Night at the Baths

Thinking of the old Turkish baths installed by the Ottomans conjures up thoughts of pot-bellied men playing chess in a loin cloth. In Hungary though, it isn’t really like that anymore, at least not in some places. The baths are still sumptuous, and the water is steaming hot, but in Budapest the baths have evolved from a tradition of the old, or at least found a happy medium.

A few times a year people line up in the thousands at 10 PM at select baths, waiting to get in. At least a mile away from an outdoor stage, the thrumming of music reverberates through the buildings. It’s the “Night of the Baths”, a new tradition that keeps the spas open until 3 in the morning with booming techno music and people drinking beer and smoking in the pools. And one of the most popular baths only has its outside pools open, in frigid late November. And it’s packed.