Rudas is the right choice if you want a 450-year-old Turkish bath and a rooftop pool over the Danube, and the wrong choice if you turn up on the wrong day. A day ticket to all zones costs 12,000 HUF (~€33) Monday to Thursday and 15,000 HUF (~€41) Friday to Sunday. The historic Turkish bath is women-only all day on Tuesday and men-only all day on Wednesday, mixed at weekends, and mixed from 11:00 on Monday, Thursday and Friday. Everything else — the wellness wing, the swimming pool, Sauna World and the rooftop pool — is mixed every day of the week.
Prices, opening hours and the bathing schedule on this page were checked against rudasfurdo.hu on 31 August 2026. Forint prices are converted at 364 HUF to €1, the mid-market rate on that date.
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Buy your ticket direct at tickets.rudasfurdo.hu. We earn nothing from that link and we are recommending it anyway, because no reseller sells a plain Rudas entry ticket more cheaply than the bath does, and night bathing is sold nowhere else.
What is Rudas Baths?
Rudas Baths is a working thermal bath in District I (Budavár), built around an Ottoman bathing hall from the 16th century and extended twice since. The Turkish core was built by Sokoli Mustafa, Pasha of Buda, between 1566 and 1572, according to We Love Budapest. Its octagonal pool sits under a hemispherical dome carried on eight stone columns, pierced with coloured glass that throws discs of light onto the water.
That hall is the reason to come. The rest of the complex is modern: a 19th-century classical wing, and the Juventus wing, whose wellness section was completed in 2014 according to the same source. The rooftop pool that now dominates every photograph of the place belongs to that modern half, not the Ottoman one.
Rudas sits at the foot of Gellért Hill on the Buda bank, at the Buda end of Erzsébet Bridge — about twenty-five minutes on foot from Deák Ferenc tér. It is the one Budapest bath where the view from the water is the city itself.
The trio, in one line each. Széchenyi is the iconic one and the right first visit. Rudas is the historic Turkish one with the rooftop pool and the schedule you have to read. Lukács is the quiet, cheaper local favourite. Gellért has been closed since October 2025 for reconstruction and is not expected back before 2028 — if a guide is still recommending it, that guide has not been updated.
Is Rudas Baths men-only, women-only or mixed?
Only the historic Turkish bath is ever single-sex. Every other part of Rudas is mixed every day, all year. This is the single most misreported fact about the bath, and it is worth being precise, because four of the six English guides currently ranking for Rudas give a schedule that does not match the official one.
| Day | Historic Turkish bath | Everything else |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Men only 06:00–10:45, then mixed 11:00–22:00 | Mixed |
| Tuesday | Women only, all day 06:00–20:00 | Mixed |
| Wednesday | Men only, all day 06:00–20:00 | Mixed |
| Thursday | Men only 06:00–10:45, then mixed 11:00–20:00 | Mixed |
| Friday | Men only 06:00–10:45, then mixed 11:00–20:00 | Mixed |
| Saturday | Mixed 06:00–20:00 | Mixed |
| Sunday | Mixed 06:00–20:00 | Mixed |
Source: rudasfurdo.hu opening hours, checked 31 August 2026. The wellness wing runs 06:00–20:00, and to 22:00 on Monday. Sauna World runs 08:00–20:00, and to 22:00 on Monday.
Three corrections worth making, because the wrong version is everywhere:
Weekday afternoons are mixed. If you have read that Rudas is single-sex on every weekday and mixed only at weekends, that is out of date. On Monday, Thursday and Friday the Turkish bath goes mixed at 11:00. A couple can bathe together on a Monday afternoon.
Tuesday and Wednesday are full days, not mornings. Several guides list Tuesday as women-only until 10:45. It is women-only until 20:00. Wednesday is men-only until 20:00 in the same way.
Monday runs late. The mixed session on Monday ends at 22:00, not 20:00 like every other day. That is two extra hours in the rooftop pool on the quietest evening of the week, and almost nobody writes it down.
Why the schedule is so badly reported
Because it genuinely changed twice inside twelve months. Budapest Gyógyfürdői és Hévizei Zrt. (BGYH), which runs the city’s baths, cut back single-sex bathing at Rudas in October 2025 while Gellért was closed for reconstruction. After the response from regular bathers, BGYH restored a full women’s day and a full men’s day from 18 November 2025, according to We Love Budapest. Guides written between those two dates are wrong. Guides written before October 2025 are wrong in a different way.
