Hotels in Budapest: eight places to stay on the Pest side and the Buda side

The art nouveau palace at the Chain Bridge

Gresham Palace stands on Széchenyi tér, where the Chain Bridge meets the Pest bank, and has one of the most photographed facades in the city. Inside, the art nouveau detail survives in glass mosaics, wrought iron and the long, bright arcade running through the building, and the river-facing rooms have Castle Hill filling the window.

This is the hotel for a big occasion, and the one most people picture when they think of luxury in Budapest. The service is faultless and everything in Belváros is on foot. The price is the highest in the city, and the hotel is large with a busy lobby. If you want something small and personal, keep reading.

Music and a roof bar beside the Basilica

The hotel is on Hercegprímás utca, wall to wall with the Basilica, and the first thing you notice is the music: the hotel is built around four genres, with a wing for each, and a lobby with a piano that is played in the afternoons. The roof bar at the top brings the Basilica's dome so close you could count the stones.

Aria is our pick for a first visit. The location is central without being loud, the rooms are spacious and well equipped, and the breakfast and the afternoon spread in the lobby draw a lot of praise. The theme runs through every detail, which makes it a poor fit for anyone who wants sober, quiet public spaces.

The palace at Elisabeth Bridge

Matild Palace sits on Ferenciek tere, at the Pest end of Elisabeth Bridge and the start of Váci utca, in a thoroughly restored palace whose ground-floor café has reopened in its old splendour. Rooms are done in deep colours with brass and marble, and the upper ones look across the river to Gellért Hill.

You stay here to have the pedestrian street and the river promenade outside the door, and for a mood that is more glamorous than Gresham Palace. It is a good fit for couples and anyone who likes a city hotel with a pulse. Ferenciek tere is a traffic hub, so ask for a high floor or a courtyard room if you are a light sleeper.

The café everyone wants to see

The hotel stands on Erzsébet körút, the great ring road, and on its ground floor is the New York Café, whose marble columns, gilding and frescoes have made it one of the most visited addresses in the city. As a guest you walk past the queue and in to breakfast in a room most people only glimpse from the door.

The rest of the hotel is just as lavish, with a spa in the basement and rooms in classic style with plenty of gold and heavy curtains. It is made for anyone who wants grandeur and is happy to stay slightly outside the busiest centre. The ring-road location is practical, with trams at the door, but not pretty, and it is a fifteen-minute walk to the Basilica.

The atrium on Andrássy út

Moments sits directly on Andrássy út, between the Opera and the centre, in a renovated town palace built around a covered atrium with galleries on several floors. Rooms are light and simple, several are big enough for families, and breakfast is served in the atrium under daylight from above.

This is our family pick: plenty of space, quiet inward-facing rooms, and a location with the Opera three minutes away, the Basilica ten, and Heroes' Square a few stops on the old metro that runs beneath the boulevard. It is not a luxury hotel and the bar is small, so if you want facilities beyond the basics, look at the Anantara or the Mystery.

The Masonic lodge with a pool on the roof

The hotel is on Podmaniczky utca, a couple of blocks north of Andrássy út, in a building that was once the Freemasons' lodge in Budapest. The interiors play on it: dark colours, symbols, concealed doors and a restaurant in the old lodge hall. On the roof is a small pool with a view across the rooftops.

Mystery is our design pick, for anyone who thinks a hotel can have a story and a sense of humour. Rooms are well equipped and quiet, and the price sits below the big palace hotels in Belváros. The street has no life of its own and the centre is a fifteen-minute walk. If you like things light and straightforward, this is not for you.

The Chain Bridge in the bedroom window

Hotel Clark stands on Clark Ádám tér, right at the Buda end of the Chain Bridge and beside the funicular up to the castle. The building is modern and narrow, and it was designed for the view: river-facing rooms have the bridge and the Parliament in the window, and from the roof bar at the top you watch the whole Pest bank light up after dark.

It gets our vote as the romantic pick, for the view and for the calm, grown-up mood. Rooms are not large but well thought out, and you cross the bridge to Belváros in five minutes. It is less suited to families, and to anyone who wants restaurants and bars outside the door, because the Pest side has those.

The small house on Castle Hill

Up on Castle Hill, on Fortuna utca a couple of minutes from Matthias Church, is a small hotel in an old house with a bistro on the ground floor serving Hungarian food. The rooms are few, furnished in wood, pale fabrics and old photographs, and the street outside falls silent once the day visitors have taken the funicular down.

You stay here to have Castle Hill to yourself in the morning and evening, before and after the groups. It takes our value pick, because you get one of the best addresses in the city at a rate well below the palace hotels. The drawback is distance: you walk or take the bus down to the bridge, and the choice of restaurants on the hill is limited in the evening.