Veli Bej Bath
An Ottoman bath built in 1574 under the pasha Sokollu Mustafa and run again by the Brothers Hospitallers since 2000. The octagonal central pool sits at 36 to 38 °C under the old dome, ringed by four smaller pools at different temperatures.
Getting in
- Public transport
- Tram 4 or 6 to Margit híd, or trams 17, 19 and 41 to Komjádi Béla utca
- Address
- Árpád fejedelem útja 7, 1023 Budapest
Entry, hours and rules
- Entry
- Morning ticket, Wednesday to Friday (3 hours)HUF 5,700about €15
- Afternoon ticket, Monday to Thursday (3 hours)HUF 6,700about €18
- Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday (3 hours)HUF 7,200about €20
- Hours
- Mon15:00-21:00
- Tue15:00-21:00
- Wed06:00-12:00, 15:00-21:00
- Thu06:00-12:00, 15:00-21:00
- Fri06:00-12:00, 15:00-21:00
- Sat06:00-12:00, 15:00-21:00
- Sun06:00-12:00, 15:00-21:00
- Swimwear and rules
- Mixed at all times; swimwear required.
- Minimum age
- 14 and over.
- Tickets
- Day ticket, no time slot
- Official site
- irgalmasrend.hu
- Facilities
- ShowersLockersCaféSaunaSteam roomIndoor poolTowel hire
About Veli Bej Bath
The Ottoman verse written for the bath hides its date in a chronogram, the letters adding up to 1574 to 1575. In 1663 Evliya Çelebi wrote that the people of Buda fetched its water in barrels to wash their dead. Count István Marczibányi gave it to the Brothers Hospitallers in 1806 as part of the Császár bath, and in the 1970s everything around it except the Turkish bath and József Hild's courtyard was pulled down for a hospital. The last restoration turned up the original floor, painted plaster and the well that fed the bath, and a glass-roofed cloister now wraps the old walls. The central pool's water flows through fast enough to stay fresh without chemicals.