Budapest - where to stay?
 

We will be in Budapest in November and would appreciate some help with deciding what area of the city to stay in.

To give you a feel for what we like, if we were going to Prague I would probably be looking for hotels/B&Bs around the Old Town Square through to Charles Bridge.

It seems that the equivalent in Budapest is the Buda area, in particular around the castle. Would I be right in saying that Pest is more like the Wenceslas Sq area of Prague - business and shopping area?

If Buda is the place for us, then would it be better to stay further up the hill, or perhaps down towards the river - I've found good rates for the Carlton hotel, below the Fisherman's Bastion and near the Chain Bridge. The site says it's close to everything, but is it really? Budapest seems to big for any hotel to be "close to everything".

Also, is there a particular part of Buda where the majority of places to eat are?

Thanks for your help.

In my <b>Trip Report: Hungary &amp; Romania, May-June 2005. Re-posted to eliminate errors</b> I mention the B&amp;B where we stayed in Budapest. I think that it's location is great and the host speaks fluent English.

The best is the Budapest Marriott-where you will have a balcony overlooking not only the Danube, but the Castle District and Gellert Hill, lit up golden at night-it's a fabulous place, very Hungarian (most unlike the other international hotels in this city-that tend a bit to uniformity and sterility-I'm thinking now of the 4 Seasons Gresham Palace which did not impress me AT ALL). -with a biergarten set up in the warmer months right on the Duna promenade in front of the Danube-two minutes to the vaci utca-the pedestrian shopping district-you can walk to the Opera, even to Buda if you want-or the tram stops right in front of the hotel-it's incredibly central-with little gourmet wine and sandwich shops just across the street-hair salon, travel agency-all right there.

Not only do they have s scrumptious &quot;pastry bar&quot; set up in the lobby every day, but their huge buffet breakfast is probably the best I've had at any hotel anywhere in the world-I could not eat until evening. The Hungarian wine selection they have in their lounge, the friendliness of their staff-their are few hotels that I have stayed anywhere in the world that I have enjoyed as much as this one. I also believe that the reviews on tripadvisor.com pretty much echo my comments.

We stayed at the Marriott Millenium Executive Suites.
One minute from the river. Ten minutes to the Chain bridge.

Couldn't recommend it more.

Large Apt. breakfast included. Not very expensive.

Search my report.

Photos at:

www.travelwalks.com

I don't think the comparisons of parts of Budapest to parts of Prague are appropriate. For one, the scale of Budapest is quite different - as you noted when you said you can't be near everything at once.

There are a number of wonderful places in different parts of Budapest, but most of what a tourist is likely to want to visit are on the Pest side. The major exception is the castle district overlooking the river. For that reason, I'd suggest staying in Pest near Vaci utca. On that basis, a number of decent to superior hotels will qualify.

There reallly isn't a &quot;restaurant district&quot;, and good (and less so) restaurants can be found all over. Clearly, there are more where there are more people - along tram lines in business areas. I've had really outstanding meals in several restaurants there in several different areas of the city.

WE stayed in alittle hotel near the opera on the pest side. I agree that most of the things you want to see are that side, so it makes more sense to be over there and walk/use public transport to get to Buda. THat said, there was quite a lot to see on the Buda side too, and I suspect we missed some of it because we were the other side.
Nearly all the shops, markets, museums, etc. are on the pest side.
Do think about going to the opera - the performance of &quot;La Boheme&quot; that we saw was excellent, the opera house is lovely, and the tickets pretty cheap [though not as cheap as Prauge].
I'm sure you'll love it whereever you stay.
PS when we were going between last CHristmas and New year, the Hilton [Buda side] had a deal going -E100 per room per night. It was on their own internet site - not someone else's.

About restaurants in Budapest: on Buda side the restaurants are a bit here and there. But walking around in the Buda Castle aerea you can find several.
On Pest side there are streets full of restaurants. Like V&Aacute;CI UTCA (utca=street) in the center, or R&Aacute;DAY UTCA that has really developed in the last 4 years. And there is LISZT FERENC T&Eacute;R (t&eacute;r=square) and close by ANDR&Aacute;SSY &Uacute;T (&uacute;t= road).
Try www.webmap.hu to get an idea where these streest are.

We stayed at the Art Otel and had a nice view of the Fisherman's Bastion. The breakfast buffet was grand.