More about Alba Hotel
The superb Carleton
by TripAdvisor Member Nicholson9
Our party of three couples stayed for 4 nights at the Carleton in early July 2006. The Hotel has a grest location near the chain bridge on the Buda side of the river. The rooms are very quiet, air conditioned and well appointed, breakfast is great, but there is no restaurant and drinks at the small bar are very expensive.
It is a 10 mins walk to the palace or five minutes to the funicular railway which takes you right to the palace. It is just a 10 minutes walk across the chain bridge to central Budapest.
During July the chain bridge is closed to traffic at the weekend, when there are jazz bands and craft stalls all during the day and into the evening.
We got a very good price for the hotel through expedia and can recommend both it and Budapest to anyone looking for a great long weekend break.
Not excellent, but great location
by TripAdvisor Member acc108
For the price, you can't beat the location of the Carlton. Still, I would disagree with some of the reviews that say it is "superb" or "excellent". I got hassled about my Orbitz confirmation upon check in and found the room to be rather drab and smelling faintly of either must or smoke. Also, don't expect the folks at the front desk to be overly helpful or friendly. Still, for the price...the location is great. A mere three minute walk to the Chain Bridge, Funicular ride away from Castle Hill...not too shabby.
Good Value, Good Location
by TripAdvisor Member InfinityJ30
I was looking for a clean, safe hotel that offered Internet connectivity and was close to tourist attractions. I picked the Carlton Hotel located on the Buda side of the Danube within walking distance the Chain Bridge. I was able to get a rate of $90 per day (before tax) at hotels.com.
The hotel offers a good breakfast buffet from 7-10am. So if you want to go sightseeing all day long you can have a heavy breakfast and skip lunch. The breakfast includes boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, sausages, french toast, coffee, tea, yogurt and a variety of cheese, cereals, juices, fresh fruit, and bread. There is a small pub right outside the hotel and a resturant behind it.
If you like to walk several attractions can be visited by foot from this hotel :- on Buda side - The Palace, Fishermans' Bastion, St. Michael's Church, Castle District. On Pest side - Parliament, St. Stephen's Bascillica, Central Market.
Excellent value and great location
by TripAdvisor Member WuntBeDruv
Have just returned form Budapest. Booked the Carlton Hotel through Octopus.co.uk at a very good price of £35 a night for 5 nights (double room with shower and toilet for 2 including generous buffet breakfast). Hotel and room were clean and comfortable, though our room was a little small. Still for the price we weren't complaining. Very quiet as our room looked out onto an internal courtyard. Hotel is on a pedestrianised side street with no passing traffic so other rooms should be fairly quiet as well. Linen and towels changed every day! Free use of a safe in the room was also appreciated, as was the kettle and tea and coffee provided. Staff were a little reserved though efficient and very helpful when we needed help tracking down hard to get concert tickets.
Location was perfect (on the Buda side) - just a stones throw from the Chain Bridge and the nearest tram stop and 10/15 minutes leisurely walk to the centre of Pest across the river. Also, it's only a 10 minute stroll up the hill to the Castle area.
As we were in town for 5 days we bought a week's travel card giving us use of all public transport in the city - this saved us messing about with tickets and given that many journeys involve a mix of tram and metro and the odd bus constantly punching tickets can be a pain. Mini bus return from the airport was cheaper than using a taxi and a lot easier than public transport.
We're vegetarians but found plenty of places to eat. There's a new restaurant and bar specialising in Belgium beers a few yards down the road from the hotel which is certainly worth trying if you want to stay close by one evening. The Vegetarium restaurant in Cuckor Street is brilliant for veggies and vegans with lots of choice and style - and very reasonably priced even by Budapest standards which are generally half the price you'll pay in the UK!
All in all a brilliant city break - the weather was warm for the time of year and sunny for most of our stay which surprised us as November is reckoned to be the wettest month!
Good hotel, great location
by TripAdvisor Member kenc
Seven of us booked seven rooms through OctopusTravel and got a very good deal. The hotel was expecting fourteen people when we arrived, possibly because we specified seven double rooms, but that was soon sorted.
The hotel is a four star and was actually a lot better than we were expecting. Good breakfast, good rooms and an excellent location. There's little else to say about it.
Fab!!!!
by TripAdvisor Member cityhopping
Stayed at the Carlton in Dec. Very good location. Room was great. Nice and warm. Paid for a single room but ended up in a triple room. Booked hotel and flight together and got a great bargain! Breakfast was simple buffet style but very good selection. Only a short walk to Pest but bus stop very short walk from hotel and takes you up to Castle or into Pest. Tram line also nearby. Walking is best though. Recommend getting the Budapest Card. Covers all transport and get reduced entrance to loads of places. Must visit the Labyrinth! Unbelievable!
Very disappointing
by TripAdvisor Member A-Canadian-in-London
I booked into this hotel based upon the location and decent reviews on tripadvisor. I know a 4star in Hungary is not the same as a 4star in America or the UK, so I went in expecting the equivalent of a decent 2star, and boy, did I regret it.
