Latest Reviews for Hungary

this is a lovley city and worth a visit

we booked this hotel for a city break and the location was perfect for doing all the tourist things. First impression was what have we come to, however once inside it was very chic and clean. Our room was spacious. The time of year we went was very quiet and the hotel was very quiet. The breakfast was good and catered for all. i would recommend this hotel if you require a good base. There is not much atmosphere should you require a bar or to stay there for evening entertainment.

About 30-45mins from airport, airport shuttle bus (return included) cost 3900 Hungarian forints (about £13).

Bus went straight through city so was quite impressive, lot of traffic mind.

Hotel on shores of River Danube, which is about 1/4 mile across, beautiful views, with plenty of room to sunbathe if thats what you enjoy.

Weather was sunny all week, with temps in the low to mid 30's (80-90'F).

Hotel rooms small but very nice, air con included so wasn't uncomfortable at all.

Hotel on opposite side of city and on outskirts so not too much to do at the hotel, but city easy to get to via excellent public transport system or taxi (costs between £9-15 depending on taxi-ensure taxi is regulated, some aren't and may cost much more)

Food in hotel very nice, but menus a bit limited, plenty of buffet style food for breakfast, for main meals we went out onto main road (left at main road) where there is a nice restaurant which serves excellent meals.

John Bull pub in city opposite Hotel Intercontinental) very nice, sells imported beer and is air conditioned, with sky sports etc

All in all, a nice break, wouldn't come back due to distance from centre but still a well kept place.

PS Airport check in desks didn't appear to be in air conditioned room and was hot and stuffy, check in room itself very small with 20 check in desks, not enough room for flights and so chaos reigns when it comes to queueing.

This is a great little hotel/guest house which ticks all the right boxes. 1. Spotlessly clean and comfortable rooms, recently refurbished and a comfy bed. Towels changed daily PLUS we had the benefit of a balcony. 2. The location is in a very nice leafy part of Buda, as others have said, it is a bus ride into the City (the no. 53) but personally speaking this presents no challenge to us. The bus was extremely efficient and ran every ten mins. from just outside the hotel (taking about 20 mins journey) - the receptionist s are very helpful if you need any advice on getting around. 3. Friendly and smiling staff - very helpful with directions etc. and you can purchase a Budapest Card from the reception. Make sure you make the best of the discounts with this card, or it could work out more expensive than just purchasing Travel Cards.

All in all a fantastic City Break was had based in this hotel - we started our days early so had a meal before we returned on the bus so we were able to catch the bus home (note the last bus is 11pm).

One tiny problem - the bar area downstairs really needs a door to separate the bar from the stairway to the rooms, as it got a bit noisy down there a couple of nights and I had to use earplugs to get any sleep(but we were going to bed early! If you are using the bar it should pose no problems!) Minor complaint though as I would thoroughly recommend to anyone not afraid to use public transport. The garden is a lovely quiet area to relax in with loungers too!

The Art'otel is on the river Danube on the Buda side, it is situated between the Chain and Margarit Bridge and provides a spectacular view of the parliament building. The rooms were cleaned everyday and chocs on our pillow! The staff were friendly, helpful and spoke good english. The bar and restaurant were expensive but they do have a happy hour and offer a 2 for 1 meal deal. The breakfast was superb, catering for everyone.
Our taxi transfer is highly recommended its a family run business which i booked over the internet and cost 6000 huf each way about £15, the lad who picked us up was friendly, spoke a little english and was early on both occasions

Budapest itself is a lovely city, i would recommend trying the local bars rather than searching for english bars as these are more expensive and full of locals anyway! Saying that though Becketts Irish Bar serve fab food and it has a good atmosphere in the evening, with a mixed bunch of people. Everything is shut on a Monday!! We were there Sunday to Wednesday and most things wer shut on the Weds as well due to a festival! Don't bother wasting your money going to the caves under the castle the drawings on the wall are man made and its takes 15 mins to get round in pitch black tunnels with scary music.

I would def recommend Budapest the locals are helpful and the majority can speak good english, the food is lovely, the beer is great! There is plenty to do and see.

My wife and I booked a 3 night break to Budapest flying from Bristol as we fancied something different to Paris, Prague or some of the other ";usual"; European city break destinations.

All I can say is we were glad we did!

