Extra days in Budapest

[yukonld]

I am new to this forum, so hopefully am not repeating an existing question. We are booked with Amadeus for an August Danube trip. However, I want to fly in early to Budapest to allow my 82 year old mother time to rest before the trip. Any suggestions for hotels with good locations (I think Pest side) - perhaps on the river with views. The hotel used by Amadeus does not appeal to me because of location - but maybe I am wrong. Thanks in advance.

[Steph27]

I will also be traveling with my mother in May/June. Our Avalon Danube cruise will end in Budapest. I have decided to book other accomodations because the hotel included in the rate is unappealing. I booked Le Meridien Hotel which has a great location and looks quite nice. The rates are 147 euros for a superior room and 179 euros for a deluxe not including taxes. Check out www.tripadvisor.com for reviews. The Four Seasons in Budapest is fantastic but a little pricey. However, I have heard it is worth it!

[yukonld]

Thanks for responding - I have been looking at Trip Advisor - seems like you can't please everyone at once - some good and bad comments about Le Meridien. I am leaning towards it, particular because of the location and right now Expedia.ca has a reduced price of $149 Canadian for a Superior room. I guess I was looking for the impossible - best location, local flavour (not chain hotel), breakfast included - and all for a low price!!

[WIT]

I am new to this forum, so hopefully am not repeating an existing question. We are booked with Amadeus for an August Danube trip. However, I want to fly in early to Budapest to allow my 82 year old mother time to rest before the trip. Any suggestions for hotels with good locations (I think Pest side) - perhaps on the river with views. The hotel used by Amadeus does not appeal to me because of location - but maybe I am wrong. Thanks in advance.

yukonld - Our first stay in Budapest (Amadeus Christmas Markets) was at the Hilton in the Castle District - the hotel is partially built into the former castle. Great view without leaving the building. St. Matthias & Fishermen's Bastion are a short walk with a spectacular view of Parliament overlooking the Danube, especially in the late afternoon. Our group used the extra day to tour Danube Bend.

 

Our second Amadeus cruise out of Budapest (east to the Black Sea & Istanbul) our hotel was the Sofitel on the Pest side. It was a half block to the Chain Bridge on the river and a short walk to their Metro.

 

Search for my posts to get more details about Budapest. It is well worth spending an extra day. My link for photos of the trips is at:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/billwitowski

 

Which hotel are you booked into by Amadeus?

WIT

[yukonld]

Thanks WIT. My travel agent told me that Amadeus is using the Kempinski on our trip. However, we are making our own arrangements in Budapest. For my Mom's sake, I was concerned that the Kempinski appears to be several blocks away from the river and too far to walk to restaurants - and overpriced for our budget. Of the two you stayed at, which hotel was your preference - and why? I thought perhaps Buda would be too hilly for exploring, but hadn't considered the Sofitel. I've been using tripadvisor.com and seems most hotels get both good and bad reviews, so it is difficult to choose.

 

Your holiday photos look wonderful!

[Iceflower01]

If I were you, I would take the Pest side. The Hilton in the castel has a great view, but it is hard to get around for your mum.

The Kempinski is next door to the Le Meridien...

The Sofitel, Interconti and Marriott are all 3 at the Danube, absolutely downtown, almost for the same price. The Marriott has an appartement house, the Millennium Executive Court, try to find it, it has a great location, normally nice prices, but they have only continantal breakfast. On the Váci street, which is the pedestrian area, they renovated the old Taverna hotel, it is now the Mercure Budapest City Center.

You can check it also on the following website: budapesthotelreservation.hu

They are like Tripadvisor, but Hungarians.

[WIT]

Thanks WIT. My travel agent told me that Amadeus is using the Kempinski on our trip. However, we are making our own arrangements in Budapest. For my Mom's sake, I was concerned that the Kempinski appears to be several blocks away from the river and too far to walk to restaurants - and overpriced for our budget. Of the two you stayed at, which hotel was your preference - and why? I thought perhaps Buda would be too hilly for exploring, but hadn't considered the Sofitel. I've been using tripadvisor.com and seems most hotels get both good and bad reviews, so it is difficult to choose.

 

Your holiday photos look wonderful!

yukonld - The Sofitel in Pest was one block from the river and another to get to the Chain Bridge. Your city tour will bus you to the Buda side to visit Fisherman's Bastion where you can get a great view of Parliament on the Pest side. The Sofitel is two blocks North of Vorosmarty Ter (square) which has a Metro entrance right in front of the famous Cafe Gerbaud. The Metro in Budapest is inexpensive ($1.37 per ride last October), clean, quick, and the signs are in English. They also have English-speaking employees in the stations to assist tourists. We used it to go to the Opera, the public thermal baths, and to get us to places of interest instead of using a taxi.

