There has been a bit of a trend lately.
People have been working out whether it is cheaper to jump on a plane, fly somewhere in Europe, spend the day at a spa and fly home again than it is to book a luxury spa day in the UK.
And the slightly ridiculous answer is…
Sometimes, yes.
Which says something about UK spa prices that I am not going to get into today.
Budapest inevitably appears in these conversations because Hungary has such a strong bathing and wellness culture, and compared with what we can pay at home, some of the prices can look incredibly tempting.
So naturally you start thinking:
Could I actually fly to Hungary for a spa day?
Technically?
Yes.
Would I recommend doing that?
Absolutely not.
Not because Hungary isn’t worth going to.
Quite the opposite.
Because if you are going all that way to relax, why on earth would you deliberately make the experience stressful?
Hungary spa breaks: the short version
Yes, I think Hungary can make a brilliant alternative to an expensive UK wellness break.
But I would not fly there, visit a spa and come home again on the same day.
We’ve personally stayed in Budapest and in western Hungary, and for me they serve two very different purposes.
Choose Budapest
if you want sightseeing, restaurants, the Danube and Hungary’s famous bathing culture alongside your spa time.
Head into western Hungary
if the actual purpose of the trip is to stop, slow down and spend a few days properly using the pools, saunas and wellness facilities.
My personal choice?
The countryside.
We found a wellness hotel there that we liked enough to return to, and I still want to go back
Hungary wellness break at a glance
Best for a first trip to Hungary
Budapest
You can combine thermal bathing and hotel wellness facilities with sightseeing, restaurants, museums, river cruises and everything else the city offers.
Best if you genuinely want to rest
Western Hungary
Particularly the Lake Balaton and Hévíz region, where the experience can become much more about wellness itself rather than fitting spa time around sightseeing.
How long would I stay?
At least one night.
Personally, I would give yourself two or three nights if the point of the trip is actually to reset.At least one night.
Would I hire a car?
For the countryside, yes, or I would arrange a transfer.
Have we actually stayed at these hotels?
Yes.
Every hotel in this guide is somewhere we personally paid to stay.
Which would I personally choose again?
[FAVOURITE HOTEL NAME] in western Hungary.
We didn’t just say we would go back.
We actually did.
The one day spa trip sounds better on social media than it does in real life
Think about what the day actually involves.
You need to get to the airport.
Get through security.
Wait for your flight.
Fly to another country.
Get through the airport at the other end.
Travel into wherever your spa actually is.
Then you finally get your lovely relaxing few hours.
Wonderful.
Except somewhere in the back of your head you know you need to leave again soon because you have another airport to get to.
Then you do the whole journey in reverse.
That isn’t a wellness break.
That’s an airport endurance challenge with a massage in the middle.
And because Hungary is ahead of the UK, you also need to account for the time difference when planning everything.
Could you do it?
Yes.
Would you get a funny little TikTok out of it?
Probably.
Would you come home feeling restored?
I have my doubts.
If you’re going to do it, give yourself at least a night.
Personally, I’d go further.
Give yourself two or three.
And if what you actually want is a proper reset rather than a city break with a quick dip in a thermal pool, I would go further than Budapest too.
Because one of my favourite wellness discoveries isn’t in the middle of the capital at all.
We found it because we needed somewhere to stay.
And then we went back.
That tells you quite a lot.
How these hotels were chosen
Every hotel in this guide is somewhere we’ve personally paid to stay.
None of them have asked me to feature them, paid for this article or provided a complimentary stay.
Some booking links on Boujie Buddha are Expedia affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission from an eligible booking at no additional cost to you.
The recommendations themselves are entirely our own.
If you’re listening to this article rather than looking at the screen, you’ll find the hotel and booking links within the page you’re listening from. You can also use the heart icon to save this guide to your My Boujie account and come back when you’re ready to plan.
Right.
Let’s go to Hungary.
Option 1: Budapest
[BUDAPEST HOTEL NAME]: the one if you still want the city
Let’s start with the obvious choice.
Budapest.
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with choosing the obvious choice here.
Budapest is brilliant for a short break because you can mix the wellness side with an actual city trip.
You’ve got architecture.
Restaurants.
Bars.
Museums.
The Danube.
River cruises.
And, of course, the city’s famous bathing culture.
We’ve taken a river cruise there twice now, which probably tells you we quite enjoyed it the first time.
