Has anyone tried the outdoor pools of Szechenyi Baths during December? Is it tolerable with the freezing outside weather? On its website, it's said the wing pools are set to 33 and 38 Celcius degrees which I feel not warm enough as it could be minus in Hungary during December time. I'd like to try its outdoor pools as well but hesitant with the weather condition.
Cheers
Jen
Body temperature is betwern 35 and 36C so very little body heat will be lost in the pools regardless of the air temperature. We spent Christmas evening 2014 in the baths. The temperature was probably between 2 and 4; which is pretty average in the evening. I remember a few days in past winters where temps got down into the negative teens, but that's rare. About every 3rd Christmas there is snow, and when it happens the city is beautiful. This year we were there February 5th for a special event. My wife brought the fur and I bought a new topcoat. They were worn, but it was almost too warm so you never know what to expect.
Thanks so much James E. i'll be there on 3rd of Christmas and hope to see the magical snow there too :)
So you will be there for the christmas markets! Outstanding.
My son and I went to the these baths one afternoon in January. The outside temperature was very cold but the water in the outside baths was lovely! We stayed in for a couple of hours. We loved it there... the buildings are gorgeous and the steam coming off the water resulted in some great photos. Also enjoyed watching the locals play chess in the baths. There are lots of smaller inside pools if you don't want to be outside, but in my opinion the outside ones are far better.
Make sure that you have a robe ready to pop on to keep you warm when you get out of the water and a pair of flip flops for your feet as the cement around the pools feels freezing.
Flip flops in the dressing area is also good practice for sanitation. You can purchase flip flops and Budapest logo towels at the vendors outside of the bath house. One other word of information. The locker rooms are somewhat compact and if you are adverse to wall to wall Eastern European flesh cheek to cheek so to speak; you might want to spring for a "Cabana" which translates to "Private Closet" to change in. You only need one for the family. Oh, and all but the large pool require bathing caps.
Did they suddenly change the cap requirement, James? Last month, as every time we've been there, it is only the large lap pool that requires a bathing cap.
My bad. Came out all wrong. For me "the big pool" is the play pool with the roundy roundy current. So it requires nothing, while the lap pool does. Thanks for pointing out my lack of logic.
