The Miskolctapolca Cave Bath reopens on 20 August 2026, nearly two years after a fire closed it on 6 September 2024. An adult full-day ticket costs 8,500 HUF (about €23) and the bath opens daily from 09:00 to 19:00. The cave passages and their 30°C karst water are back; the Aquatherapy medical wing, where the fire started, is still closed. From Budapest it is a two-hour train plus a 35-minute bus, each way.
Checked 18 August 2026 against the bath’s own ticket and opening-hours pages.
The short version
- Reopening date: 20 August 2026, a Thursday and a Hungarian national holiday.
- Prices: 8,500 HUF adult full day, 6,000 HUF for three hours, 4,300 HUF after 16:00. Valid until 31 December 2026.
- Hours: daily 09:00–19:00. The ticket office shuts at 18:00 and the pools at 18:30.
- Still closed: the Aquatherapy wing. The outdoor Shell pools close for the season on 31 August 2026.
- No towel or bathrobe rental. Bring your own.
- Most English-language guides still describe this bath as closed with no reopening date. They are out of date.
What exactly reopens on 20 August 2026?
The cave section reopens: the natural limestone passages, the Star Hall, the Roman Hall, the Bridge Hall and the Bath Hall. This is the part that made Miskolctapolca famous and the part that has been shut since the fire. The bath’s own site now carries a banner confirming the date, and the ticket table is published as valid from 20 August 2026.
Two things do not reopen with it. The Aquatherapy wing — the medical and treatment section where the fire broke out after closing time on 6 September 2024 — is listed as temporarily closed on the official opening-hours page. And the outdoor Shell pools, which reopened separately in summer 2025 as the Kagyló Strand, close for the season on 31 August 2026. If you visit in the first eleven days after reopening you can use both indoor and outdoor pools. After that it is the cave and the Bath Hall only.
The reopening weekend also carries a four-day food and music programme, Pezsgés Miskolctapolcán, running 20–23 August on the promenade beside the bath. That is a reason to go and a reason not to, depending on what you want.
How much does the Miskolctapolca Cave Bath cost in 2026?
An adult full-day ticket is 8,500 HUF, roughly €23. That is meaningfully cheaper than Budapest: a weekday locker ticket at Széchenyi costs 13,200 HUF. All prices below are from the bath’s official ticket page, valid 20 August to 31 December 2026, converted at roughly 400 HUF to the euro.
| Ticket | Price | Approx. |
|---|---|---|
| Adult, full day | 8,500 HUF | €23 |
| Child (4–14), student (to 25) or senior, full day | 6,400 HUF | €16 |
| Adult, 3 hours | 6,000 HUF | €15 |
| Child, student or senior, 3 hours | 4,500 HUF | €11 |
| Last Minute, from 16:00 | 4,300 HUF | €11 |
| Family, 2 adults + 1 child, full day | 18,700 HUF | €47 |
| Family, 1 adult + 1 child, full day | 11,900 HUF | €30 |
| Each additional child on a family ticket | 5,100 HUF | €13 |
| Group of 15 or more, adult | 7,300 HUF | €18 |
| Sauna supplement, with bath admission | 2,200 HUF | €5.50 |
| Sauna only, 2 hours | 4,500 HUF | €11 |
Two charges catch people out. Overstaying the time on a three-hour ticket costs 40 HUF per minute, and losing the RFID wristband that opens your locker costs 5,000 HUF. Payment is by cash, bank card or SZÉP card.
Residents of Miskolc pay 5,100 HUF for the same full day, and 2,400 HUF for three hours. You will not qualify — it requires a permanent Miskolc address — but it explains why the queue moves faster than you expect on a weekday morning.
What are the opening hours, and when do you actually have to be out?
The Cave Bath opens daily from 09:00 to 19:00, and so does the Sauna Park. The number that matters is not 19:00: the ticket office closes at 18:00 and the pools close at 18:30. Turn up at 18:15 and you will not get in.
Work backwards from that if you are coming by train. A 09:00 arrival gives you the quietest water of the day; the last realistic entry is around 17:00 if you want more than a token soak, and 16:00 if you want the cheaper Last Minute ticket to be worth buying.
One more thing worth knowing on a reopening weekend: the operator states that when the bath hits the visitor capacity permitted by the authorities, ticket sales can be suspended temporarily, with no compensation. On 20–23 August, arriving early is not just about crowds.
Is the cave bath worth a day trip from Budapest?
Only if the cave itself is the point. The travel is about three hours each way door to door, so a day trip means close to six hours of moving for three to five hours in the water. That is a fair trade for a bath you cannot experience anywhere else in Europe, and a poor trade if you mainly want warm water and a nice building — Budapest does that better and does it fifteen minutes from your hotel.
Go if: you have four or more days in Hungary, you have already done one Budapest bath, or you are heading north or east anyway — to Eger, Tokaj or Aggtelek.
Skip it if: you have three days or fewer, you are travelling with small children who will spend two hours of the day on a train, or you are visiting between 1 September and the spring, when the outdoor pools are shut and there is less to fill a full day with.
This post contains affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We earn nothing from the Miskolctapolca Cave Bath — there is no affiliate programme for it, and tickets are sold at the door and on the bath’s own site. If the round trip does not fit your itinerary, Széchenyi is the Budapest alternative and our Széchenyi guide covers what a ticket there actually includes.
How do you get from Budapest to Miskolctapolca without a car?
