Are you planning to visit the pools in Gellert Spa in your winter Budapest visit? You can! Gellert Spa, similarly to Szechenyi Baths, is open every day of the year, including the Christmas holidays: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. You can get great spa treatments, massages, chocolate treatments, Cleopatra bath in the beautiful Art Nouveau pool palace of Budapest.

Despite the winter colds, you can even take a bath outside: there is a smallish outdoor thermal pool filled with hot spring water, which is also open in December or January (if the weather stays above the freezing point).

Gellert Bath is also open during the Christmas holidays with slightly shortened opening hours. Hours in 2024 (please check the official site before visiting as it may change):

Dec 24: open from 7 am until 2 pm

Dec 25: open from 7 am until 7 pm

Dec 26: open from 7 am until 7 pm

Many Budapest travel guides assume that Budapest is quiet or dead at Christmas, but this is not true any more. In recent years, Budapest has become an outstanding Christmas travel destination in Europe. Budapest has been often picked as the best value for money holiday destination, and it is also true of the Christmas and New Year weekends! Gellert Spa certainly adds to this value factor with its pampering but superb, affordable, mid priced treatments (Szechenyi Baths is somewhat cheaper, while Lukacs Baths is even cheaper)

Lukacs Baths even features an extravagant pool party series in December: Magic Bath Parties. Budapest Baths are actually open, and are a lot of fun and relaxation for any winter visitors in Hungary. Do not miss the baths in December either!

Gellert Bath is open throughout the Christmas holiday, with the following opening hours:

Gellert Spa Christmas Opening Hours 2018

(based on the opening times of recent years in Gellert Spa)

• Dec 24: opening hours from 6 am to 2 pm (all the facilities in Gellert Baths)
• Dec 25: opening hours from 6 am to 8pm (incl the outdoor pool of Gellert Bath and most of the thermal section )
• Dec 26: opening hours from 6 am to 8 pm (including the outdoor pool, if the it is above the freezing point, and most of the thermal section in Gellert Baths)
• Dec 31: on New Year’s Eve the opening hours of Gellert Bath from 6 am to 6 pm. Great way  to get some strength for the New Year’s Eve parties in Budapest!
• Jan 1: on New Year’s Day, the opening hours of Gellert Bath from 10 am to 6 pm. What a perfect way  to cure any hangover and welcome the new year with healthy resolutions! You can even listen to a concert on New Year’s Day to make January 1 in Budapest really beautiful.

Massage at Gellert Bath

Book a relaxing massage at Gellert Spa and enjoy the stunning Art Nouveau mosaics and architecture of this fascinating building. Wishing to soak in really hot spring thermal baths? Gellert Spa has one geothermal pool at 40 degrees Celsius (Japanese style temperature for thermal baths)? Lucky for those who don’t like burning hot water, most of the pools are cooled down to a very lovely warm 33- 36 degrees.

Budapest can be affordable and can be expensive (true, food vendors are often pricey at Christmas Markets), but this is a really a superb Christmas Deal, we think! You can buy it as a Gellert Spa Gift Voucher for others too.) Do not miss out on this fabulous opportunity. Book Gellert Bath Ticket in advance, or others will instead of you (Christmas and New Years can get really booked in Budapest, this applies to the Nutcracker ballet, or Budapest Christmas cruises, or massages in Gellert Bath in general).

Romantic Private Bath at Gellert Baths

Are you in a mood to splurge with your love of life? You can even book a private bath at the beautiful Art Nouveau complex. The private bath is not so spectacular with today’s standards (it was super high tech in the 1920s obviously), but you can have your privacy in Gellert Spa private bath for 3 hours or so. The sparkling wine and fruit bowl is included in the price, but the towels are not.