Just returned ten days ago so thought I'd share a few thoughts from our trip. I'm afraid I'm not very detail oriented (or comfortable writing trip reports -- especially with all the really good ones on this board!) so I'll just make a few comments about the places we visited and our hotels. I travelled with a girlfriend, left my husband at home (he's not so interested in Europe) and we tried to do a budget trip so didn't spend too much on either food or lodging.
We started in Budapest, stayed for three nights, when we arrived it was cold, rainy and our luggage was lost -- not off to a good start. Luckily things improved, we woke to beautiful weather, our B&B was great and our luggage arrived in the afternoon.
Our hotel in Budapest was Kalmar B&B. It's a small place, about 10 rooms, and it night not appeal to everyone -- it certainly isn't a Hilton or a Marriott -- but we thought it was great. It's an old mansion with lots of character and filled with antiques in a neighborhood of other old, atmospheric crumbly type mansions. It's located on the Budda side about a five minute walk from Hotel Gellert. We had the least expensive room at 66 Euros per night (I can't remember how much it was in Hungarian money). Our room was large with two comfortable twin beds, a TV, lots of closet space and best of all -- totally quiet at night. The only thing I was concerned about at first was that the bathroom was outside our room about four steps down the hall, it turned out to be just fine, it was only for our use and we never even saw anyone walk by. Breakfast was included, the table is set up very formally in the dining room and looks very pretty. We really liked it, if your interested you can find their web site and info at http://www.budapesthotels.com.
We hit most of the touristy spots in Budapest, walked all around Gellert Hill (nice park and views), went to the Great Market Hall (very fun stuff to look at) walked up and down Vaci Utaca and toured the Opera House. We also did an afternoon at the Gellert Baths. The baths themselves were good - very pretty - glad I saw it. Unfortunately, we also decided to get 30 minute massages - it was quite an experience - and not a good one! I won't go into a lot details but would absolutely never do it again -- I truly felt like a big slab of meat on a very uncomfortable table and was soooo glad when it was over. Fortunately it was fairly cheap -- I think it was $35 or $40 for the entrance and massage. Its hard to exactly remember exactly what we paid as the entrace fee and price menu are pretty confusing.
Our next stop was Bratislava - my friend has family there so we stayed one night with her relatives. It was a great experience -- they were so warm and hospitable to us... drinking wine with us into the wee hours of the night, and feeding us lots of yummy food that I can't pronounce and taking us around the old section of the city. It was also very interesting to hear their views on communism and what it was like back then (and all the memories are not bad!).
From there we went to Vienna but again only for a night (I know....not enough!) so we didn't have much time to see or do much, just waked around the center. We stayed at Pension Pertschy and it was very nice with a good location and quiet. I think we paid 121 Euros (the most expensive place we stayed). I'd recommend it -- the breakfast was nice too.
To be continued.....Cesky Krumlov & Prague
Just returned - Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Cesky Krumlov & Prague
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Next we headed to Cesky Krumlov. We took the train from Vienna and it was quite a trek. I had figured it to be about four and a half hours, which didn't sound horrible, unfortunately we missed one of our connections and it turned into an eight hour journey.....but it was worth it. We loved that town! A guidebook I read described it as "achingly beautiful" and so have wanted to go ever since and I'm so glad we did. It couldn't have been lovelier -- the weather was perfect and the changing leaves were so beautiful. Everything was beautiful -- we just kept walking around town and every few minutes commenting on how pretty it was. We only had one full day (two nights) so not a bunch of time but managed to see the castle, walk all around the town and take a zillion pictures.
Our hotel in Cesky Krumlov was Pension Barbakan, it was recommended by someone (maybe more than one) on this board and they were right -- it was great. We paid 1600 CZK (around $64 US) per night and had a large room, two twin beds, nice bathroom, a TV (only Czech stations) and a good breakfast. The setting is very pretty right on the river. Highly recommend it. The web site is http://www.barbakan.cz.
Last stop - Prague. We stayed for three nights and rented an apartment from Prague Rooms. I think the main part of their business is a backpacker/hostel type place, I saw it described as cheap and cheerful somewhere, but I think the apartments are separate. It was OK - it was my least favorite but the price was good (8226 CZK for three nights or about $110 US per night) so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. The good -- very clean, recently renovated, nice kitchen, big main room with a large bed and three single beds, lots of closet space, large bathroom with shower and sink and separate room for the toilet. The location is good - its right on Nerudova St in the Mala Strana section and only five to ten minute walk to the Charles Bridge. The bad -- very basic, they don't provide many extras. The kitchen was equipped with a toaster, a tea kettle, a few dishes and a frying pan but not a sponge or kitchen towel, paper towel, etc to be found. They provided two bath towels and gave us two new ones once during our stay (we had to ask for that). There's no TV, phone, picture on the wall or even a clock. The bathroom is large but only has a sink, no vanity, shelves or table to put things on -- someone had dragged a living room chair in there and we put our make up bags on that -- and no dispenser or soap dish in the shower -- our bar of soap and shampoos had to sit on the floor. Funny little things like that. Lastly its on the fourth floor so there are lots of stairs to deal with (but on the flip side its pretty quiet up there). It was really nice to have a kitchen to make our coffee and tea so we did appreciate that and the price was good so I'd still recommend it. I actually mentioned a lot of these things in an email to them and they said they've had plans to refurbish and already bought some things for the apartment -- who knows. You can find it at http://www.pragueroom.com.
Prague was lovely, wonderful -- everything I thought it would be. We only had two days so I just feel like I scratched the surface of stuff to see -- definitely want to go back. My only disappointment I think was the shopping -- we heard how cheap it was but we never found any great deals - maybe I just looked for stuff in the wrong places.
Well this is longer than I planned - hopefully somewhere in my ramblings there is some helpful information. If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer anything I can.
Hi CollK. My husband and I were at the Barbakan the nights of Oct. 22, 23 and 24. Were you there too? Cesky Krumlov was just gorgeous, with the blue sky and golden leaves.
Hi Betsy. Yes, we were there for nights of 22nd and 23rd. We probably sat by each other at breakfast. So beautiful....sounds like you thought so too and we were so lucky with the weather.
collk, I posted minutes ago that Rudy Maxa's travel show features Prague and Budapest on the 14th PBS.
CollK: Thanks for posting! Great Report!
It brought back a lot of memories, as I was in all the cities that you mentioned just last year. Bratislava was especially interesting and the Old Town was charming. Loved Prague - and Chesky Krumlov!
Next time when you return try going to Kutna Hora as well the great bend of the Danube to places like Visegrad.
Thanks again!
So sorry to miss a chance to connect with a fellow Fodorite. We loved the Barbakan also. Pleasant staff, large clean rooms, huge bathroom, quiet (but ask for a room overlooking the river). Wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.
CollK (or anyone else in the know),
Are there any visa and/or travel health insurance requirements for American citizens traveling to Prague that you know of?
Renee, none that I know of.
Thanks, Betty!