There is plenty to do.
You could easily spend a couple of days exploring and still have time to disappear into a spa for several hours.
We stayed at [BUDAPEST HOTEL NAME], which was an affordable option for us and also had its own wellness facilities.
There were several pools, including heated pools, a jacuzzi style area, a steam room and sauna facilities.
One of the sauna facilities wasn’t working during our stay, but these things happen.
The rest of the wellness area was lovely.
And after walking around a city all day, there is something deeply satisfying about being able to wander back to your hotel and get into warm water rather than immediately collapsing onto the bed.
One thing I would check before you book
Air conditioning.
Our room was very warm during our stay.
Whether that was down to the hotel’s system, seasonal operating restrictions or simply a problem during our visit, I couldn’t tell you with certainty.
The hotel did provide us with extra fans, which helped.
So this isn’t me saying:
Never stay here.
We did stay there.
The rest of the experience was perfectly fine.
But if you are somebody who needs a freezing cold bedroom to sleep, particularly during warmer weather, I would check the current room cooling arrangements before booking.
That is the kind of thing that can turn a perfectly lovely hotel into your own personal sauna, and preferably the sauna should remain downstairs in the spa.
Who I’d choose Budapest for
Stay in Budapest if you want your trip to have a bit of everything.
You want the thermal experience.
But you also want sightseeing.
Dinner somewhere lovely.
A drink.
A river cruise.
Museums.
A city to wander around.
For a first trip to Hungary, it makes complete sense.
But if you have seen those viral spa day videos and thought…
Actually, I don’t care about sightseeing. I am tired. I want somebody to put me in warm water and leave me alone.
Keep reading.
Because this is where things get much more interesting.
Option 2: [FAVOURITE HOTEL NAME]
The one we went back to
This is my one.
My hidden gem.
And unlike somewhere I simply say I would return to…
we actually have returned.
And I want to go again.
It’s around the Zalacsány area in western Hungary, within reach of the Lake Balaton and Hévíz region.
This is where I need to correct something I originally misunderstood myself.
Lake Balaton is the enormous lake you will see dominating the map of the region.
But the famous natural thermal lake in this part of Hungary is Lake Hévíz, not Lake Balaton.
And this whole region has a completely different rhythm to Budapest.
You are not in the middle of the city.
You are out in the Hungarian countryside.
And honestly, that is part of the magic.
You are not in Budapest anymore
Let’s establish this immediately.
This hotel is not conveniently sitting beside all the main tourist attractions.
It is not the hotel I’d tell you to choose if your priority is Budapest nightlife.
You are going out into the Hungarian countryside.
Depending on where you arrive and how you build the trip, you will probably want a hire car or a pre arranged transfer.
That is an additional cost.
And yes, it requires slightly more organisation.
For me?
Completely worth it.
Because the moment you start leaving the city behind, the whole experience changes.
You’re driving through countryside.
Small towns.
Open landscapes.
Hungary starts feeling less like somewhere you’ve gone for a European city break and more like an actual country you’re getting to experience.
And despite being somewhere completely new, you’re still in Europe.
There are familiarities around you.
It gives you that lovely balance where you’re somewhere very obviously different without feeling completely lost.
Why this part of Hungary means so much to us
There is another reason this part of the world is special to us.
We would probably never have found it without Len’s mum.
She was the reason we started travelling into this region in the first place.
She was a genuine free spirit.
Not the kind of person who bought a macramé wall hanging and suddenly declared herself a hippy.
The real thing.
She believed in living close to the land.
Eating from it.
Respecting it.
Letting nature provide where it could.
She believed Mother Earth could heal you.
And when you visited her before she became unwell, you might find her asleep under the shade of a tree on a blanket on a hot day.
Or walking around her garden proudly showing you what it had grown.
Cherries.
Berries.
Herbs.
Want mint tea?
You weren’t getting a tea bag.
You were going outside, picking the mint and making it fresh.
That was her.
Sadly, illness was also what led to us returning to this region repeatedly.
And during an incredibly stressful and upsetting time for Len, [FAVOURITE HOTEL NAME] became a little haven for us.
Somewhere quiet.
Somewhere restorative.
Somewhere we could exhale.
His mum is the reason we discovered this healing part of Hungary at all.
And I think she would have been very pleased to know how much we came to love it too.
