Locals and tourists in Budapest took sanctuary from a heatwave gripping Europe in the city's famous bathhouses.

The Hungarian capital's thermal baths are architecturally striking and are social hot spots in the summer heat.

"It is really hard to stand this heat” said László Horváth, a regular guest of Budapest’s Széchenyi Bath, who has been coming to play chess with his friends in the pool since the 1970s.

Tamás Haidekker, director of the Gellért Bath, said "more and more we are told to drink, drink, but the real miracle is if we can dive into the water.”

Last Sunday brought a new city record at 38.7 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in Budapest, and since then, there has been no sign of the end of the extreme heat.

Retired engineer and regular guest of the Gellért Bath, József Kiskőrösi, said heatwaves were present in the past, but "the difference is that nowadays these heatwaves last way longer than before.”

"Budapest is the city of spas, we have plenty of baths, so everyone should take advantage of them” he added.

Budapest, the capital of a landlocked country, is blessed by natural springs bubbling up from below the ground.

Bathing became an integral part of life in Hungary during the Ottoman occupation in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Most of Budapest’s largest historic baths, such as Széchenyi Bath or Gellért Bath, were built in the 19th century, during the city’s golden era.

Millions of people across Europe struggle to adapt to the new reality: record summer heat.

Temperatures in some areas of the continent have soared past 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

Europe is warming faster than any other continent, at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s.

Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness.

AP video by Bela Szandelszky