by Adrian Phillips, The Telegraph, November 10, 2017
An expert guide to the top hotels in Budapest city centre, including best for rooftop bars, sweeping city views, opulent suites and fine dining, in locations including downtown Budapest, the Castle District, the Jewish Quarter and Theresa Town.
Corinthia Hotel Budapest Budapest, Hungary
8Telegraph expert rating
The Corinthia is a genuine beauty, its neo-classical façade opening onto a lobby of creamy marble and a centrepiece staircase that sweeps up to a vast ballroom. The building is divided between two glass-covered atriums that suck in light, and the sense of space is continued elsewhere through high ceilings and wide corridors. The location is convenient for accessing all the prime sights, and the inside of the hotel is very well insulated from any noise from the street. The spa includes a truly stunning pool surrounded by Corinthian columns and topped with a stained-glass ceiling. Read expert review. From £174per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
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Aria Hotel Budapest Budapest, Hungary
8Telegraph expert rating
A music-themed hotel in the shadow of St Stephen’s Basilica, whose rooftop bar could be the coolest place in Budapest for a cocktail. The impressive neoclassical building, a former bank, is split into four wings. Each represents a different musical genre. Other highlights include the soaring garden courtyard, complete with kitsch sofas and a space-age piano, and a seductive underground spa and swimming pool. The location is unbeatable – there are killer views of the domes of the Basilica, and the hotel is within walking distance of the city’s opera house, parliament building and Széchenyi Chain Bridge. Read expert review. From £225per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
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Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest, Hungary
8Telegraph expert rating
The Four Seasons sets the benchmark for luxury hotels in Budapest. It oozes quality from every pore – whether you’re approaching its grand exterior from the city’s landmark bridge, entering the lobby with its stained glass and marble, or padding the thick carpets of the corridors. Ruling the roost over Roosevelt tér, the hotel sits at the eastern end of Chain Bridge – darling of the tourist postcards – which makes it ideally placed not only for the shops and restaurants of Pest but the Castle District directly opposite on the other side of the river. Read expert review. From £358per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
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Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest Budapest, Hungary
9Telegraph expert rating
Unlike some of Budapest’s other luxury hotels housed in 19th-century mansion buildings, the Kempinski is a modern construction of glass and straight-lined stone. The ground floor has been modelled on a promenade and genuinely brings a flavour of the outside in, sweeping in an arc past little ‘streetside’ establishments like a takeaway deli, a café, a sweetshop and a gallery area that showcases the work of young artists. You will struggle to find a hotel with a better location, which is as central as you could wish, sitting in the pedestrianised area at one side of Erzsébet tér and therefore well-placed for classic tourist areas like Váci utca and Vörösmarty tér. Read expert review. From £178per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
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Continental Hotel Budapest Budapest, Hungary
8Telegraph expert rating
Beyond the classical façade faithfully restored to its 19th-century origins, the Continental has a sensual quality to its styling, with its turquoise roof panels and courtyard water feature behind a glass wall at the rear, while a palette of chocolate and gold in the guestrooms and restaurant oozes decadence. The pick of the facilities is a rooftop swimming pool complete with poolside sun loungers and splendid views to Buda Castle Palace and other city landmarks. The hotel is located close to the Great Synagogue in Budapest’s Jewish quarter, and centrally placed for the main tourist attractions. Read expert review. From £74per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
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Hotel Moments Budapest Budapest, Hungary
8Telegraph expert rating
The building in which Hotel Moments resides dates to 1880, and real pride has been taken in its renovation – look up, for instance, to the frescoes in the glass-topped atrium lobby, which are faithful to the style of the period, and took several months to paint. However, alongside the 19th-century features are well-considered contemporary design features. Sitting at the lower end of the boutique-lined Andrássy út, the hotel is well positioned, with St Stephen’s Basilica and the Opera House both a short walk away. Read expert review. From £68per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
Prestige Hotel Budapest Budapest, Hungary
8Telegraph expert rating
