Spa Experience in Budapest

Budapest is known for its’ bathhouses and spas, so of course we had to check one out. We were staying in the Gellért hotel and they have one of the most known and oldest spas in the city. It’s kinda in the same building as the hotel itself, so you’d think that it’s easy to go in there. If you saw my previous post, and looked past my massive bum, you already saw a little glimpse of the spa and I promised to tell more about our experience there, so here we go.

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Let me tell you, this spa visit was the first time we would have needed a map while visiting Budapest. Two strong independent women, smart and equipped with a good sense of direction, were more lost in the spa premises than probably anywhere before.

First, we went to see what the deal is and what we have to bring with us and how we pay for the entrance. We went to the hotels spa desk, separate from the main spa entrance that other people use, to buy tickets. The lady there hardly said a word to us, it was very confusing because I had to ask do we pay now or if they put it to the hotel bill. She was just typing away on her computer not saying anything to us.

Okay, fine, she wasn’t the best customer server ever but that is okay, maybe it was a language barrier… Let’s go to the room to change and then head to the spa.

How easy and nice when we can change into our swimwear in the comfort of our room and then just go a few floors down to the spa. You know I don’t shy away from nudity, and @escapist isn’t shy either, but we felt sooooo awkward wearing bathrobes and hotel slippers in the hallways.

Once we got to the spa level, there was like five different entrances and we had no idea where to go. We knew that we didn’t need the changing rooms, and we wanted to go to the outside pools. We were following the signs through a fucking labyrinth, trying to get to the pools. Half the time it felt like we had accidents stumbled onto a mens changing room. Everything is underground, dark, wet and very very confusingly build. I’d choose catacombs over this underground hell, every time.

We finally emerge from the underground to the pool area, whoosh, a little relief. We take a little stroll around the area and we are a little disappointed, its not so grand as we thought it would be. But okay, its not full summer season yet, so everything is not in full swing. There is a big pool, where we swam a few laps, chairs all around and a smaller hot pool we call the cannibal stew. It was so full that there is no way a Finnish person would go in, it’s disgusting to be so close to other people. Unless it’s in a sauna, which brings us to the next section of the area, the so called Finnish sauna, which obviously was a sad excuse of a sauna. Not hot enough and there was no bucket of water to throw water on to the hot stones, which is the whole fucking point in a Finnish sauna. Oh well, that was not a surprise to us. Inside are a few thermal pools, once again, cannibal stew, so we are so not going to go in. Sadly I didn't get a picture of those, they pools were gorgeous, minus the people.

One thing that weirded us out was that everyone had a camera or smartphone with them, and no signs forbidding photography. That obviously was a good thing for me, being a blogger and all, but for Finns, it’s very weird because photography is always forbidden in swimming halls. Pervs etc. I don’t care if someone secretly snaps a pic of my butt, but I think most people would find that very uncomfortable.

Other weird thing was that some of the people on the spa premises were just in their regular clothes and shoes, some even wearing jackets and fucking hiking boots, while the rest of us were in swimwear. One man was slicing up an apple by the poolside, while watching other people swim, major serial killer vibes. And why the fuck is there a buffet in the spa premises!? I get a pool bar, but legit food, I don’t get it..

I acknowledge that it is not normal to be so disgusted and weirded out by other people, but clearly me and the bff are, and every time we try to act otherwise, we regret it horribly. (Refer to exhibit A: The Boat Ride) I think we were in the spa for less than an hour, and most of that was spend trying to get through the labyrinth. If you like adventures, you'll sure love this one, and if you want to loose your partner or children, they can easily be discarded in the changing room area and the small ones would never get out.

The building itself is absolutely stunning, inside and out, excluding the changing room labyrinth, but once again, other people ruin everything.

I think I could go again some time, being better equipped mentally to handle all the weirdness that was going on in the spa. I really need some Kardashian level fame and money to buy a spa to be only open for me and few of my friends for all day.

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_{Take everything with a grain of salt, which people in Budapest need to learn how to use in their food...}