We haven’t returned since she passed.
But when Hungary eventually calls us back, we will.
And I really hope this hotel is still there waiting for us when we do.
In a strange way, this recommendation belongs partly to her.
So this is Len’s mum’s little gift, as much as it is Boujie Buddha’s, to you.
Please treat it kindly.
Then you arrive
The thing I love about [FAVOURITE HOTEL NAME] is that the entire place seems designed around slowing you down.
The rooms were spacious.
Clean.
Comfortable.
Quiet.
And that’s before you even start talking about the wellness facilities.
There were several different sauna experiences.
Heated pools.
An outdoor pool during the warmer months.
Wellness areas.
And then this whole programme of activities happening throughout the stay.
Some days there might be arts and crafts.
Another day, sound bowl sessions.
Different relaxation activities.
Things you could join if you wanted.
Or completely ignore if your preferred wellness programme involves lying horizontally and speaking to nobody.
Both are valid.
The woman who somehow became my Hungarian wellness friend
One of my favourite memories from this hotel involved a woman who didn’t speak English.
And I certainly don’t speak Hungarian.
She gave me one of the most relaxing massages I have ever had.
She also happened to lead several of the wellness activities I attended.
One day there was a sound bowl healing session inside the herbal sauna.
Nobody else turned up.
So completely unexpectedly, I ended up having a private one to one sound bowl session.
Just me and this kind Hungarian woman, neither of us speaking the other’s language.
And somehow, we completely understood each other.
She showed me how to use the sound bowl.
How to make it resonate.
How to work with the sound.
And that experience stayed with me so much that when I returned home, I bought that exact type of copper sound bowl.
I still use it now.
Very Boujie Buddha indeed.
Sometimes travelling gives you these tiny exchanges that you could never have planned.
There was no great conversation.
No shared language.
Just two people understanding enough.
And I love that.
Then I discovered she was also the sauna master
Now this is where things get funny.
Len has taken a little bit of convincing when it comes to spas and saunas.
He’s getting there.
Slowly.
So you can imagine his face when I announced:
“I want to go to the sauna séance.”
He was not interested.
Partly because, bless him, he thought I meant an actual séance.
Ghosts.
In a sauna.
Len does not believe in ghosts.
He certainly did not see why he should sit inside a very hot room waiting for one.
I, meanwhile, had absolutely no idea what a sauna séance was either.
But it sounded new.
It sounded strange.
And it was happening in a sauna.
So naturally, I thought it was going to be bloody brilliant.
He came with me anyway.
And when my new Hungarian therapist friend walked into the room, I knew we were in good hands.
The magic air bender
The first thing she did was open everything up and let the heat out of the sauna.
I remember thinking:
What the heck are you doing?
Surely the entire point of a sauna is to keep the hot air inside?
Apparently I knew nothing.
Because what followed was one of the most interesting wellness experiences I have ever had.
She rebuilt the heat deliberately.
Water onto the stones.
Essential oils introduced at exactly the right moments.
And then the towel came out.
Not to wipe anything.
To manipulate the air.
She whipped, rolled and directed the hot air around the sauna using a damp towel until you could actually feel waves of heat moving around the room.
It was like she was controlling the atmosphere.
My little Hungarian wellness friend had suddenly become some sort of magic air bender.
And in that exact moment, I had never wanted to become something more in my life.
Forget astronaut.
Forget lawyer.
Apparently I wanted to become a sauna master.
And yes, it is a real skill.
There are proper techniques behind it.
And yes, learning how to do it properly is still firmly on my bucket list.
Len?
Won over.
At least a little.
No ghosts required.
This is why I’d stay for more than one night
If you have flown to Hungary because you want to reset yourself, this is where the whole one day spa idea begins looking slightly silly.
Stay.
Actually use the place.
Wake up.
Have breakfast.
Swim.
Go to a sauna session.
Read something.
Go outside.
Do nothing.
Join a sound session.
Have dinner.
Go to bed.
Repeat.
You don’t have to perform tourism every day.
There is this strange pressure when we travel that because we’ve paid for a flight, every hour has to be productive.
Temple at ten.
Museum at twelve.
Lunch at one.
Boat trip at three.
Cocktails at six.
Dinner at eight.
Bed.
Alarm.
Again.
Sometimes the boujie thing is having nowhere you’re required to be.