From its classical façade – replicating the original 19th-century design even though it was actually entirely rebuilt in the 21st century – to the sleek glass lifts, this is a hotel with confidence and class. Hotel catering is provided through a joint venture with Costes, Hungary’s first Michelin-starred restaurant. As you’d expect, this is a fine-dining restaurant that comes with a healthy reputation. In a fantastically central location, just a short distance from the Chain Bridge, the hotel is well-positioned for exploring the city. Read expert review. From £96per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
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Baltazár Budapest Budapest, Hungary
7Telegraph expert rating
This small hotel of just 11 rooms is owned by the Zsidai family, who have been leading restaurateurs in the city for more than 30 years. As you’d expect, its restaurant is top drawer, and the hotel has a colour, character and attention to design detail that makes it very special. It is probably best characterised as boho-chic – funky, even quirky in places, but elegant too. Located at the northwestern end of the Castle District, Baltazár is ideally placed for those who want to base themselves in the city’s historic quarter on the Buda side of the river. Read expert review From £78per nightCheck availabilityRates provided byBooking.com
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Gerlóczy Budapest, Hungary
8Telegraph expert rating
Gerlóczy lacks bells and whistles – indeed, it’s officially categorised a private lodging rather than a hotel – but it oozes a character you’ll find nowhere else in the city. The building itself was constructed in the 1890s, and is believed originally to have housed skilled artisans – stone-carvers and the like – working on the adjacent City Hall. Among locals, its café is a much-loved alternative to some of the bigger and more expensive establishments in the Belváros. It’s excellent value, and the location is top-notch. Not only is it as central as you could wish, but it is on a quiet square away from the traffic. Read expert review. From £68per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
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Brody House Budapest, Hungary
7Telegraph expert rating
Brody House lives up to its reputation as 'the coolest place to stay' in the Hungarian capital for imaginatively decorated rooms and shabby chic interiors. This boutique bolthole also boasts a great location on the lively Pest side of the city. It is within walking distance of all the main “left bank” sights, including the fascinating and still largely intact Jewish quarter – once the biggest in Europe – and the must-see “ruined pubs”, not to mention the wonderful Gellert thermal baths, dripping in Secession era atmosphere, across the Danube in Buda. Read expert review. From £106per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
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Pest-Buda Budapest, Hungary
8Telegraph expert rating
Pest-Buda – a boutique hotel of just 10 rooms – is jammed full of personality, with industrial-style copper lamps, oak floors and quirky contemporary artworks. It also has a top-quality restaurant. The hotel sits on a quiet cobbled street in the Castle District, Budapest’s romantic, historical centre. It’s a short hop to Mátyás Church. there is history here, for the building housed an inn as early as 1696 (you can still see original brickwork and marble seating around the central stairway). Today’s hotel incorporates classic craftsmanship in the limestone bathrooms and wood panelling with industrial touches like bare-bulb lighting and colourful works by Hungarian graphic artists. Read expert review. From £60per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
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The Ritz-Carlton Budapest Budapest, Hungary
8Telegraph expert rating
The luxurious Ritz-Carlton Budapest offers some informality with its elegance. While its décor nods to the grace of a bygone age, elements such as the casual blue jeans-clad restaurant staff and the warm and welcoming service bring it into the 21st century. The hotel is as central as they come, with Váci utca, St Stephen’s Basilica and Andrássy út all a stone’s throw away. The main metro hub is also on the doorstep. The Danube is represented in the blue and white swirls of the carpeting, and there are reminders of yesteryear Budapest in old advertising posters and a case displaying ‘Hungaricum’ such as the Rubik’s Cube (invented in 1974 by a Hungarian professor). Read expert review. From £358per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
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St. George Residence Budapest, Hungary
8Telegraph expert rating
The immaculately maintained St George Residence occupies an 18th-century building with high ceilings and wide corridors, and offers spacious suites with kitchenettes. It's in the Castle District, the city’s historic, cobbled heartland, which sits on the Buda bank high above the Danube, and offers leading tourist favourites such as Matthias Church and the Buda Castle Palace. The area can be reached by bus, taxi, on foot or via the atmospheric funicular railway near the Chain Bridge. Read expert review. From £114per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
This article was written by Adrian Phillips from The Telegraph and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.
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