The hotel itself is situated right on the Danube with wonderfull views of Buda from every room. We could see the Royal Palace, The Citadel and the Chain bridge from our room along with all the large chunks of ice floating down the Danube daily ! The breakfast buffet has to be seen to be believed, it had everything.

Needless to say, beacause of the time of year, it was very cold, but that did not spoil our enjoyment of going around Budapest sampling all the wonderful food and drink in the numerous restaurants and bars.

One place you MUST visit is Gerbeaud's coffee/chocolate house. The service and ambiance is so relaxing and the chocolate/coffee and cakes are out of this world. If you like to relax and eat sweet things, then you will be in heaven!

Going Places itself has always provided my wife and I excellent service and I would certainly use their services again.

We travelled to Budapest in late September with Easyjet from London Luton as we always find Easyjet to be very good on price and have never suffered a delay.

We stayed at the Ibis Centrum (75 euros per room per night), which is ideally located and not too far away from the main sights etc. See below for how to get there. Raday Utca is ";pedestrianised"; (as it is lined with parking meters you know this is somewhat of a misnomer) has lots of nice bars and restaurants and, also, a very good sandwich shop where you can get a bacon and egg breakfast (to eat in) for £1.50, much cheaper than the 8 euros charged by the Ibis! We also got some take away baguettes for our flight home, which were half the price of the ones in the airport. There is also a supermarket and a couple of boutiques and souvenir shops.

Across the main road, there is the Irish Cat bar, which is very good too, but unlike most Irish Bars we have visited, they do not open until the afternoon, although they stay open until very late in the morning. The market hall is worth a visit, but don't buy any souvenirs on the first floor, they are much cheaper in the little streets across the road, which lead down to the river. Having said that, the things on the ground floor are quite good value, I got a great string of dried whole chilli peppers for about 75p, which should last me a couple of years. We liked Budapest, which in a lot of ways is like Prague, with the exception that their shops are closed on Sundays, apart from the Mammut shopping centres and the like. This didn't bother us too much as we took the Metro and went up to the Zoo and the English Park, taking in Grundels for Sunday Brunch (not too bad when you consider the price of everything on the normal menu!).

The public transport system is very good and very cheap, but you must remember to validate your tickets before getting on a metro train and whilst on a bus, failure to do so results in a hefty fine and they do check! When we got off at the Zoo, two burly guards ensured that not one single person got past them until their tickets had been closely inspected. A taxi to our hotel, if arranged via the Ibis, was about £17, but we used the Repterbuz and metro, which only cost £1 each in total! The instructions on the net state that there are blue bus ticket machines near the taxi rank at Ferhigey airport, but since they have now opened a lovely new terminal, this is not the case. The first thing you must do is get some coins, there is a change desk and, also, a cafeteria as you come through arrivals. You can then buy a ticket on the bus 170 HUF, which you need to validate.

The bus stop is just on the main road, to the left of the airport entrance (same side). It takes you directly to the metro station, again you need 170 HUF per person for a ticket, you will see some orange machines on the way into the underground, insert your ticket to get it validated, the IBIS Centrum stop is Kalvin Ter and when you get off the metro look for the Raday Utca exit, you will see the hotel as you come up the steps, it is about 15 metres away. All the ticket machines have instructions in English and almost everyone we spoke to put us to shame by speaking very good English. For a capital city Budapest is surprisingly reasonable, although there are the odd places which are quite expensive, but we did not spend as much as we thought we would.

The weather was lovely even though it was almost October, but we did need a jacket on the evenings. We enjoyed it so much we intend to go again.

We chose this sight because it was nearest to the airport, not being good drivers abroad.It was only 19klms,we chose the airport minicars, a good cheap alternative to the taxis, about 1/3 the cost. What we did not prepair for was the standard of driving,about the worst i have ever seen.If you hire a car you must have suicidal tendencies.For the rest of the time we used the local trams,buses and subways, very cheap and efficiant.The place itself was set in the hills above Buda, Canadian style log cabins. it is a bit remote,the bar and restaurant close at 9 o clock in the evening.

