The best honeymoon hotels in Budapest
An insider's guide to the best honeymoon hotels in Budapest, including the top places to stay for romantic suites, sigh-inducing views, intimate restaurants, excellent service and tranquil spas, in locations near the Castle District, the Belváros, Buda Castle, Fisherman's Bastion, Hungarian Parliament Building and H?s?k tere.
If you enjoy joyous, strutting, over-the-top architectural design then the Boscolo will fit you a treat. The building was the work of leading architects Alajos Hauszmann, Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl in the 1870s, its eclectic design inspired by the flamboyance of the Italian Renaissance. The New York Café is its centrepiece, dripping with gilding and decorated with elaborate frescoes. Rooms are arranged over four floors around a vast courtyard lobby that’s laid with Italian marble and topped with a glass pyramid roof. It’s all immaculately done, the attention to detail exhaustive. There’s also a spa with steam room, sauna and tea lounge, and an atmospheric pool in an area designed to feel like a cave.
? Where to stay in Budapest: hotels by district
The Corinthia carries itself with an effortless grace that no other five-star in Budapest quite matches. It is a genuine beauty, its neo-classical fa?ade 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. The service is impeccable. Facilities include the Spa Royale, which offers a range of massages and treatments, and has not only two Finnish saunas, three whirlpool tubs, a steam room and complimentary juice bar. There's also a truly stunning pool surrounded by Corinthian columns and topped with a stained-glass ceiling.
? The best luxury hotels in Budapest
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 and a sweetshop. The spa has steam baths, a Finnish sauna, a solarium and an intriguingly named aroma sauna ice well, as well as a solarium and pool with jet stream. There are several restaurants, including Nobu, part of the chain of high-end Japanese fusion restaurants under the direction of Nobuyuki Matsuhisa.
? The most romantic hotels in Budapest
Beyond the classical fa?ade 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.
? The best boutique hotels in Budapest
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. Danube category rooms have balconies and face the Buda Castle Palace on the opposite side of the river. Bathrooms are laid with black and chocolate marble, and have a bath and shower. There’s a pool, wellness centre (offering massages and treatments), steam room, fitness room and relaxation room. A small shop offers Herend porcelain and the like, and there’s a limo service.
? The best hotels in Budapest city centre
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.
? The best five-star hotels in Budapest
The luxurious, centrally located 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. Yet despite the imposing early-20th-century fa?ade and stained-glass cupola, the hotel has a relaxed feel, its high style softened with vases of flowers and comfortable sofas. While the design in the hotel's 200 bedrooms is generally clean-lined and understated, there’s the odd adventurous touch, such as an asymmetrical light fixture that looks like a series of floating bubbles.
? The best design hotels in Budapest
A boutique hotel of just 10 rooms on a quiet cobbled street in the Castle District, jammed full of personality. 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. It’s not only characterful, but warm and welcoming. The restaurant has a French café feel to it, and there’s live accordion music in the evening.
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Marrying contemporary design with the original spirit of its 19th-century building, Moments is a place with character and elegance. The building 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. Bistro Fine, the hotel’s low-lit restaurant, is a real corker. Hungarian and international dishes are creative, beautifully presented and very reasonably priced. The hotel sits at the lower end of the boutique-lined Andrássy út.
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