Check the official opening hours page on the morning you go. That is the honest advice, and we will re-check this page ourselves each quarter.
How much does a Rudas ticket cost in 2026?
| Ticket | Mon–Thu | Fri–Sun | Holiday / peak season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day ticket, all zones | 12,000 HUF (~€33) | 15,000 HUF (~€41) | 16,000 HUF (~€44) |
| Fast track, all zones | 15,000 HUF (~€41) | 18,000 HUF (~€49) | 19,000 HUF (~€52) |
| Turkish bath only (until 10:45, Mon/Thu/Fri) | 8,000 HUF (~€22) | — | — |
| Wellness only (until 10:45, Mon/Thu/Fri) | 8,000 HUF (~€22) | — | — |
| Supplementary ticket (upgrade a morning ticket) | 4,000 HUF (~€11) | 7,000 HUF (~€19) on Friday | — |
| Night bathing (Fri & Sat, 22:00–03:00) | — | 15,000 HUF (~€41) | — |
| Cabin ticket | 1,000 HUF (~€3) | 1,000 HUF (~€3) | — |
| Safe | 1,100 HUF (~€3) | 1,100 HUF (~€3) | — |
| Towel (to buy, not hire) | 6,900 HUF (~€19) | 6,900 HUF (~€19) | — |
| Bathrobe (to buy) | 12,600 HUF (~€35) | 12,600 HUF (~€35) | — |
All prices from rudasfurdo.hu, checked 31 August 2026. Rudas ticket prices rose by 1,000 HUF at the start of January 2026, as reported by We Love Budapest in November 2025. Prices here typically change at the start of each year.
There is a morning ticket, and a supplement ticket, and no other English guide explains either. On Monday, Thursday and Friday you can buy a Turkish bath ticket or a wellness ticket for 8,000 HUF (~€22) instead of 12,000 HUF, valid until 10:45 only. A separate “supplement ticket” then costs 4,000 HUF (~€11) Monday to Thursday, or 7,000 HUF (~€19) on Friday.
Here is the honest limit of what the price list says. The supplement is labelled “Turkish bath / wellness-spa”, which reads as adding the other section to your morning ticket. It does not say it lifts the 10:45 cut-off, and it does not say it adds Sauna World, the swimming pool or the rooftop pool. Ask at the desk if you are an early riser, but do not turn up assuming 8,000 + 4,000 buys the same access as the 12,000 HUF day ticket — we could not confirm that from any published source as of 31 August 2026. And since the morning ticket does not exist on Tuesday or Wednesday, the 4,000 HUF combination is only possible on a Monday or a Thursday.
Fast track costs 3,000 HUF (~€8) more and buys a shorter queue at the desk, not a shorter wait for the rooftop pool. On the price list alone it looks worth it only on a Saturday afternoon in July.
One more gap in the same list: it shows “Daily ticket to all zones” without itemising a locker, while listing a cabin ticket and a safe separately. Széchenyi’s price list, by contrast, says “daily ticket with locker” outright. Budget the extra 1,000 HUF if you want a private changing cabin, and ask what the base ticket includes.
What does your ticket get you on a day you cannot use the Turkish bath?
Quite a lot, and this is the question no other Rudas guide asks. If you are a man on a Tuesday or a woman on a Wednesday, the historic hall is closed to you, but the same 12,000 HUF day ticket still opens the wellness wing with its four pools, Sauna World, the 20.5-metre swimming pool and — the part most people actually came for — the rooftop panorama pool. On a Tuesday the drinking hall is open too; on a Wednesday it is not, because it only runs on Tuesday and Thursday.
So the honest answer is: the ticket is still worth buying, but you are paying full price for roughly three-quarters of the bath. If the Ottoman hall is the reason you are going, do not go on the day it excludes you.
Two ways round it. Come on a Monday, Thursday or Friday after 11:00 and get everything. Or, if that day is fixed and it is the wrong one, go to Széchenyi instead — no gendered days at all, and three large outdoor pools. Compare Széchenyi tickets and skip-the-line entry →
Is the rooftop pool included, and when can you actually get in?
Yes. The rooftop pool sits inside the all-zones day ticket, with no separate charge and no timed slot advertised on the price list. The constraint is not money, it is space: the pool is 36°C, 90 cm deep, and holds 16 people, according to the bath’s own pools page.
