Meskó Csaba: Thermal Baths - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1999)

mous architect Miklós Ybl, he converted the baths into such an establishment which, in the words of a contemporary description, “can serve as a model in terms of beauty, comfort and usefulness, an institution unrivalled by any establishment of a similar nature in the capital”. The two luxuriously furnished steam baths, one for ladies, another for gentlemen, had hot, warm and cold pools, steam chambers, rubbing rooms and various showers.

In their Budapest fürdői és ásványvizei (The Baths and Mineral Waters of Budapest, 1891), Zsigmond Gerlóczy and Vilmos Hankó describe the baths in these words:

“Rác Baths lie on the north-western slopes ofGellért Hill, surrounded by other buildings of the city, and flanked by the church of the non-united Greeks. The spring, gushing forth from the bottom of the northern rockface of Gellért Hill, is of singularly large output yielding 24.447 hectolitres of water in 24 hours. The temperature of its waters is 43.4°C. ... The establishment is among the finest of its kind in Europe. It has 35 stone baths, 14 bath tubs with a common bath for men and another for women.

The baths are easily accessible by public transport, being within convenient distance of the Rudas Baths

Conditioning room under the Ybl-dome

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