And I need to correct something about the food
Earlier, I described having breakfast and dinner included as simply convenient.
That massively undersells it.
The food was really good.
And I am not easy to impress with hotel dinner packages.
Usually, if breakfast and dinner are included somewhere, I am already mentally planning which evening we’ll sneak out to find something else.
I get bored.
I am picky about what I fancy.
And buffet food can so easily become:
“Fine. It exists. I have eaten.”
Not here.
I was actually excited for dinner.
That is rare.
Chicken paprikash.
Hungarian dumplings.
Fresh salad.
Apparently that is my exact Hungarian comfort food combination.
Who knew?
It was warm, filling, tasty, plentiful and I absolutely went back for seconds.
Yes please.
And thank you.
The wine was decent too.
Considering it was part of a hotel dinner experience, I was very happy with it.
And they made a genuinely good coffee.
Again, these are little things until you’re staying somewhere for several days.
Then they matter.
Because if the whole purpose of your trip is relaxation, the last thing you want is to be sitting in the restaurant every evening wishing you’d gone somewhere else.
At this hotel, dinner became part of the enjoyment.
Who I’d recommend this one to
Choose [FAVOURITE HOTEL NAME] if you’re tired.
I mean it.
Not:
“I fancy a weekend away.”
Actually tired.
Work has been relentless.
Life has been noisy.
Your phone has become an additional limb.
You need somewhere that gives you permission to slow down.
I think this place is brilliant for couples.
Solo travellers who enjoy wellness.
Friends wanting something calmer than a city break.
Anyone interested in thermal bathing and sauna culture.
And people who have seen the viral cheap European spa trips and realised what they actually want isn’t a cheap massage.
They want rest.
Option 3: [HOTEL NAME]
The other countryside spa hotel we’d happily recommend
Then there is [HOTEL NAME].
This was another really good stay.
And I want to include it because I don’t want this article to sound like there is one magical hotel in western Hungary and everything else should be bulldozed.
There are other excellent wellness options.
This one had a slightly more conventional hotel feel than our favourite.
That’s not criticism.
It just felt more like:
Lovely hotel with excellent spa facilities.
Whereas the favourite felt like:
You have entered a wellness bubble and we will see you when you emerge.
Both work.
It depends what you want.
The thermal facilities were fantastic
One of the things that stood out here was having access to a thermal or mineral bathing experience alongside a larger swimming pool.
The outdoor pool area also had massage jets and areas where you could basically lie back in the water while the jets did the work.
And that was glorious.
There is something slightly ridiculous about sitting in warm water outdoors while somebody back home is probably scraping frost off their windscreen.
I support it completely.
The rooms were comfortable.
Clean.
Everything we needed.
I honestly don’t remember the food well enough to write you an elaborate restaurant review, and I am not going to make one up just because this is a blog.
That is another Boujie Buddha rule. If I remember something clearly, I will tell you. If I don’t, I won’t pretend I do.
What I remember about this hotel is the spa experience.
And that alone was good enough that I would happily include it as an alternative.
Who I’d choose this one for
This one works if the thermal facilities are your priority but you still want something that feels more like a conventional hotel.
You’re perhaps planning to explore during the day.
You want a lovely pool.
You want the thermal experience.
But you don’t necessarily need a schedule of wellness activities keeping you occupied from morning until night.
Budapest or the Hungarian countryside for a spa break?
This is the real decision.
And it has nothing to do with which hotel has the fanciest lobby.
Ask yourself why you’re going.
Choose Budapest if you want a city break with some wellness
Choose Budapest.
See the city.
Take the river cruise.
Eat somewhere interesting.
Visit the baths.
Stay somewhere with its own spa so you can retreat when your feet give up.
Lovely.
Choose the countryside if wellness is actually the point of the trip
Get out of Budapest.
Hire the car.
Arrange the transfer.
Go west.
Explore the area around Lake Balaton and Hévíz.
Stay somewhere where the swimming pools, saunas, thermal experiences and quiet are not just extras.
They are the reason you’re there.
That’s an entirely different holiday.
Budapest vs western Hungary: which would I choose?
| Budapest | Western Hungary | |
| Best for | City break plus wellness | Proper rest and wellness |
| Sightseeing | Lots | Much quieter |
| Thermal experience | Famous city baths and hotel spas | Thermal and wellness focused stays |
| Restaurants and nightlife | Strong choice | More hotel and regional focused |
| Transport | Easier without a car | Car or transfer useful |
| Trip style | Active city break | Slower wellness escape |
| My personal choice for rest | Good | Winner |
Would I fly to Hungary for a spa day?
