The Baths of Broken Escalators

Official Coat of Arms

A shield depicting a thermal bath overflowing with tourists in inflatable rings, quartered with a chain bridge groaning under the weight of Instagram photographers, surmounted by a crown of scaffolding that has been 'temporary' since 2011.

TripAdvisor Review

★★★★☆ 4/5

"Absolutely stunning views of the Danube from Fisherman's Bastion, until you realise you've queued forty minutes behind a coach party from Düsseldorf just to take the same photo everyone else has. The thermal baths at Szechenyi are genuinely magical, though sharing a pool with 800 other tourists and three elderly men playing chess in Speedos is a specific kind of magic. Ruin bars in the Jewish Quarter are great fun until 3am when you realise you've spent more on palinka shots than your flight cost. Still, the paprika chicken redeemed the whole trip, four stars."

Property Listing

Charming pied-à-terre in a UNESCO World Heritage cityscape, boasting original 19th-century thermal springs literally bubbling beneath your feet and a Danube view that will make your Instagram followers insufferably jealous. Minor drawback: the building's grand facade is currently 40% scaffolding, but think of it as free modern art.

Twinned With

Bath — Both cities built entire tourism industries on the fact that Romans once got in a hot puddle there.

Supporting Evidence

Budapest was actually formed in 1873 by uniting three separate cities—Buda, Óbuda, and Pest—which explains why half the population still argues about which side of the river is better.