Fodor's Expert Review Danubius Hotel Gellért

Editor's Note: This location is no longer in operation.

Budapest's most renowned art nouveau hotel is a truly astonishing building from the outside: the Hungarian capital can give you palace fatigue, but the Gellért's perch by the Danube, right by the Szabadság bridge, allows it to show off to maximum effect as you approach. The interior has similar pomp and ceremony, although it has not aged quite as well as the facade and has more than a whiff of faded grandeur, from the era when presidents and royalty chose this hotel as their Budapest base. Built in World War I, the hotel is 100 meters from the monumental and ornate thermal baths of the same name, although they are no longer run by the same company. Hotel guests get a 30-50% discount at the baths.