 

The Kempinski is located farther from the river but is is next to the main hub of Budapest's subway system so I would be happy to stay there.

WIT

[MartiniWabbit]

we are doing the above trip and are flying over a day early. Amadeus is using the Kempinski Hotel for our trip. Can you walk to many places from it or do you have to take the metro. We are reading up about the city and how to get around and what to see and do.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.......Lynne

[WIT]

we are doing the above trip and are flying over a day early. Amadeus is using the Kempinski Hotel for our trip. Can you walk to many places from it or do you have to take the metro. We are reading up about the city and how to get around and what to see and do.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.......Lynne

Lynne - The Kempinski is in a great location. You can easily walk to central Pest's many attractions and you are across the street from the hub of Budapest's wonderful subway system. For suggestions read my remarks at this link then respond with questions:

 

You can read my narrative at:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=645975

 

Photos of this and my earlier trip to Budapest are at:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/billwitowski

 

WIT

[Bobblsc]

To anyone who likes opera at all:

 

Be sure to read WIT's narrative. He attended the State Opera. The opera was Madame Butterfly, so they were really fortunate. That is one of our very most favorite. Puccini's music is beautiful. However,don't sit near the front. During our first attendance of Butterfly I had to restrain my wife. She wanted to charge onto the stage and slug Lt. Pinkerton.

 

Two years ago we attended the Budapest State Opera for Don Carlos. The voices, orchestra, and scenery were all great. As WIT says, tickets are extremely low priced. Book from home as early as possible. We waited too long and booked about two months before our trip. The best we could do was third row in a box. However it was center and all the stage was visible. The tickets cost, no kidding, $2.00 each in Hungarian currency. The Hungarian government must heavily subsidize the opera.

 

The opera site is easy to find on the web. Google for Budapest Opera and it should be listed. Be sure to book the State Opera. There is a second in Budapest in a fairly new building. We were there for Aida years ago, and it is OK, but nothing like the State Opera House. When you start to book you will be sent to a site that is named Jergymaster, or something close to that. The site is very good and will show you the theater plan and your seat location. You are able to look at other seats if you so desire.

 

You will treasure the experience. We more recently attended the Barcelona Liceu Opera for Aida, and it was magnificent. But it cost us €125 for each seat.

 

Bob :cool:

[yukonld]

bobblsc - thanks for the information about the opera in Budapest. It sounds like something worthwhile - I will see about booking on-line.

 

Re a hotel in Budapest, we ended up booking an interesting looking hotel called the Leo Panzio. It gets very good reviews on Trip Advisor and should fulfill our wish to stay in a non-chain, more local flavoured hotel. I will send a report about the hotel after our August trip (which is looking very tempting today as it is -50 where I live).

 

Lynn

[SF]

Interesting thread as we are also researching Budapest Hotels for our river cruise next year. We will have a day touring with Amadeus but plan on staying post cruise for a few days.

So far on the top of the list are: The Kempinski, Intercontinental, Marriott ....all the ones mentioned here. Probably decide based on price at time of booking. Are there any other good review sites besides tripadvisor?

[Bobblsc]

bobblsc - thanks for the information about the opera in Budapest. It sounds like something worthwhile - I will see about booking on-line.

 

Re a hotel in Budapest, we ended up booking an interesting looking hotel called the Leo Panzio. It gets very good reviews on Trip Advisor and should fulfill our wish to stay in a non-chain, more local flavoured hotel. I will send a report about the hotel after our August trip (which is looking very tempting today as it is -50 where I live). Lynn

 

I did not realize that you would be there in August. There will probably not be any opera productions that month, but there may be something else presented at The State Opera House that month. It's worth a look, anyway.

 

Bob :confused:

[yukonld]

Bobblsc - darn - I looked on the Opera House website and didn't see anything for August, but just assume that something would be posted later in the year. I will keep my eyes open still for some sort of production in August.

 

SF - another site that has reviews about hotels in Budapest is: http://www.virtualtourist.com/hotels/Europe/Hungary/Budapest - its not as comprehensive as Trip Advisor, but still worth reviewing.

 

Lynn

[Bobblsc]

Bobblsc - darn - I looked on the Opera House website and didn't see anything for August, but just assume that something would be posted later in the year. I will keep my eyes open still for some sort of production in August.

