reference rate