Sixteen, in a bath that sells thousands of tickets on a summer Saturday. That single number explains every complaint you will read about queuing on the roof. Three windows actually work:
- The first hour after opening, 06:00–07:00 on a weekday. Almost nobody is on the roof at dawn and the light over Pest is the best of the day.
- Monday evening, from 20:00. The Turkish bath and the wellness wing run to 22:00 on Mondays only, and pools have to be cleared 20 minutes before closing, so the real window is roughly 20:00 to 21:40. It is one of very few late Monday slots in the city and the quietest premium hour of the week.
- Friday or Saturday night bathing, though the roof is busier during night sessions than most people expect.
The view is the Danube, Erzsébet Bridge and the Pest bank straight ahead, and it is worth planning around. It is not worth queuing for at 15:00 on a July Saturday when the same ticket buys you an empty 42°C pool downstairs.
What is night bathing at Rudas, and what is closed during it?
Night bathing runs Friday and Saturday from 22:00 to 03:00, costs 15,000 HUF (~€41), and is sold online only — the desk will not sell you one on the night. Book at tickets.rudasfurdo.hu rather than at the door.
What is open: the Turkish bath, mixed, and the wellness pools and the rooftop pool.
What is not: Sauna World closes at 20:00 every day except Monday, per the bath’s own opening hours, so it is shut before a 22:00 session even begins. Several guides describe night bathing as full access to everything. It is not, and if the sauna is a large part of why you were going, book a day ticket instead. Massages are sold against a valid entry ticket, and we have not been able to confirm whether the night ticket qualifies — ask when you book if that matters to you.
One correction that will save you an hour: night bathing ends at 03:00, not 04:00. At least one widely read guide still prints 04:00.
Do you have to wear a swimsuit at Rudas?
On mixed sessions, yes. The bath’s own timetable labels every co-ed Turkish bath session “in bathing suit”, so a swimsuit is the rule whenever the hall is mixed, night bathing included. On men-only and women-only days the Hungarian name for the session is kötényes — apron day — and the tradition is a cotton apron rather than swimwear. In practice you will see both in the same pool.
If the thought of that is a reason to hesitate, book a mixed session. Nobody at Rudas will make an issue of a swimsuit on a single-sex day.
The swimming pool has one rule the thermal pools do not: a swim cap is mandatory, per the bath’s own pools page. Bring one or buy one on site. The general rules across Budapest’s baths are the same everywhere, and we have set them out in full in our guide to thermal bath etiquette in Budapest.
Rudas cannot be visited under the age of 14. That is the official house rule and it covers the whole complex, swimming pool included.
What is inside — the pools, temperatures and saunas?
| Zone | Pools | Temperature | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Historic Turkish bath | 6 thermal pools | 16, 28, 30, 33, 36 and 42°C | Octagonal central pool holds 30; corner pools 6 each; plunge pool 4 |
| Wellness wing | 4 pools | 11, 32, 36 and 42°C | 80–90 cm deep, neck showers and back massagers |
| Rooftop | Panorama pool | 36°C | 90 cm deep, capacity 16 |
| Swimming pool | 1 lap pool | 29°C | 20.5 m, 80–180 cm deep, capacity 56, swim cap mandatory |
| Sauna World | Finnish saunas, steam cabin, aroma sauna, salt cabin | 25–100°C | Closes at 20:00 daily, 22:00 on Monday |
Source: rudasfurdo.hu pools and saunas, checked 31 August 2026.
The bath’s own recommended time in the hot pools is 20 minutes. That is a sensible ceiling in 42°C water, and the 16°C plunge pool in the Turkish hall is there for the alternation.
There is also a drinking hall (ivócsarnok), open Tuesday and Thursday 10:00–14:00 only, where you can drink the mineral water. The bath advertises the water as medicinal; treat that as the bath’s claim rather than as medical advice, and if you have a health condition, ask your own doctor before drinking it.
What should you bring to Rudas?
Bring everything, and bring a towel above all. Rudas no longer hires towels out: the 6,900 HUF (~€19) on the price list is the retail price of buying one at the desk, and a bathrobe is 12,600 HUF (~€35). A towel from your hotel is the single biggest saving available here.
The short list: towel, flip-flops, swimsuit, a swim cap if you plan to swim lengths, a padlock habit for the locker, and 1,000 HUF in change if you want a cabin. Leave anything valuable at the hotel or pay 1,100 HUF for the safe.
