Great Location - "Good Enough" as Hotel
by TripAdvisor Member with2kidsSwiss
The best thing about this hotel is the location.
It is close to the big market, just on the side of the main shopping street, a lot of restaurants close by, walking distance to the Gellert baths (by crossing the river on the liberty bridge by foot), 50 meters from the river, easy access from metro, tram and busses.
Inside the hotel, a lot of effort has gone into the interior design which is pleasant and topped up with IKEA items...
The rooms are SMALL - VERY SMALL, therefore, for a long weekend it is ok, but maybe not more.
The breakfast is OK, but nothing extraordinary and not a lot of healthy choices.
Staff friendlyness, as long as you do not ask anything outside the normal - they are extraordinary.
Considering the very interesting price that I got by booking through a website, I must say that it is a good quality / price ratio and I might even consider going back to this hotel for its great location.
Just right
by TripAdvisor Member KTVirginia
The Zara's not the kind of place that you're going to rave about as hidden gem or even remember in a year, but there's not a single thing to complain about and it's exactly what I'd want/expect for the price (120EURO a night).
The location is great - no views to speak of, but it's on the Pest side, on a clean, quiet street less than a five minute walk to the bridge crossing to the famous Gellert hotel and an easy walk to a metro stop. The rooms are very newly decorated, stylish, comfortable, and spotless (think the W Hotel on a smaller scale). The breakfast (included in the rate) is tasty and fresh with many options, though with little change from day to day. The hotel staff is very pleasant and helpful, though they seemed a bit taxed by anything a little more complicated.
I'd recommend the Zara as quite a good value and would certainly stay there again on my next trip to Budapest.
Nice little hotel
by TripAdvisor Member NW13
We stayed at the Zara in September (3 nights). First impressions were
excellent with friendly and efficient receptionist and bell hop. We were given an excellent map of the city plus various tour leaflets which were a nice touch.
Rooms as previous reviewers have mentioned are on the small side but are modern, extremely clean and very pleasant. Breakfast was okay, not great, but plenty of choice and friendly staff - I would guess that in peak season the small breakfast room gets very busy. We only went into the bar one evening on our return from dinner - it's pleasant and the staff are nice but not much atmosphere.
We went to a couple of excellent restaurants literally 2 mins walk from the hotel - the Bangkok Thai restaurant across the road was really nice with friendly and efficient service. Pampas (Argentinian steak restaurant) was superb - go out of the hotel, turn left, then right (in front of the Jazz Garden) and Pampas is on the right at the top of the street. Would recommend booking - we got the last table at 9.30pm on a Sunday night (everywhere else looked nearly empty). Food and service are excellent.
Couple of things to mention - the hotel is right at the very far end of Vaci Utca so is a good 15 mins walk (and more) from the main sights, but we enjoyed wandering back through the streets and looking
at the shops so it wasn't a problem for us.
Also would recommend the airport shuttle - book a RETURN journey at the desk when you come through arrivals. They will drop you off at the hotel and you need to ask the hotel to call them (when you arrive) to arrange a collection time for your return journey. We did this and they even called back to suggest a slightly earlier pickup as they anticipated more traffic at our collection time (5pm).
Much cheaper than a cab and worked very well.
Overall we would recommend the Zara - friendly, clean and comfortable
and perfect for a short break.
Beautirul Budapest
by TripAdvisor Member jms52
Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. Small, chic, spotlessly clean with friendly staff. Wonderful location close to all the ammenities, shopping, trams, market hall and restaurants. Small and compact room but tastefully decorated and well laid out with a good range of toiletries. Excellent range of services provided by the hotel, nice relaxing bar very reasonably priced and knowledgeable and helpful staff. If being super critical the breakfast area was on the small side and slightly cramped but couldn't fault anything else. Highly recommended and would definitely stay here again if visiting Budapest.
Forum Posts
Budapest - Reasonably Priced Accommodation
by jeffa79
In looking for a sensibly priced hotel for a 3-night trip with my girlfriend (on me) I have come up with the following options:
Hotel Pest
Boutique Hotel Zara
Budapest Museum Central
Budapest Ibis Emke
I know there is a lot of love for the Hotel Pest and it does sound good but with regard to the others can people give me an honest assessment in whether they're worth bothering? Are there any other central ones (I've been led to believe these are all centrally located) of quality that I am missing?
Advice and suggestions on this would be much appreciated.
Many thanks,
Re: Budapest - Reasonably Priced Accommodation
by doodybee
Jeff
Hotel Normafa is not whats called central but is on a good bus route into Moskva Ter which costs pennies
We really enjoyed our stay there in 2005 and would recommend you check it out before dismissing it
It was spotlessly clean throughout and most of the staff had adequate if not good English ( how good is your Hungarian?) and nothing was too muh trouble for them - the food was good and they have an open air swimming pool and a gym/wellness area
I think its were the hoi polloi of the communist era used to go to escape ( but not) Budapest
Enjoy Budapest
Julie
Re: Budapest - Reasonably Priced Accommodation
by MedioLatino
There is much love for Hotel Pest? I never heard of it, but this doesn't mean anything...:)
However, I would say that Hotel Zara is very central and is still relatively new, so I would expect good quality for money there.
Ibis Emke might also be a good option, it has excellent transportation connections its just 1 min away from Blaha Lujza square.
Museum Central is also well located, but its directly on a main road, so it might be too noisy...
Re: Budapest - Reasonably Priced Accommodation
by Ladymarian1
Can't make any comment on the hotels you've listed, but the Carlton sometimes does a package deal for 2/3 nights. Centrally located, good breakfast - couldn't and wouldn't want to complain about it.
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