Dent, Bob: Budapest for Children - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1992)
7. Making a Splash - Pools and Baths
50 MAKING A SPLASH management, sensibly, restricts the inflow, but this can mean queuing for up to an hour or more just to get in. Be warned! Nevertheless, worth a visit, if only to view the architectural splendours—the baths is part of the Gel- lért Hotel spa complex, which was built in Art Nouveau style around the time of the First World War. (No. 4 Kelenhegyi út; at the Buda end of Liberty [Szabadság] Bridge. Trams no. 47 and 49 run here from Deák tér in the centre of Pest, as do the no. 19 from Batthyány tér and the no. 18 from Moszkva tér in Buda.) There is a 33-metre pool inside and a small thermal pool with hot water for sitting in—quite relaxing! Every so often at the shallow end of the main pool “champagne” bubbles forcefully come up from below. (Open all year.) Outside there is a large main pool and a small, hot thermal pool (open only in the summer months). Both are suitable for children—the shallow end of the main pool is barely twenty centimetres deep. A main attraction for children is that the large outdoor pool has a wave-making machine. Waves appear approximately on the hour every hour for ten minutes or so. Be careful with small children—the waves are quite strong! It’s best to start off at the shallow end when they begin. Outside there are sun-bathing areas, part concrete, part grass, though it's not the place for peace and quiet. There is a terrace restaurant and a café, and a further small buffet in the entrance hall. Entrance to the baths is on the right-hand side of the hotel, just up the hill. There is a cloakroom and valuables store in the entrance area by the ticket boxes. Swimming caps are compulsory, but rather odd-looking plastic caps can be purchased here. (Nobody seems to mind wearing these oddities.) Towels and swimming gear can also be hired here and cabins can be booked. All these items require separate tickets! The basic entrance fee is for a three-hour stay. Clothed spectators are not allowed in. Proceed through the large entrance hall and then in the circular part turn right to the changing areas. It doesn’t matter which steps you go down for cabins, you end up at the same place. There are a lot of steps down and