The room when I arrived was very small but clean and quiet and the bed was comfortable. The in-room safe didn't work, and the tea and coffee making facilities were very primative (no whittener or milk, the cup was a disposable plastic one, and there was no spoon or stir stick), but there was a fridge. It was also very hot in the room and smelled of smoke, but I assumed the previous guest had only recently checked out (I arrived around 12) and must have had the heat turned way up. Anyway, I checked the heat controls in the room were set to off and opened the window, and went out to explore.
I returned to the room late that night, and it was still like a sauna in the room. I spent a miserrable night too hot to sleep despite leaving the windows wide open all night (and also having some kind of allergic reaction to the bed linen - I can only assume they use some really harsh detergent).
I complained at the front desk the following morning about the heat, and the desk clerk clearly couldn't give a damn. His reaction was "open the window if you're too hot" despite my explaining several times that I had the window open and it was still too hot, and then he claimed "The other guests are all too cold so it must just be you." When I insisted in that case that there must therefore be a fault with the radiators in my room, he finally said he'd get someone to check the heating in my room, but I got the feeling he'd just said it to make me go away. Anyway, I went out for the day and when I got back late that night, my room was still sweltering and I was too tired to wander the streets looking for another hotel (plus I'd paid for this one in advance via Easyjet) so I spent another night sweating and sleepless.
The person I sat next to on the plane home said that in her experience Budapest hotels were often overheated, but this was ridiculous.
not bad
by TripAdvisor Member romatravel
Hotel was fine - very clean with lovely duvets and pillows. Rooms were too warm and it was useless trying to adjust the thermostat in the room as it made no difference - opening the window and snuggling under the down duvet was the best bet. Breakfast was until 10am but if you arrived after 9.30 they were often running out of things like bread and tea bags. Location wise - perhaps the other side of the chain bridge would have been better but the only ones in the preffered location were the 5* Four Seasons, Intercontinental and Sofitel. Limited choice of places to eat and drink but can recommend the Black Raven on Castle Hill. Word of warning - beware the traffic....pedestrian crossings and green to go lights on them mean nothing...the cars dont slow down and carry on...as I found to my cost by being hit by one and ended up in hospital...not to be recommended.
Wonderful Place to Stay
by TripAdvisor Member tony102664
We traveled with a group of nine people to Budapest. I read all the reviews good and bad. I must say that the Hotel is very nice, exceptionally clean. The front desk personel were polite and very helpful. They never appeared to be annoyed or aloof. We had to depart on an early flight, and the staff had prepared a breakfast to go for our group at no charge and we never requested it either. We had a 5 am flight. If you are traveling in Europe this is a hotel of value, I do not know of any reason why someone would be dissappointed. The Hotel is on a side street, street noise is muffled if your windows are closed. Our rooms had no good views, but we were not wanting a room with a view. Location is a plus, walking distance to everything. I will be staying here again.
Photos
The Micro Museum
Budai Vigado
Fat Mo's Speakeasy, Budapest
Not just half-naked ladies....Szerb Utca, Belvaros
Forum Posts
Bus and Train Budapest.
by tucha
I am changing my mind constantly , sorry..:-)
Ok, does anyone knows the bus named OrangeWays, is it good (confortable and fast)to travel from Budapest to Bratislava??
http://www.orangeways.com/en
And I am planing returnin by train at the end of the day, how much is one way only in train (for 24 Octuber or 25), it's dificult to me to understand the Elvira site, because most of the information are in Hungarian.
And one more question, which is the fastest way to go to:
- Keleti pu (train station)
- Bus stop of OrangeWays (Budapest OrangeWays bus station(in front of the Eurolines bus station)
(Metro station called - NÉPLIGET - of the blue metro )
Just in front of the FTC STADION 3 meters from the metro station.
All of this departing from my Hotel, Star Hotel , in H-1078, Budapest István u. 14??
Than you in advance for all the answers.
Re: Bus and Train Budapest.
by fischert
No problem. That's why we are here to help you with all of your questions.
So. From István u. the keleti pu (pu=pályaudvar=train station)is a 5 minutes walk distance. From István u. the Népliget metro station is about a 20 minutes tour. From keleti pu you can take metro line 2(red) to deák tér where you can change to metro line 3(blue). OR you can take metro line 2(red) from keleti to Stadionok (1 stop) and change to tram number 1 which takes you to Népliget also.
Some questions below someone wrote his/her experiences with orangeways. I remember he/she liked it much.
I think it's cheaper to buy a return ticket for about 16-17 euros and use it only for one-way (in this case you have to buy the ticket here in Hungary!). A one way ticket is more expensive.
Re: Bus and Train Budapest.
by csordila
Here the reference you need
http://forum.virtualtourist.com/discussion-438566-1-1-Travel-0-0-Budapest-discussion.html
Best. L.
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