A reader, Seagem, emailed us with some help in choosing a hotel in Budapest and she gave us a list of things that she is looking to do while there as well as what her budget is.
I've spent hours trying to decide where today...I like the elegance of the modern hotels...like to walk in the old city, but want to spend time in thermal baths so was considering Danubius places....However, room reviews sound so-so...I can spend up to $200 per night, including all taxes...Food not important...I'm vegetarian and don't drink...Want comfortable, safe, elegance (don't need extravagance) to visit this city for the first time...I have 2.5 days..3 nights...thank you...
Well, our very own Tim L. spent some time in Budapest a few months ago and detailed the scene for us here. Back then, he recommended the art'otel budapest by park plaza, a hip hotel with a killer view of the Parliament Building and a restaurant serving "fine dishes" and a cafe/bar with an outdoor terrace. Rooms start at 198 Euros but during off-season, the rates can be cheaper.
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
From the stack of killer views we've shown you from hotels around Budapest, Hungary, you might be starting to think that every window looks out on some idyllic scene. Plenty do, but not this room at the Hotel Fiesta: Domina Inn on the Pest side of the river, in the middle of the shopping district.
The Fiesta might have a good location, but this view is perhaps typical of what many previous guests think about it. It's drab. This boring view in fact looks cleaner than many claim the rooms to be, and what you can't see from looking out your window is the overly complicated door-locking system that at least every second guest complains about.
HotelChatter Contributing Editor Tim Leffel recently completed a sojourn to Hungary the other week and has dutifully reported back to us on the hotel scene in Budapest. This week we'll be running all of his stories so if you have any questions about Hungary accommodations, hit us on the tipline, or just comment below, and we will do our best to get you some sort of answer.
If you want a killer view room in Budapest, you won't be hurting for choices. The best vistas are from hotels facing the Danube River on one side or the other. Most of the big chain hotels are on the Pest side, facing Buda Castle and the palace. Others are on the Buda side, with views of the impressive Parliament building instead. In either case, of course, you'll have to request (and often pay a premium for) a room facing the right direction.
While the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace is the top choice in town and has the most beautiful hotel building on the river, its relatively low-rise structure only allows a few river-facing rooms. If you want a real panorama, book at the InterContinental, Sofitel, or Marriott, all within a couple of blocks of each other on the same riverfront as the Four Seasons. The Marriott, currently undergoing renovation, has a slight edge because rooms have a step-out balcony.
On the other side of the river, the god-awful ugly Hilton Budapest spoils everyone else's view of Buda Castle with its modern addition, but in does offer great vistas and a convenient location near good restaurants and the Hungarian Wine Club. The best view, however, might belong to the hipper art'otel Budapest, smack dab across the river from the Parliament Building, which is especially dramatic when lit up at night (shown here). That's the view pictured here. Regular rates at art'otel Budapest start at 198 euros, but check for package deals and surf around for specials. Outside of the busy summer season, killer views go on sale at all of these hotels.
HotelChatter Contributing Editor Tim Leffel recently completed a sojourn to Hungary the other week and has dutifully reported back to us on the hotel scene in Budapest. This week we'll be running all of his stories so if you have any questions about Hungary accommodations, hit us on the tipline, or just comment below, and we will do our best to get you some sort of answer.
The Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal is a re-imagining of the original Hotel Royal that opened on this Budapest site in 1986.
The Corinthia Group brought it back to life in 2006, returning the basement thermal bath and spa to its original design, restoring the impressive exterior, and re-imagining many public spaces as they appeared in the golden age, before the interior was gutted after a fire in 1956.
HotelChatter Contributing Editor Tim Leffel recently completed a sojourn to Hungary the other week and has dutifully reported back to us on the hotel scene in Budapest. This week we'll be running all of his stories so if you have any questions about Hungary accommodations, hit us on the tipline, or just comment below, and we will do our best to get you some sort of answer.
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Everywhere you look in Hungary there's a spa hotel, but this one in the town of Héviz, by Lake Balaton, is something special. Héviz is known for its natural hot water lake, fed by mineral springs that are said to cure almost anything that ails you. It's the only place in Europe where the lotus flower grows.
