AP PHOTOS: Struggling to stay cool in Budapest heat wave

Inflatable swimming pools are the new must-have item around Budapest as residents of Hungary’s sprawling capital struggle to stay cool amid one of the most oppressively hot summers in the country’s history.

The pools have been popping up everywhere — in shared, open spaces outside apartment buildings, on small balconies, but also in the backyards of suburban houses where surrounding greenery can't mitigate the heat.

To stay cool, Budapest’s residents have been fleeing to relatives who have a house in the forested suburbs or air conditioning at home, sometimes sharing living space with up to a dozen other family members.

Some, like Barnabas Kantor, are taking their work along for a splash. The 29-year-old social media manager has been working on his phone for days while sharing an inflatable pool with his wife and sister-in-law. The sisters installed the pool outside their parents’ suburban home, where the entire family has been staying for weeks to escape the urban heat.

In the...