Hotel location

Welllllllllllllll........................................... Actually if suits your budget then the its not too terribly bad. The neighborhood is very walkable in the evening; but then most of Budapest is. You will be 3 t0 5 minutes from the M1 metro stop which will take you right to the water front in about 5 minutes or to the bath house and the city park in the opposite direction in about 7 minutes. You are also near Andrassy ut which is an excellent place to stroll in the evening but it doesn't get to be a great stroll till you cross the Oktogon ter about 4 minutes from the hotel. All in all, location alone, you could do a lot worse.

Before you book though, check out Wombat's City Hostel Budapest. Possibly competitive prices and a better location. It gets good reviews, but you have to choose. I haven't stayed at either one so I only talk about neighborhoods.

Oh, as for June. Better make sure what ever you get has working AC. It can be warm in Budapest. You might check out apartments too. You should be able to get a really small one in decent condition and a decent location for about the same money, maybe a tad more and the remote controls are free.

Oh, and one thing you can always do is use google street view to look at the neighborhood of any place you are going.

The Wombats Hostel in BP is located on Kiraly utca, was completed only a few years ago. Wombat is great for its helpfulness, service, cleanliness, etc based on my stays with them in Vienna and Munich.

Thanks. I had been looking at wombat in different cities. Think I will give it a try in Budapest.
wendy

Wendy, the Wombat is in probably the best location of any hotel in town.

Kiraly utca (King Street) is typical Budapest street lined with local shops and restaurants. Also connecting to Kiraly utca, almost exactly to where you hotel is located is the Gozsdu Udvar. (Gozsdu Courtyard). The court yard is a series of interconnected building courtyards that connects Kiraly utca with Dobb utca and the heart of the old Jewish deportation ghetto. In the courtyard are a number of restaurants and bars. We eat breakfast at Café Vian's most mornings when in town. At the exit on Dobb utca is Spinoza Café which has a fixed dinner combined with a Klezmer concert on Friday nights.

Further up Kiraly utca are a few more restaurants and some design stores, and clothing stores. All local shops, no franchise businesses. On the left at the corner of Vasvari Pal utca you will find a wine bar called Kadarka. This is my evening hang out; especially in good weather when the outdoor tables are set up. Nothing fancy, just nice people and cheap wine and cheap pate.

Still further up, past the yellow church and also on the left, if you are having a hamburger fit (I get these when I am away from town for too long) is Zing Burger. Decent burgers for Europe, but for some reason they don't have catsup in the place. Fortunately there is a little market right across the street where you can purchase a small bottle.

Still further up is the back entrance to Liszt Ferenc tér (more food and drink) and the Liszt Academy of music. Worth going to for a concert or at least for the tour. Look on their web page, but I think the tours are at 11am weekdays. But check me on that.

Still further up you get to the ring road and the 4/6 tram which will take you to Margaret Island, but its sort of the long way.

Now if you go the other direction you are just a few feet from Deak Ferenc ter which is pretty much ground zero for seeing Budapest. From the square you can take the 47/49 metro to the Great Synagogue, the Great Market Hall and the Gellert Hotel.

You can walk across the street and be on Vaci utca in a matter of minutes. This is sort of the ground zero for tourist hype, but you have to see it just the same. A hundred feet from Vaci utca is the river front and the famous No2 Budapest Tram that will take you to the Parliament in one direction or the Great Market Hall in the other.

Also very near the entrance to your hotel is the end of Andrassy ut under which runs the Historic M1 metro line. Walking up Andrasy u you will find expensive shops, the Opera House, Embassies and at the end Hero's Square, City Park and Bath House. If you get tired, take the metro for certain sections of the trip.

I can't recommend the Wombat specifically because I haven't stayed there, but I can definitely recommend the area. I rented an apartment across the street from them and found the neighborhood perfect for sightseeing. I was there alone and found Budapest in general very comfortable to walk around at night, never felt uneasy or unsafe. My apt (and the Wombat) was a few short blocks walk from the Deak Ferenc Ter metro station and walking back after an evening out was never an issue. The waterfront area was easy to walk to and with the trams and metros you can get anywhere in no time. Loved walking around that area at night when everything's lit up and there was always many people around. I loved loved loved Budapest.

That's great about the area. James thank you for all your suggestions and information.

Thank Nancy, for a woman's unique perspective. Something I can't compare to.

Does anyone have experience with the Opera Garden Hotel? It seems like a good, central location.

I just finished reading the Budapest section of the Eastern Europe, and thanks to James' suggestions, and to maximize the time I have there, will likely fly from Munich to Budapest (rather than take the train).

Thanks,

Todd

I stayed at the easyHotel in Budapest for 2 nights in 2008. I really liked the location, as I could take the 4/6 tram almost anywhere. That tram runs every few minutes, so it was easy to get around. The Oktagon area has lots of restaurants, so I didn't have to travel far to eat in the evening.

I was only there 2 days, so the extra charges didn't come in to play. But with 6 nights, you'll want maid service, Internet, possibly TV - don't forget to add these to the final price.

Harold, did you know you were traveling on the heaviest use tram in Europe? http://budapesttimes.hu/2015/04/03/europes-busiest-trams-with-sights-galore/ Great ride.

Getting around Budapest is easy. As Harold points out the 4/6 tram will get you from Margaret Island to within a few blocks of the Parliament to Nyugati Train station, the Oktogon, a couple of good entrances to the Jewish Ghetto and the NY Café. All significant landmarks. At the Oktogon you can transfer to the M1 metro, the oldest underground on the continent of Europe, and reach either the river in one direction or Heros Square, the City Park and Bath House in the other. https://europebetweeneastandwest.wordpress.com/tag/m1-budapest-metro/

The two other tram lines you will need will be the 47/49 which will get you from the M1 to the Great Synagogue and the Great Market Hall and the 2 line which travels the river front form the Market Hall to the Parliament and finally back to the 4/6 tram. http://www.dteurope.com/news/news/budapest-tram-line-listed-in-world-top-ten.html