Apartment rental experience - Budapest and Prague
 

After search for a hotel room for 3 in a desirable price range failed I turned to apartment rentals. I never stayed at an apartment on my vacation before and was extremely concerned and worried.
Happy to report that both apartments met and in some ways exceeded my expectation.
Budapest – Apartment Belle:
I liked information posted by bsomlo and booked the apartment Belle.
Link to bsomlo’s post
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35090504
Link to the owner’s sites: http://bvr.hu and http://everythingbudapest.com
The apartment had a loft...one bedroom upstairs and a living room (sofa bed), kitchen and bathroom downstairs. It’s well equipped with washer, drier, excellent coffeemaker, has VOIP line you can use to make calls to US and other counties free of charge, cable TV and internet; also cell phone for emergency calls (came handy to us as we managed to leave both sets of keys at the apartment and John came to our rescue). The owner created detailed manuals on use of equipment, directions to local supermarket, pastry shop, restaurant recommendations and much more. The box with information on tourist attractions, Budapest travel guides, books, large collection of DVDs (came handy with my 16 yo son). The milk, cakes and wine were waiting for us on arrival. Convenient central location just minutes from subway.
The second apartment Sarah is located on the same floor (different elevator). The apartments are separated by two doors locked at both ends; can be unlocked if both apartments rented by the same family or group of friends.
On top of everything John is the most excellent host, and he makes the stay very comfortable.

Prague – Kozna Apartment:
http://www.arcadiaoldtown.com/
We rented Kozna 3 apartment on the top floor without an elevator. The location could not be better for us. Just one minute from the center of the Old Town and the Astronomical Clock, yet still on a quiet street.
The apartment was similar to the one in Budapest but slightly larger; it has a bedroom upstairs with lots of closet space and AC; and a bathroom, kitchen with dining area and living room downstairs, also with AC. This apartment is well suited for the larger family or group of singles as living room had two twin size beds and one convertible sofa. This apartment does not have phone or computer.
Nice breakfast or yogurt, eggs, ham and cheese, fruits and cakes was served every morning at the arranged time. Daily room service.
Pasquale (the owner) stopped by every morning to help with our plans for the day and to make sure we have everything we need.
The great report from adnil1962 on another Arcadia residence and Prague experience:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35043549

I was very interested in seeing your post because I just booked apartment Belle for an upcoming trip to Budapest in February. Do yu have any other comments, observations or advice regarding Belle?

Hi!

Here is another suggestion for apartments in prague:

http://www.helenavatanen.com/accommodation_prague.htm

All apartments are based in cetral Prague, mainly in Wenceslas Square (main shopping boulevard).

Unfortunately I have no information apartments in Budabest, never been there but as a Finnish person willing to go!

Bucerias, the only suggestion I can make – read John’s notes in advance. His advice might help you experience Budapest better, plus you will find some great restaurant recommendations. We lunched at the Gerloczy Coffee Shop http://www.gerloczy.hu/locate/ - I liked it a lot.
You will find the book with thanks and comments from travelers who stayed at the apartment. If you have time try to read it on your first day - there are many comments and recommendations on sightseeing and dining (unfortunately I did it on my last morning).
There is some helpful information about apartments Belle and Sarah are posted on TripAdvisor
<http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...apest.html>

Happy travels!

Thank you for the Tripadvisor link. I missed those reviews!

It is a good suggestion to consider renting an apartment when you travel to Budapest as you can achieve savings of up to 25% for accommodation of a comporable standard. In addition to this there are savings on general costs associated such as eating out continually, whereas in an apartment you can shop locally and cook for yourself thus saving yourself some Euros in the process.

Also Budapest Hotels suffer from people staying 1 to 2 nights, wheras people staying in apartments on average stay 3 to 4 nights and as a result the hotel needs to sell more nights and their costs of marketing and sales are considerably higher and as a result there is again better value in renting a Budapest Apartment. We stayed at the following and cannot recommend them enough, truly great value for money. We stayed in the Parliament apartment which was stunning. <a href="http://www.budarentals.com">Budapest Apartments</a>

Travfirst, my husband and I stayed at apartments rented by the same owners while we were in Prague and Budapest last April. (Kozna2 in Prague and Max in Budapest.) We too had a wonderful experience at both, found the locations excellant, and the owners very accomodating. Even though it is very long I too suggest you review John's webwsite as it covers absolutely everything you need to know abut Budepest and more. One insider tip we especially enjoyed was going to see the Palace rooms at the university library. Enjoy!

I stayed in this luxury one bed apartment in Vorosmarty Ter late last year and cannot fault the location on the city's main pedestrianised square opposite Gerbeaud Cafe, the design and fit out, which has been done to a luxury level, nor the cleanliness, etc. We loved the place. I promised the owner of this apartment that'd I'd post some reviews online as he's just starting to rent it, but only getting around to it now. http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/hungary/H67.htm Tim from Scotland