kiraly bath

by kath
(budapest)

The Kiraly is fantastiaclly atmospheric with its huge domb, bare stone walls, shafts of light, sounds of dripping water echoing around the dome etc. It is my favouirte of the baths and excellent for an an hour or two of retreat from city life.

Unfortunately recent experience has shown that there is a scam for tourists to be aware of:

On entrance you are given a bar coded card, depending on the amount of time you spend in the baths on exit you are probably entitled to a partial refund, as much as 1000 forints. One of the attendants at the Kiraly makes a deliberate attempt to take the card from you and take the receipt so that they themselves claim the refund.

As I visit the baths frequently and know the procedure I was able to ask for the receipt that the attandant had taken. I have since spoken to a number of tourists and the exactly the same thing has happened, the attendant takes your card , puts it in the machine pushes the turnstile and says goodbye whilst standing in front of the bit where the paper come out, trying to hide it.