I've narrowed my search for a place to stay for 7 nights in July to these three places.

Bellevue B&B gets rave reviews on TA and many posts here. Price at 48€ is not bad. Owners are helpful and speak English which is important as I will be a solo female on this trip. Only drawback I see is that it's on the Buda side and it seems the Pest side would be more central. Not sure if it's on a hill or not. Looks like about 6 blocks to a metro stop, but can't tell how long that actually is.

BudaBaB looks even better to me - on the Pest side, central, 2 short blocks from a metro, and at only 25€ even better price. Owners are Americans and in fact one is an editor at Frommers (sorry Fodors). I'm ready to book it but no reviews on TA and only one person here at Fodors has talked about it. But probably because it's so small - only two rooms. I just wish I had another opinion on it.

Also considering Alfa apts, ok location, 50€. I don't really need a whole apartment but my main concern is that the owners may not speak much English and be available much if I need anything.

So anyone with any more information on any of these I'd love to hear it. Thanks

i met some swedes who have stayed at bellevue twice. they really like it. they DID mentioned some killer hill.

once you learn the simple bus that takes you across the town/bridge, it will not matter you are up in buda. taxis to go /come from there, over to pest are more expensive than the normal taxi runs in pest from the "sites".

however, this other american run b+b sounds very tempting to me, and I imagine this owner certainly would be a very good source of information. you certainly can´t beat the price!

i, personally, prefer pest.. i have been to budapest twice and both times have felt i was glad i was where i was.. in pest, near the river.

Pest is much better to stay in than Buda. That's where the buzz is.

The location of BudaBaB is okay, not exceptionally good. Rakocki Ut (the nearest main street) can seem a little edgy at night, but I wouldn't say that it is threatening or dangerous. Have you checked if they will do a single for €25? That, or anything near it, would be a very good rate. I can see than English-speaking hosts would be an advantage (provided they are not weird people, of course!).

The owners of Alfa Apartments do have good English, but do not live on-site. The principal avenue of communication with them is mobile phone (which you might or might not have). I think the location is good, near the Central Market, Raday utca (restaurant alley) and Kalvin Ter metro.

Thanks for that info, it has helped me to decide on the BudaBaB. It almost looks too good to be true but we'll see. The fact that I would rather be on the Pest side, and the possibility of a hill to have to climb every time I want to go back to the room were enough to push me to that one. I'll post a report when I get back. Now I just have to find something equally good in Vienna - and in Padua, the other two places I'll be staying. Thanks again.

try ryanair and easyjet websites for hotels. they sometimes have a wider selection of low cost central hotels.

good luck.