The nearest bar is a mile away and that shuts at 10 o clock.There is nothing else on sight,no shop,cafe or gamesroom. The staff seem eager to get home, except when there is a wedding or birthday party booked in the hotel restaurant( about 3 per week) these can go on until 3 or 4 in the morning. But to us guests the bar is still closed at 9 o clock, and the evening meal is reduced to a help yourself buffet(all the waiters are at the party) There are day trips to all the usual tourist places but we found them vary expensive and somtimes not worth it.Lake Balaton and the Herend Porcelenium cost £52 each, out of 8 hours we were driving 5 + 1 1/2 for lunch and 1 hour in the plate museum.The average wage is about £80 per week.The other trips were much the same. Moskva sq tram and bus change has a lot of down and outs who just sit and drink allday and urinate in the flower beds.

Along the river there are a number of good places to visit,Margit island is a large park once a private home but now place to get away from the relentless traffic.Also a short walk away is the parliament building. If you are an E U citizen you get in free on sight of your passport, or its 2300huf the tour is about 40 mins. All the other sights are easy to get to on the trams, Buy a travel card or a book of tickets for even better savings.

I dont think we will go to Hungay again for along time, there is still a bit too much communistic attitude as yet

The hotel was adequate for our purposes, friendly staff, buffet breakfast, fine to keep you going. Handy position near The Octagon eg to get to Hero's square and a nice outdoor bar just outside the hotel. No air con so if you go in July/Aug get a hotel with air con. Budapest is a fantastic city could not recomend it more. No chavs or baseball hats no people shouting, bars very relaxed to chill in, loads of pleasant outdoor bars to sit in balmy evenings. The people are very quiet as well.

Loads to do in the city, too much for our 3 night break. Hero's square a good place to start and allow at least half a day for the big spa there, absolute bliss. The Danube is good as is the market out of town. The Turkish citidal on the Pest side good, also Margaret Island great strolling place.

Public transport is fantastic puts ours to shame presumably as they don't spend most of their GNP paying benefit. Just use the trams to sightsee, 8 pounds for a 3 day unlimited ticket to use on any transport, trams are about every 2 minutes, too many superb buildings to mention much better than Prague in this respect but not as cheap or festooned with Lager swilling stag/hen parties at weekends, depends what you want. See it before it becomes another stag party venue.

Fabulous hotel situated in Buda, if you are lucky enough to get a room to the front of the hotel you get fantastic views of the Danube and Pest. We were lucky enough to have a balcony, although as we visited in December we did not get the chance to make full use of it.

The rooms are beautifully decorated, clean and warm, in a boutique hotel style. We were on a BandB basis, the breakfasts were continental buffet style, there was always alot of food to choose from and it was of a high standard. The hotel did have a restaurant but we did not eat there as the choice of restaurants and bars in the area are vast. We particularly loved a small Belgian bar, which did great food a couple of doors down from the hotel.

The staff were extremely helpful and a great source of information about the area and getting around.

We had a fantastic four days in Budapest, I can not recommend this hotel enough.

What a great surprise! We booked this hotel as the price was good and were beginning to wonder what we'd let ourselves in for when we read that Hungarian is an impossible language to learn. We went for a week long break and the NH was like having your own apartment! Very friendly staff, all spoke reasonable english and the maids only came in when asked so you could have a lay in if you wanted.

At the time we visited, the weather was warmer than England but quite dull so we would come back in the spring. NH is in Pest, the commercial disttrict, which has lots to see and do, plenty of bars, restaurants and cafe's (and a few strip clubs dotted around)to rest in between the long walks you can't help taking. Breakfast in hotel was varied - continental, salads, pasta, hot food and every kind of fruit. Okay Italia have 2 branches down the main street (Szent Istvan Korut) and this is a lifesaver if you get fed up with some of the stodgier magyar fare. Hortobagy Pancake, Gulyas and all the sticky cakes were delish. Gerbeau, Europa, Ruszworm all good coffe houses but explore away and find your own, less touristy favourites. Not mega cheap everywhere but certainly won't break the bank. The biggest shock is McD's and Burger King - sooo cheap and so much smarter than ours - very often internet access too if you need it.

There is a minbus service available from Ferihegy airport and we would reccommend this - you get dropped at the door for about £10 return and get to see a bit of the area too. Local Terror museum is very interesting, lots of beautiful churches, St Stephen's Basilica is stunning - £1 entry and we've never seen so much bling! We will go back as soon as we can - the area we were in was close to most amenities - train station, trams, buses, theatre, opera house all within 15 minutes walk. We visited most of the monuments - Fishermens Bastion, Basilica and the Palace were amazing but the city park and Heros Ter were disappointing - bad weather meant it looked grey and dull.

Please go - it has something for everyone!