Looking for a vacation that was out of the ordinary, my spouse and I took a page from Arthur Frommer’s morning newsletter (www.frommers.com) and whisked ourselves off to Budapest for three weeks at a serious health spa.
We had heard about the lovely Grand Hotel, built in 1873 and restored in 1987 to the traditional style. The hotel is connected through an underground corridor to the Spa Therapy Center of the neighboring Danubius Thermal Hotel Margitsziget. The spa center provides therapeutic treatments utilizing three thermal springs found on Margaret Island, which lies in the middle of the Danube River, between Buda and Pest.
The spring waters are rich in minerals — particularly calcium, magnesium, natrium, potassium and sulfur, making them a natural for thermal spa and medical treatment.
When we checked in at our hotel, we were immediately scheduled for a physician’s consultation. To my surprise, I found that the medical staff included several well-trained internists, a neurosurgeon and a cardiologist. The facilities available to patients at the spa are extensive: thermal bath, underwater jet massage, carbon dioxide bath, weight/traction bath, mud pack, electrotherapy (low and high frequencies), inhalation therapy, underwater gymnastics, individual and group medical gymnastics, medical massage, electrocardiogram and a laboratory. The center also includes a dental clinic with maintenance, surgical and prosthetic dental treatments.
The spa is marketed as being able to help those with rheumatic disease of locomotor organs (except acute inflammation), spinal disease conditions, gout, polyarthritis, spondylosis, spondyarthritis ankylosis, discopathia, nervous disorders, muscle disease conditions, tenosynovitis, post-injury conditions, post-operative rehabilitation of joints and spine, geriatric regeneration, circulatory problems of the heart and blood vessels, locomotor problems resulting from bone disease and exhaustion.
Advised not to take the treatments are persons with any of the following conditions: tuberculosis, malignant tumor, thrombosis, thrombophlebitis, leukemia, cardiac decompensation and several cases of anemia, hemophilia, hyperthyreosis and pregnancy.
The Hotel Margitsziget features a swimming pool with water maintained at 82 degrees Fahrenheit, three thermal bath pools with waters ranging in temperature from 97 to 104 degrees, a sauna, a solarium, a sport massage center and a weight room.
My physician determined my primary problem was poor circulation, probably the result of too many hours sitting at the computer. He prescribed a regime of underwater massage, mud packs, carbonate baths and massage. These therapies were to be interspersed with laps in the pool and thermal pool soaks.
For three weeks, I ate breakfast, had underwater massage, soaked, mudded, lapped, saunaed, soaked and relaxed with a massage. My spouse’s regime substituted ultrasound and physical therapy for the carbonate baths. Afterwards, we would nap, have lunch and do Budapest. This is life as it should be.
Evelyn Vasquez of Discount Travel in the Holiday Inn Windward Passage made travel arrangements via Tradesco Tours. The full Spa Package cost $2,000, It included round-trip air fare from New York on the Hungarian national airline MALAV, three weeks at the Hotel Margitsziget, breakfast and our choice of one other meal per day, physician evaluation and supervision, and 45 spa treatments including a massage every weekday.
