The fascinating capital of Hungary is a unique, breathtaking city. It is one of our favorite European destinations. Besides, it hosts numerous luxury hotels that are decorated with extravagant interiors, fine dining restaurants and the finest spas. Below is a list of the best hotels in Budapest.
The ancient twin city of Budapest has seen a lot of history over the years, some of it up close and personal. The current city is a gloriously beautiful hodgepodge of the various architectural styles, traditions and customs that have formed its streets and shaped the skyline.
It is a wonderful place to visit, with welcoming people, superb attractions and a dedicated hospitality industry that wants only to ensure that your stay meets your every need! (Within reason, of course.)
Let’s take a look at some of the best and most welcoming hotels in Budapest.
10 Best Hotels in Budapest
1. Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest
Built in 1906, this Art Nouveau building had a more pragmatic purpose in its first iteration, serving as the offices for a British insurance company before being transformed into social housing.
Its third act, so to speak, as a splendid hotel, from 2004, after a lengthy renovation, best suits the clean sculptured lines of the building, and the interior designers have been inspired by this look when it comes to the sophisticated and elegant furniture and décor.
The hotel is beautifully central for the avid sight-seer with all the main attractions within a ten minute walk in any direction from the hotel’s doors.
Along with opulence furniture and marble appointed bathrooms, the rooms sport a spacious and airy ambiance thanks to the high ceilings, bright white walls and large windows.
The hotel takes the pampering of its guests very seriously indeed, with an extensive spa and fitness suite occupying the entire top floor of the building.
An infinity lap pool, seven treatment rooms, a well-equipped gym, and a range of treatments from massage to beauty facials mean that there is something for every guest to help them relax and make the most of their stay in the hotel.
Meeting and function rooms are available for those looking for wedding venues or hoping to host a business meeting, while the luxurious bar lounge, which regularly features live performances, is found in the iconic Peacock Passageway with its gorgeously decadent glass cupola.
2. Parisi Udvar Hotel Budapest (part of the Hyatt group)
With 110 very different rooms and suites, entering this hotel is like stepping into an earlier time when a guest’s every need could be not only satisfied, but anticipated.
Wonderful neo-Gothic/ Moorish interior design is sumptuous without being intimidating, and the rooms – the quirkiness of size, layout and format decided by the original proportions of the building – are individually designed with your comfort in mind.
Central to all the sights and historic sites of Budapest, you can easily walk to most of the popular venues, failing that, it is a short step to find public transport that will deposit you promptly close to your destination.
The gym on the first floor boasts a full complement of workout equipment and is open twenty-four hours a day, so you can tailor your days to suit yourself.
As well as this, there is a well-trained team waiting in the spa to offer you a full range of pampering and beauty treatments that will help you feel and look your best in the glamorous setting of the hotel.
The restaurants offer a good range of cuisines so you can choose between simple comfort foods and a fancy dinner, depending on your mood, or you can simply enjoy a few drinks at the champagne bar before heading out to see what the city has to offer you.
The hotel is pet friendly, so you can even bring along your dog, saving you the worry and stress of hiring a dog-sitter.
3. Ritz-Carlton Budapest
One of the oldest hotels in the city, the Ritz Carlton manages to achieve an elegantly timeless air alongside a bright and modern ambiance that is appealing to those who like efficiency and comfort when they travel.
That is to say, the hotel is set in one of the oldest buildings in the city, built in 1867, but the interior has been thoroughly renovated to allow for comforts and necessities such as wi-fi, air conditioning, and electrical wiring amongst others.
There is a leafy park just across the road if you like a morning constitutional and all the sights and scenes of Budapest lie within a comfortable twenty-minute walk.
With three sizes of room and a staggering five types of suite, you are spoiled for choice when it comes to picking a home away from home for the duration of your stay.
The décor is exquisite, hearkening back to a more hedonistic time, with comfortable and sophisticated furniture, crisp clean bedding and the perfect balance of the best of all worlds.
The five-star restaurant will introduce you to the pinnacle of Hungarian cuisine, and you can then work off your over-indulgence in the well-equipped state-of-the-art fitness suite or in the glass-roofed swimming pool.
There is also a whirlpool bath, steam room and sauna.
A choice of five meeting rooms is available for the travelling business, and there is a very large ballroom for celebrations and ceremonies.
This hotel deserves to be in any list of the best hotels in Budapest.
4. Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest
Perhaps one of the largest hotels in Budapest, this edifice offers an impressive 353 rooms, of which 38 are expansive suites.
The interior design is striking and eye-catching – perfect for the influencer – while still being welcoming and accessible, with a glass wall that allows the foyer to flood with light when the time is right, creating a lovely play of shadow and contrast that is subtly different every day.
The floor, unusually, is made from dark marble which offsets the earthy tones of the décor off in a distinctive and very pleasing way.
Given the artistry of the décor, it will come as no surprise that art is a speciality and that the walls are lined with a beautiful and diverse array of works by a number of celebrated Hungarian artists, mainly from the 20th century.
Just over the road you will find a large park, Erzsebet Park, which is home to the immense Budapest Eye and a design hub where you will find artworks, fashions and design projects by Budapest’s up and coming young artists as well as more established figures.
The rooms, perhaps comfortingly, do not follow through with the dramatic interior design, instead offering a more traditional and infinitely more cosy ambiance that is slightly old-fashioned but still very comfortable and elegant.
The bathrooms, picked out in marble, are very modern and will meet the hygiene needs of even the most discerning guest.
The hotel has a name as being a go-to place for the foodie brigade, with several bars and restaurants that offer excellent menus that offer both fusion cuisine and traditional fare as well as international standard plates for those who don’t like to press too far out of their comfort zone.
5. Anantara New York Palace Budapest
A glorious homage in marble and stone to Europe’s Belle Epoch, this hotel will cast you into a fairy tale world in which princesses, witches and magical goings-on seem not only possible, but perfectly logical.
And not only that, but you can bring your dogs and cats along too, the hotel is pet-friendly so you do not have to fret about kennels or sitters.
Live piano music is often played near the lobby so it is the first thing that you will hear when you enter the hotel, and this, along with the décor, will help you get into the right, relaxed mood for your Budapest visit.
This is not to say the hotel is only designed for use by holiday-makers – the business facilities are superb, with the largest conference room able to seat 650 people in comfort and with access to the latest technologies.
Everything must-see about Budapest lies within a 30-minute walk window, or you can use public transport: in which case your walk is less than a minute – bus, tram and metro stops are practically on the hotel’s doorstep!
Accommodation-wise, the hotel offers a range: standard hotel rooms, hotel suites and aparthotels, which are essentially extremely short-term flat lets!
These offer the advantage of hotel living (room service, housekeeping and a concierge) along with the freedom to come and go as you like, cooking for yourself and generally feeling more at home.
Each of these three offerings are tailored for those who tend to use them, with suites boasting crystal chandeliers while the rooms are, while still beautiful, slightly more down-to-earth.
All the rooms have bathtubs and rainfall showers, in well-designed and beautifully maintained bathrooms.
The New York café is perhaps even more famous than the hotel. Once the hangout of international artists, the two story space is beautifully decorated and well worth the indulgence of breakfasting there, even if just to say that you have!
The spa and fitness suite are in the basement level and designed to look like an ice cave, and boast a swimming pool, steam room and sauna alongside workout equipment.
6. Matild Palace, A Luxury Collection Hotel
Based in a former Royal palace – one of a pair imagined by her Imperial and Royal Highness Maria Klotild of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who wanted to create a sparkling social centre of Budapest around which high society would flutter.
Today this is one of the best hotels in Budapest. This hotel has been transformed into a stylish and modern hotel, boasting 130 rooms.
The building is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and offers truly regal luxury to those lucky enough to stay within the walls.
Three award-winning dining areas offer a unique array of tastes so you can choose your favourite or circulate between all three as you like.
There are plenty of function rooms, from meeting rooms for busy businesspeople to celebration spaces that range from bijou to stupendous, so there is a space that is sure to meet your needs, whatever they are.
The Turkish hammam will ensure that, whatever your reason for visiting Budapest, you are alert, refreshed and relaxed while you go about it all. Pets are allowed to stay for an extra fee, so your dog can accompany you on your adventures.
7. Kozmo Hotel Suites & Spa – The Leading Hotels of the World
Almost a bijou hotel with just 84 rooms and suites (many of the best hotels in Budapest are bigger), this tranquil hotel is a welcome respite from the heat and bustle outside.
Almost every room has a balcony so you can watch people going about their business, or simply sit with a drink to hand and enjoy the peace and fresh air.
