Four Seasons Gresham Palace
This magnificent 179-room hotel was created out of the long-derelict art nouveau Gresham Palace (1906) and a lot of blood, sweat and tears...
Except during the peak summer season (ie July and most of August) in Budapest, most of Lake Balaton, the Danube Bend and the Mátra Hills, you should have no problem finding accommodation to fit your budget in Hungary. Campsites are plentiful, university and college dormitories open their doors to guests during summer and other holiday periods, the number of hostels and decent hotels is on the increase, and family-run pensions and inns are everywhere. Although they are decreasing in number, private rooms are another option in many towns, particularly near tourist centres.
In this book, the price breakdown is as follows:
* Midrange (pensions and hotels): 9000Ft to 16,500Ft per night (15,000Ft to 33,500Ft in Budapest)
Prices in this book are full price in high season (except for Budapest, where price ranges cover all seasons) and include private bathrooms, unless otherwise stated. High season tends to be June to August, while prices tend to be highest during the August Formula 1 season in Budapest and over the New Year period countrywide. Exceptions are noted in specific listings.
Tourist tax is often not quoted in the advertised price, so your bill may be higher than expected. Some top-end hotels in Budapest do not include the 27% Value Added Tax (VAT) in their rack rates; make sure you read the fine print. As a general rule, hotels and pensions include breakfast in their rates, but not always; if not included, it can cost between 800Ft and 2500Ft.
This magnificent 179-room hotel was created out of the long-derelict art nouveau Gresham Palace (1906) and a lot of blood, sweat and tears...
Essentially for business travellers on hefty expense accounts, the Kempinski offers European service, American efficiency, Hungarian charm and fusion Japanese food at the all-star Nobu...
One of the most central cheap hotels in Pest, the Medosz is just opposite the restaurants and bars of Liszt Ferenc tér...
The Art’otel is a minimalist establishment that would not look out of place in London or New York...
This attractive boutique hotel, under the management of a small Italian hotel chain, has 112 tastefully furnished rooms and a vaulted wine-cellar restaurant just minutes from Pest’s main square.
Le Meridien’s public areas and its 218 guestrooms spread over seven floors are dripping in brocade and French polished furniture – think royalty over rock star...
Decades in the remaking, the one-time Royal Hotel on the Big Ring Road is now a very grand 414-room, five-star hotel...
This enormous place spread over eight floors in less-than-salubrious district VIII has 136 standard (though comfortable) and renovated singles, doubles, triples and quads as well as 36 superior doubles, four of them with jacuzzis...
This 95-room hotel at the foot of Castle Hill and at the end of a narrow cul-de-sac in Víziváros is a good choice if you plan to divide your time equally between Pest and Buda. Half a dozen rooms lead into a small courtyard garden.
This upbeat Austrian-owned place just behind the Hungarian State Opera House has 206 rooms spread over seven floors. They’re on the smallish side and decorated in unusually cheerful colours, which raises the tenor of the whole place...
This stunning five-star hotel just off leafy Andrássy út (enter from Munkácsy Mihály utca 5-7) has 70 tastefully decorated rooms (almost half of which have balconies) in a listed building...
The King's is Budapest's only kosher hotel and is within easy walking distance of both the orthodox and conservative synagogues. The hotel's restaurant is lemehadrin (or glatt) kosher and supervised by the chief rabbi of Budapest...
Fancy rolling out of bed and into church? This new 47-room hostelry house in a lovely classical building looks the Basilica of St Stephen square in the face and the more expensive superior rooms (eg No 105) offer unparalleled view of same...
Named in honour of Elizabeth, the Habs-burg empress, Hungarian queen and consort of Franz Joseph much beloved by Hungarians, the Hotel Sissi is decorated in a minimalist-cum-elegant sort of style, and the 44 guestrooms spread over six floors are of ...
This is a modern 136-room hotel near a noisy stretch of road but with good views of the river, and rooms with all the trimmings.
This 62-room guesthouse-cum-hotel sits atop Sváb-hegy on the edge of the Buda Hills protected nature area. It has a gorgeous swimming pool, a fitness room and sauna, and a highly praised restaurant...
This hotel, although it is part of an expanding chain, is in a lovely building dating from 1890 that is interesting enough to warrant consideration...
The Hilton chain's more central property adjoins the massive West End City Centre shopping mall and offers every type of facility and food and beverage outlet imaginable...
If you're after Art Nouveau glamour, Palatinus is the place in Pécs. The amazing, marble reception has a soaring glass ceiling, and the 'ball-room' makes you want to get your most expensive frock/tux on and waltz around...
Perched above the Danube on Castle Hill, the Hilton was built carefully in and around a 14th-century church and baroque college (though it still has its uber-preservationist detractors)...
Though it bears the stigma of being 'just another chain hotel', the 247-room Béke (or 'Peace') Hotel has several things in its favour: a very central location on the larger of Budapest's two main ring roads, a lovely Eclectic building dating from 19...
Another feather in the mellow Mood Group’s cap, this small, almost motel-like place with 39 rooms is on two floors of a fin-de-siècle building (but you’d never know that from the inside looking out)...
Subscribe now and receive a 20% discount on your next guidebook purchase
© 2013 Lonely Planet. All rights reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced without our written permission.