Yes.
But I’m changing the wording.
I would fly to Hungary for a spa break.
Not a spa day.
A spa day means constantly watching the clock.
A spa break means waking up the next morning and realising the only difficult decision you have to make is:
Pool first?
Or sauna?
That’s the energy I’m after.
And when people say:
“But once you’ve added the hotel and everything else, surely it defeats the point?”
Not necessarily.
That is where you need to actually compare the total cost.
Flights.
Hotel.
Transfers or car hire.
Food.
Spa access.
Then compare that with what your equivalent two or three day luxury wellness experience would cost at home.
Don’t build your holiday around proving a TikTok mathematically correct.
Build the trip that gives you the best experience for what you’re spending.
What I would actually do
If I were planning this specifically as an alternative to an expensive UK spa break:
Give yourself at least one night
And personally, I would choose two or three.
The entire point is to remove the rush.
Decide whether you want Budapest or wellness
They are not quite the same trip.
Choose Budapest if you want a city break that includes spa time.
Go into western Hungary if spa and relaxation are the actual reason you’re travelling.
Compare the whole price
Do not compare a £50 flight with a £300 UK spa hotel and declare victory.
Look at:
Flights
Accommodation
Transfers or car hire
Food
Spa access
Then compare like with like.
Check what the hotel actually includes
Pools, thermal facilities, saunas, treatments, meals and activity programmes can vary.
Give yourself permission to do very little
You have not failed at travelling because you spent half a day in a pool.
Sometimes that is the point.
Getting there and travelling around Hungary
If you stay outside Budapest, this is one of the occasions where I genuinely think having a car makes life easier.
You can explore.
Visit Hévíz.
See Lake Balaton.
Stop somewhere because it looks interesting.
And you don’t have to organise your day around public transport connections.
Where relevant, we’ll include Expedia options for flights, hotels and car hire within this guide so you can compare the whole trip rather than pricing everything in isolation.
If you’re listening to this guide, you’ll find those booking options within the page you’re currently listening from.
And again, if this has planted a little Hungary seed but you’re not ready to book anything yet, hit the heart icon and save the article to your My Boujie account.
It’ll be there when you inevitably find yourself staring at UK spa prices one Friday evening and thinking:
You know what… Hungary.
The Boujie Verdict
Budapest?
Absolutely worth visiting.
The thermal baths?
Absolutely part of the experience.
But if you’re asking me where I would go because I genuinely wanted a few days of rest?
I’m getting in the car.
I’m leaving the city behind.
I’m heading into western Hungary.
And I’m checking back into [FAVOURITE HOTEL NAME].
Not because somebody paid me to recommend it.
Not because it appeared on a list of Europe’s most Instagrammable spa hotels.
Because we found it during a time when we needed somewhere peaceful.
It gave Len somewhere to breathe while life was incredibly difficult.
It introduced me to a woman I couldn’t have a conversation with, yet somehow understood perfectly.
It gave me my first sound bowl lesson.
It turned me into somebody who now owns and actually uses a copper sound bowl at home.
It introduced us to the mildly terrifying concept of being whipped with hot air by a Hungarian magic air bender.
It fed me chicken paprikash until I went back for seconds.
We stayed there.
Then we went back.
And I still want to go again.
And perhaps most importantly, we would never have found this little corner of Hungary without Len’s mum.
She loved this region.
She understood something about it long before we did.
Why the land mattered.
Why the water mattered.
Why sometimes doing very little can give you far more than endlessly doing things.
I understand why she chose this part of the world.
And I understand why she wanted it to remain part of her story.
When we eventually return, I think it will feel different.
There will be sadness there.
Of course there will.
But I think there will also be something comforting about returning to a place that became part of our lives because of her.
Until then, I’m sharing it with you.
A little piece of Hungary that somebody very special helped us discover.
Please look after it.
Boujie verdict: if I wanted sightseeing with some spa time, I would choose Budapest. If what I genuinely needed was rest, I would head west.
And if [FAVOURITE HOTEL NAME] still gives us what it did before?
That’s where you’ll find me.
