I am traveling to Budapest in the end of May with my husband and his mother, who is 80. We need a hotel that is well located (not sure whether we should stay in Buda or Pest) and is at least 4 stars. My mother-in-law is an enthusiastic sight-seer but we need to stay near the major sights in order to limit her walking. Any suggestions? Also, the hotel needs to have a fitness facility.

Another question: has anyone ever hired a driver service in Hungary? We are going to take a trip to Ukraine to see where the family came from. Do we need a driver plus a tour guide or does anyone know of knowledgeable Hungarian drivers or services?

We stayed at the Intercontinental in Budapest and were delighted. It's in Pest, but is right on the Danube and overlooks Castle Hill and the Chain Bridge. The hotel is large, but the service was surprisingly personal and really excellent. It has an indoor pool and a fitness facility. By the way, it's worth the extra $$ for a room with a Danube view.

we stayed at the hilton overlooking the danube not the one in town. The 4 seasons was 2 weeks away from opening. If the budget allows you can never go wrong at the 4 seasons

It looks like the Four Seasons won't be open until August but I will check into the Intercontinental. Thanks for the suggestions.

Frankly, if you want what i think is the BEST view then stay in the Hilton and ask for a riverview room. If you can afford this then you can afford to take mom-in-law in a taxi to places so that she will have limited walking OR take an organized tour. There will always be some sights that you AREN't going to be near no matter where you stay. Just watch out for the crooked taxis in that city...agree on prices in advance if at all possible.

You cannot get a better view than that from the hilton with a river side room.this view is from the hill whereas 4 seasons and others are on otherside of river at basically river level view.

JonJon and pgmargate,

Did you find the Hilton to be difficult to connect to other parts of the city - public transport or walking?

The rack rates on Hilton are more than we usually care to invest in a hotel, but they have a very good rate of 110Euro per night for a "King bed Danube View" room during the time we'll be there. Seems a shame to not take the deal, but kind of enjoy catching the tram or metro if at all possible over taxis. Is transport relatively doable from up there on the hill?

no matter which side of river you stay on you will need to go across to see sights. if your budget allows take hilton deal you will not regret the setting or the views.

That's a good point. Thanks for the insight. It's hard to tell from public diagrams just how far a stop of one of the systems is from the Hilton.

I stayed at the Kempinsky and really enjoyed it. The location couldn't be better. I have a review of the hotel on epinions.com if you want to check it.

the kempinsky is nice but where is the view?

From the Castle Hill Hilton, figure on perhaps 15 minutes -- by bus -- to the Moskva ter metro station, where you can also get trams (4 lines) and other busses.

Most of the metro stations involve long escalator rides, save those on the #1 line. No matter where you stay, you will use transportation other than walking to get to most of what you want to see.

As for taxis, if you stay with one of the main companies, such as City, Fo, and a few others, and call for the cab (as most people do), you should be treated fairly; the real "rip off" risk comes from a non-fleet car you hail or otherwise find on the street.

we hired a driver/ guide through the concierge at the castle hill hilton (1 person) many of the countries we have gone require seperate driver and guide and sometimes at individual sights your private guide is not allowed to guide you through you must use the in house guides.it can be expensive but for us we see more on our trips than we would on the bus tours offered.

Thanks for the information on the various solutions for transport. We're only in town for 3.5 days as it's the tail end of an independant travel 2 weeks we'll be spending in Romania. So a little splurge at the end in Budapest seems like a good way to unwind, and a nice urban hotel will probably seem like a good way to slip back into western life. We'll watch out for the taxi issue (have been burned before) and will check with concierge on the driver situation. You've been a great help. Sorry Irene for slipping into the thread, but hope that this info helps you and your family as well.

I returned from Budapest Tuesday. We hired a tour guide through our hotel, the Marriott. She came with a driver and was great. Spoke perfect English and was very informative. I'm not sure of the price but it was relatively inexpensive for 5 of us. We were satisfied with the Marriott as well.