Rogner Hotel & Spa Lotus Therme is the best of the lot here and one of the most highly regarded hotels in the country. The day before we arrived it hosted the presidents of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, so they must be doing something right.
HotelChatter Contributing Editor Tim Leffel recently completed a sojourn to Hungary the other week and has dutifully reported back to us on the hotel scene in Budapest. This week we'll be running all of his stories so if you have any questions about Hungary accommodations, hit us on the tipline, or just comment below, and we will do our best to get you some sort of answer.
Like most big cities, Budapest can be loud, crowded, and polluted when you're in the center of it all. An island in the middle of the Danube River is this city's equivalent of Central Park: a green oasis where trees far outnumber cars.
Most of Margitsziget Island is filled with green space and recreational facilities, but there are two sister hotels that allow you to relax and spend the night there.
Danubius Grand Hotel Margitsziget is the more aesthetically pleasing choice, built in 1873 and containing a restaurant that spills out onto a terrace blending into the park. All the baths and spa facilities are at the Danubius Thermal Spa Hotel next door though, where we took this killer view shot from room 720.
Guests have free reign of the various baths, saunas, steam rooms, and outdoor pool and terrace. The spa here is not your typical seaweed wrap and new age music place though: this is spa therapy in the traditional sense, with treatments and mineral baths prescribed to deal with specific conditions. A full medical facility on site does a brisk business.
Which brings us to the main downfall of this hotel complex: the average age of the guests staying in the two hotels is probably 65. Part of this is due to the thermal spa, but the hotel also caters to group tours hitting Europe and most of those seem to consist of gangs of retirees.
We liked being able to get up and walk for miles in the morning on paths along the river, but we're still cranky about paying the usual Budapest hotel WiFi rates: $17.50 for a grand total of 2.5 hours.
HotelChatter Contributing Editor Tim Leffel recently completed a sojourn to Hungary the other week and has dutifully reported back to us on the hotel scene in Budapest. This week we'll be running all of his stories so if you have any questions about Hungary accommodations, hit us on the tipline, or just comment below, and we will do our best to get you some sort of answer.
Why go to Hungary and stay in a hotel called New York Palace? Well, the name here is not some aspiration to match the Big Apple. The building was originally built by the New York Insurance Company and the New York Café on the bottom floor was a happening meeting place in Budapest's heyday at the end of the 1800s.
After the building sat abandoned for 10 years, new owners Boscolo Hotels bought it and turned it into a recently opened hotel. Of the total 180 rooms, 100 are open now and 80 will be finished in '08.
Depending on your view of Renaissance Baroque style, the restored café is either breathtaking or a visual overload, with all the gaudy glory of the gilded age shining again. It meanders into several sections on different floors, with a cigar bar, a formal restaurant, and the main room for coffee and Hungarian pastries.
The bright lobby occupies a space that used to be a courtyard, with glass now overhead. Architects effectively matched the historic style of the rest of the structure, a building constructed when banks and insurance companies tried hard to show off their wealth with marble and lots of ornamentation.
The spa here gets away from the historic feel, going instead for an "ice cave" look: think curvy white plaster and blue lights in the treatment rooms, lap pool, and gym. Rooms range from standards with designer fabric and Italian marble baths to an over-the-top Royal Suite that mixes Murano chandeliers with wall-mounted big-screen HDTVs.
With rates running from around $250 to $3,000, the Italian owners have priced it for those with plenty of Prada and Armani in their wardrobe.
In the July/August issue of the European Travel Commission's newsletter, they highlighted several new and upcoming hotels in Europe. We'll be taking a closer look at some of these hotels this week but we're always interested in hearing your recommendations for hotels in Europe. So send 'em our way.
Looking for a relaxing spa, plenty of good wine and a quaint countryside location ... then the new Andrássy Kúria Hotel Wine & Spa in Hungary is what you're looking for. The Andrássy Kúria can be found in the Hungarian town of Tarcal in the north-east of the country, in the middle of the world-famous Tokaj-Hegyalja wine district.
A reader, Seagem, emailed us with some help in choosing a hotel in Budapest and she gave us a list of things that she is looking to do while there as well as what her budget is.