Lynn

 

Keep looking. I looked at the site and found the schedule for last year. Without checking again, I think I saw Carman listed in August for three performances. However, I just got an e-mail answer to one of mine to inquire about September to December opera in Budapest and was told that opera would probably start in late September. Let's hope that is wrong. It was said that the schedule would be published in March.

 

They have tours of the building during afternoons. If they have them is August, you could at least visit the house.

 

Vienna is an easy train ride from Budapest, if you want to try that. Of course your boat must stop there also.

 

If you ever sail out of Barcelona, don't miss the Liceu Opera House. It is expensive, as is Vienna, but the production of Aida last November was outstanding.

 

Bob :cool:

[pianolady88]

Opera Seating:

In this thread, some of you referred to attending the State Opera.

 

Would you recommend sitting in center orchestra rows 3-7?

 

Or is it better to be in a box toward the rear? I assume the side boxes would not have full view.

 

Thanks.

[tban]

another good site to check out hotels with reviews is

www.booking.com

You can also make reservations there

[azkitty]

We also reserved at the Leo Panzio in Budapest for 3 post cruise days/nights. It was very hard finding a reasonably priced and yet central hotel, and the Leo Panzio seemed to fit our needs. The reviews by others who have stayed there were good. Having the hotel include a good breakfast is also one of our priorities. Most European hotels do include it. American and big chain hotels don't unless it's part of your tour package.

[yukonld]

azkitty - when are you staying at the Leo Panzio. We are there in August. I would love to hear your thoughts if you stay there before us. I requested room #10 since that seemed to be recommended by a few people.

Lynn

[Bobblsc]

Opera Seating:

In this thread, some of you referred to attending the State Opera.

Would you recommend sitting in center orchestra rows 3-7?

Or is it better to be in a box toward the rear? I assume the side boxes would not have full view.

Thanks.

 

I happened to see your post. I think row three would be a bit close. Row seven could be better.

 

For us, we would prefer first row center box if we could get it. Keep looking. I assume you have found "Jergymaster" or similar spelling. I recall it was a good site. We had no trouble at all picking up our tickets at the box office on the night of the performance.

 

Bob

[MartiniWabbit]

Witt, thanks for your information. I just checked back on this thread. We were gone on 2 cruises to Caribbean most of February, came back with flu and am just up out of bed after a week of being really sick.

 

I don't think we will change from the Kempinski Hotel, hopefully we can walk or subway without any problems. Our biggest concern for our trip is the time of year and weather. Due to considerations, we moved it to the end of October so will be on the Danube the first 2 weeks of November. I think it will be quite chilly, maybe even cold and could get snow????:(:( Hopefully we haven't made a mistake, but what is done is done. We wanted to end up in Paris and extended our stay there almost a week. Due to the $$$ vs Euro, I doubt we will be going back to Europe for many years so wanted to get in as much as we could on this trip. What will be, will be. We'll dress in layers and take warm clothes. I know we will not have to take formal clothes for ship, just a little nicer than daytime wear.

 

We are looking forward to Amadeaus and the Amadagio. Will be checking back as time progresses to read comments from those who are going on the various trips between now and when we leave.

 

Bye for now.........Lynne

[CincyAL]

Anyone tour the parliament while in Budapest? Certainly one of the most remarkable buildings in the world from the exterior!

[fromday2]

We did visit the Parliament a few years ago; it is beautiful inside, as extravagant as the outside. Look for rows of stained glass windows, look closely, they are all slightly different. Grand staircases and halls, the Crown Jewels were on display, the actual crown is there, it is said to date back to around 1000AD. The cross on the top is bent from damage in the 1800’s or so. The crown is well traveled, it has been stolen several times. The meeting halls of the delegates are elegant. All in all, it is worth the time and effort to see it. Don’t miss the memorial to the failed 1956 uprising, near the parliament building; it looks like the obelisk from the movie 2001 with the top broken off.

Al

[CincyAL]

How did you arrange your tour of the parliament? Are reservations required?

[fromday2]

The tour was an option to the land tour we were on, a Trafalgar tour about 8 years ago. I just did a quick Google and came up with the following.

 

http://www.budapest-tourist-guide.com/budapest-parliament.html#tour

 

There is a phone number and e-mail address to contact them. It seemed a bit odd at the time; we had a couple of very stern official escorts on our tour. I'll bet they don't take it so seriously now.

 

Al