I'm going to Prague and Budapest july 07 and will stay 4 nights in each city.Has someone recently stayed at one of these hotels? Which one is better located ,I mean walking distance for the main sites?Which is more romantic?How big are the rooms?To travel between the 2 cities what is better/less expensive?Thanks
[email protected]

My husband and I stayed at the Maximilian last March and we LOVED IT! I can't speak for the Hotel Palace but I can say that we did NOT like the Wensenslas Square area (too much neon, too many people etc). The Hotel Palace looks a more posh than the Maximilian for sure.

However, the staff at the Maximilian really made the hotel. Breakfast was a nice plentiful European breakfast with cereals, cheeses, meats, breads, rolls, pastry, great coffee, juices, egges, bacon and sausage. The room we had was large by European standards - we had a king bead and very nice bathroom. The hotel is very modern on the inside and didn't have that "old world charm". (Which, in my experience sometimes means musty and run down.) Everything about the Max was spotlessly clean, which is quite nice after a long day out on the town.

As I'm sure you know, the Max is just on the fringe of the Jewish Quarter. It is on the nicest quietest street within walking distance of everything (we're walkers - even walked to Vyshrad). By the way, my husband and I are in our early 30s.

As to your other question, I am not sure about travel between the two cities as we stayed our entire time in Prague.

I hope you have a wonderful trip! Prague is an amazing city.

If you are refering to the Prague Palace Hotel I have stayed there. It is in a side street just off of Wenceslas Square across the street from the Mucha Museum.

The hotel was beautiful. I go on a lot of package ski trips and I can firmly say this was the nicest, most beautiful hotel I ever stayed at while on a ski trip. The rooms are small but every hotel room I have stayed in in a major European city has been small.

The hotel is in a safe area within two or three blocks of Old Town Square. Public transportation is readily available in Wenceslaus Square. You can go all over the city on public transport - bus, tram, metro.

I think you would be satisfied if you stayed at The Prague Palace Hotel.

My husband and I found the Hotel Max through an article in the L.A. Times and it sounded so good that I immediately booked the hotel for our time in Prague. Go there!! It's terrific, nice rooms..perfect! Also, they recommended a little restaurant a few streets away and it was perfect for one of our evenings. The hotel is small, but romantic?

Thank you for the answers.
Yes,I'm referring to the Hotel Palace Praha.Any more comments or advices about these 2 hotels?Palace is a member of the Leading Hotels of the World,what means it is really a 5 stars hotel.Maximilian is a 4 stars,but is that really important?

I've stayed at the Maximilian twice and really like the hotel and location. I would not choose to stay at the location of the Palace, but certainly it is a wellknown hotel and many people do.

As for whether a 5* hotel is important -- you will have to decide that for yourself. If you are used to staying at that kind of hotel and really like it, the Maximilian is smaller and not the same experience as a 5* hotel. It doesn't have a restaurant, if you care about that, and the front bar is really not that same as a large hotel, either. It's just a small place with a few tables next to the checkin desk. They have a nice breakfast room, however. They probably have some kind of room service because they are a 4* hotel, but I don't use room service myself, so don't know what they do about that as they don't have a restaurant. I'm sure they can bring you drinks or coffee or something, and probably breakfast. There is not an elevator to the top floor, either, if you really care about that (I don't and had a room up there). I think you should choose based on what kind of hotel you really want and what kind of hotel experience, as the above recommendation on the Palace makes it sound nice enough.