There are a range of rooms and suites to choose between, with the most magnificent being the Presidential Suite which is a perfect home base for a wedding party or similar celebration.
The onsite restaurant is welcoming – hotel guests in particular are made very welcome – and the service is world class.
Afterwards, if you feel like a night in at the hotel, but not necessarily in your room, a game of billiards for you or the whole family is available in the games room.
If you are driving on your Hungarian visit, you will be delighted to discover that the hotel has an attached parking lot where you can leave your car (for a daily fee) until it is needed again.
There is a fitness suite, extensive spa treatments and a small but handy pool and you can speak to the front desk about a bike tour: teaming up sight-seeing with fitness for a two-for-one benefit.
When you are ready to leave, the hotel shuttle will get you to the airport in good time for your flight.
8. Corinthia Budapest
As the name implies, this hotel has a neoclassical exterior, while the inside is packed with marble, statuary and ornament instantly letting you know that it is opulent and sophisticated, even as the friendly staff welcome you and make you feel at home.
The 440 rooms include some of the country’s largest hotel suites, and all are beautifully decorated and equipped with everything you might need.
You are spoiled for choice with several restaurants (serving, Hungarian, Asian and international cuisine, respectively) and at least two places where you can get a drink and watch the world go by, one of which is in the attached performance space, the Orfeum Club, where you can sometimes catch theatrical or musical performances.
The garden invites exploration or you can look down on it from the rooftop garden instead. The hotel welcomes all guests, from children to CEOs, although the elegant ambiance might be intimidating to little ones – or the parents of those little ones!
The rooms are mainly picked out in earth tones with enlivening splashes of red here and there, and the suites come complete with a small kitchen so you have a wide range of choices during your stay.
The swimming pool is enormous and beautifully set amid marble pillars and ornate decoration, so you will feel out of this world as you swim your daily lengths.
There is also an extensive pampering spa, and a small, but complete fitness suite for your workouts. Businesspeople can use the conference rooms and celebrations can be held in the large and beautiful ballroom.
9. Budapest Marriott Hotel
Unlike many of the best hotels in Budapest, this one hides its bushel behind a rather plain exterior – many of the best hotels in Budapest have fairy tale castle-like exteriors, that let you know from a distance that you are in for an opulent treat.
This hotel offers the same elegant sophistication as something of a surprise – which can work to enhance the overall ambiance!
The 9th floor roof terrace offers a treat in the form of the Sky Lounge which overlooks the city giving you a beautiful overview of Budapest: although each room boasts wide window seating next to the large spacious windows so each room has its very own unique view of a slice of the city.
Returning to the Sky Lounge you can also buy drinks and light meals there. With accommodation for over 650 guests, the hotel is large and perfectly positioned to give you access to the must-see sights of Budapest.
A fitness centre, jacuzzi and sauna will leave you ready for your meetings in the conference rooms, or your sight-seeing out and about in the city.
The airy Greatroom near the lobby is a perfect meeting place or assembly spot before going on to dinner, a meeting or to watch the Opera, which is within easy walking distance.
10. Aria Hotel Budapest
Unique of all the best hotels in Budapest, this hotel, a five-star hotel in an uptown neighbourhood, has a unique musical theme running through every aspect of it – even the name!
Piano key tiles, a grand piano, Satchmo’s Bar & Library (yes, library!) all these musical motifs work seamlessly and attractively with the worthy offer the hotel brings.
There is a rooftop bar with spectacular views over the city, and especially of St Stephen’s Basilica, which is just a minute or so’s walk away.
The rooms are spacious and playfully styled, with joyous colour combinations, plump cushions and zany artworks all designed to raise your spirits and help you to relax into your holiday persona.
The rooms almost all have private balconies, some of which overlook wonderful city panoramas, while the others offer views of the interior courtyard, so you can watch the comings and goings of a busy cosmopolitan hotel.
As well as a good range of cuisines of various types, the hotel puts on complimentary cheese and wine evenings, these often accompanied by a musical performance of some kind, and the front desk staff will always be on hand to help you find the cultural performances that you desire.
Workout in the gym, or in the pool with the aquatic exercise sessions, or relax with some pampering spa treatments. You can swim in the pool or join the occasional rooftop yoga or personal training sessions – these may need to be booked in advance, so enquire as soon as possible.
The hotel is pet friendly, but having your dog stay with you will incur an extra fee.
Photo: Shutterstock