Our full 2026 packing list for Budapest’s thermal baths covers what you can rent, what you can buy on site and what each item costs, at every bath in the city.
How do you get to Rudas Baths?
Rudas is at Döbrentei tér 9, 1013 Budapest, on the Buda bank at the Buda end of Erzsébet Bridge, directly under Gellért Hill.
The bath’s contact page lists trams 19, 41, 56 and 56A, buses 7, 8E, 108E, 110 and 112, and night buses 907 and 973. The night buses matter if you are leaving a 03:00 session. From Deák Ferenc tér it is about fifteen minutes on the 7 bus, or a twenty-five minute walk across Erzsébet Bridge.
The ticket desks close one hour before the bath does, and the pool and sauna areas have to be cleared 20 minutes before closing. On a normal 20:00 day that means the last tickets go at 19:00. Turning up at 19:30 on a Thursday means you will not get in.
Rudas also sits at the foot of the Citadella, which reopened in spring 2026 — there is a half-day around the bath, and we have mapped it in our guide to things to do near Budapest’s thermal baths.
Is Rudas worth it, and who should go to Széchenyi instead?
Rudas is worth it if you want the Ottoman hall, the rooftop view, or a late Monday evening in warm water. It is the most atmospheric bath in Budapest and the only one where the architecture is the attraction rather than the setting.
Go to Széchenyi instead if it is your first visit to a Hungarian bath, if you want large outdoor pools, if you are visiting on a day the Turkish bath excludes you, or if you simply do not want to read a schedule before you go. Széchenyi has three big outdoor pools, no gendered days at all, and a weekday day ticket with locker at 13,200 HUF (~€36).
Our full ranking of the city’s baths, with the reasoning shown, is in Best Thermal Baths in Budapest, and the head-to-head is in Széchenyi vs Gellért vs Rudas. For a bed within walking distance of Rudas, our where to stay in Budapest picks are grouped by district and by how far you have to walk to the water.
One last honest note on booking. GetYourGuide does not sell a plain Rudas entry ticket. What it does sell is a Rudas bathing and three-course dinner package, which is a genuine option if you want the evening organised for you, and several times the price of the 12,000 HUF door ticket if you do not. For entry alone, and for night bathing, buy direct from the bath.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Rudas Baths mixed?
Partly. The historic Turkish bath is men-only all day on Wednesday and women-only all day on Tuesday. On Monday, Thursday and Friday it is men-only from 06:00 to 10:45, then mixed from 11:00. Saturday and Sunday are mixed all day. The wellness wing, swimming pool, Sauna World and rooftop pool are mixed every day.
How much is a ticket to Rudas Baths in 2026?
A day ticket to all zones costs 12,000 HUF (~€33) Monday to Thursday, 15,000 HUF (~€41) Friday to Sunday, and 16,000 HUF (~€44) on public holidays and in peak season. A morning-only Turkish bath or wellness ticket is 8,000 HUF (~€22). Checked 31 August 2026.
Is the rooftop pool included in the Rudas ticket?
Yes. The 36°C rooftop panorama pool sits inside the all-zones day ticket, with no separate charge on the price list. It holds 16 people, so the constraint is space rather than price. Go in the first hour after opening, on a Monday evening, or during a Friday or Saturday night session.
Can you visit Rudas Baths at night?
Yes, on Friday and Saturday from 22:00 to 03:00. A night ticket costs 15,000 HUF (~€41) and is sold online only, not at the door. Sauna World closes at 20:00, so it is shut before a night session starts. Checked 31 August 2026.
Do you have to be naked at Rudas Baths?
No. Men-only and women-only sessions are known in Hungarian as kötényes, apron days, and the tradition is a cotton apron rather than swimwear; many bathers wear swimwear anyway. Every mixed session on the bath’s timetable is marked “in bathing suit”, so a swimsuit is required then, night bathing included.
Can children go to Rudas Baths?
No. The official house rules state the bath cannot be visited under the age of 14. This applies to the whole complex, including the swimming pool. If you are travelling with younger children, Palatinus on Margaret Island is the usual alternative in summer.
Next: if Rudas is not the right fit, start with our ranked guide to the best thermal baths in Budapest, or go up a level to the thermal baths hub for every bath in Hungary we have checked.