Take a train from Budapest-Keleti to Miskolc-Tiszai, then bus 20 to the Miskolctapolca Barlangfürdő terminus. Trains run roughly hourly and take about two hours. InterCity services on this line may require a seat reservation alongside the ticket, which the booking system adds for you. The bus takes 30 to 40 minutes from central Miskolc.
Buy train tickets at jegy.mav.hu or at the station. Bus 20 runs from around 04:00 to 21:25 daily, which comfortably covers the bath’s hours, and MVK is adding extra 20B services between 20 and 23 August for the reopening crowds.
By car it is about two hours from Budapest on the M3 and M30, leaving the motorway at the Miskolc South exit. The bath lists one free car park 1,100 metres away and four paid car parks within a five-minute walk.
Worth naming plainly: the bath’s own website gives driving directions and five car parks, and says nothing at all about trains or buses. That is not unusual for Hungarian bath websites, and it is why so many English-language visitors assume they need to hire a car. They do not.
What are the pools, and how warm is the water?
The water arrives at 30°C — cooler than you may expect from a Hungarian thermal bath, and deliberately so. Its mineral content is under 1,000 mg per litre, below the threshold for medicinal water in Hungary, which is why the bath states there is no medical limit on how long you can stay in the water.
| Area | Temperature | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Bath Hall | 30°C | The central hall, massage jets, the busiest space |
| Thermal relaxation pool | 33–35°C | The warmest water on site |
| Thermal swimming pool | 33–35°C | Warm water you can actually swim lengths in |
| Bridge Hall | 32°C | Cave pool crossed by the bath’s signature bridge |
| Star Hall | 32°C | The domed chamber, known for its echo |
| Roman Hall | 32°C | Quieter cave chamber |
| Outdoor Shell pools | Seasonal | Six pools, children’s pools, hydromassage — closed from 31 August |
The bath describes the cave microclimate and karst water as valued for joint and musculoskeletal complaints. Treat that as the operator’s claim rather than a medical one, and if you have a specific condition, ask a doctor rather than a bath.
What should you bring?
Bring a towel, flip-flops and swimwear. The Cave Bath states plainly that bathrobes and towels are not available to rent — the same trap that catches people at Széchenyi, where a towel costs 6,900 HUF to buy on the spot. Swimwear or swim nappies are compulsory for children under four.
Lockers run on the RFID wristband you are given at entry, which also records your time inside. There is a café on site but no full restaurant, so plan to eat in Miskolctapolca village or back in Miskolc.
First time in a Hungarian bath? Read our guide to Budapest thermal bath etiquette before you go — the same house rules apply here.
Cave bath or Budapest baths — which should you choose?
| Miskolctapolca Cave Bath | Széchenyi, Budapest | |
|---|---|---|
| Adult ticket | 8,500 HUF full day | 13,200 HUF weekday locker |
| Water | 30°C karst, 32–35°C pools | 38°C medicinal water |
| Setting | Natural limestone cave passages | 1913 neo-baroque palace |
| Closing time | 19:00 daily | 20:00, 22:00 on Fridays |
| Travel from central Budapest | About 3 hours each way | 15 minutes on the M1 metro |
| Age limit | Children welcome, family tickets | Over-14s only since August 2025 |
| Towel rental | None | None |
For most first-time visitors the honest answer is Budapest, and Gellért is not part of that answer — it closed in October 2025 and is not expected back before 2028. Our ranked guide to Budapest’s thermal baths sets out which of the three open options suits which kind of trip. Miskolctapolca is the second-trip bath, or the one you build a northern Hungary route around.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Miskolctapolca Cave Bath open in 2026?
Yes. The cave section reopens on 20 August 2026, nearly two years after the fire of 6 September 2024. The bath is open daily from 09:00 to 19:00. The Aquatherapy medical wing, where the fire started, stays closed for now.
How much does the Miskolctapolca Cave Bath cost?
An adult full-day ticket is 8,500 HUF (about €23) and a three-hour ticket is 6,000 HUF (about €15), valid from 20 August to 31 December 2026. A last-minute ticket after 16:00 costs 4,300 HUF. Sauna access is a separate 2,200 HUF supplement.
Can you visit the cave bath as a day trip from Budapest?
Yes, but it is a long day. Trains from Budapest-Keleti to Miskolc-Tiszai run roughly hourly and take about two hours, then bus 20 takes another 30 to 40 minutes. Budget close to six hours of travel, door to door, on top of your time in the water.
How warm is the water in the Miskolctapolca Cave Bath?
The natural karst water arrives at 30°C. The cave halls sit at about 32°C and the thermal pools in the Bath Hall run 33–35°C. Because the mineral content is under 1,000 mg per litre, the bath sets no medical limit on how long you can stay in the water, although your ticket type still does.
Do you need to bring your own towel?
Yes. The Cave Bath states that bathrobes and towels are not available to rent, so bring a towel, flip-flops and swimwear. Lockers work with an RFID wristband; losing it costs 5,000 HUF and overstaying your ticket costs 40 HUF per minute.
Is the cave bath better than Budapest’s thermal baths?
It is different rather than better. Miskolctapolca is the only bath in Europe built inside natural cave passages, and at 8,500 HUF it undercuts Széchenyi’s 13,200 HUF weekday ticket. Budapest wins on convenience, architecture and opening hours.
Before you book
Prices and hours here were checked on 18 August 2026, on the bath’s own ticket and opening-hours pages, and the published prices run to 31 December 2026. Reopenings change quickly, so check barlangfurdo.hu the morning you travel — particularly on 20–23 August, when the bath can suspend ticket sales once it reaches capacity.
If you are building the rest of the trip, start with when to visit Hungary and our trip planning hub.