The forever question of where to stay?

I havent stayed in enough places in Budapest to say one is better than another. What i can tell you is where to look. I suggest District VI and District VII between the outer loop road and the inner loop road. Find Andrassy ut and look one block north west and 3 blocks southeast. If you send me names or addresses maybe i can tell you a bit about the neighborhoods.

We're staying here next week. Can't comment on location as we've never been to Budapest before. But reviews are stellar and prices are great. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g274887-d777597-Reviews-Golden_Stars_Budapest_Apartments-Budapest_Central_Hungary.html

I stayed at the Gozsdu Court apartments/hotel and loved the apt and the location. It's a group of connected apartment buildings around a courtyard with bars and restaurants. It's conveniently located for all the tourist areas and public transportation. It's in an area with lots of nightlife so I'm sure your college age daughter would like the location. And the noise from the bars at night did not affect me at all in the apartment. They get great reviews on booking.com and TA but rooms are cheaper when booked on this site.

I never trust the maps on the booking sites so hunted the Golden Star down. Its an okay location for getting to the tram lines (5 minute walk) to get around town. Its a 10 minute walk to Deak Ferenc ter which is sort of ground zero for getting around town. Its also about a 10 minute walk to the heart of the Danube Corso. Its also fairly close to the Vaci utca and the heart of the tourist district (which can be a good or a bad thing - depending on your taste). Its roughly across the street from Auguszt Cukrászda, my favorite Cukraszda which is my favorite in town. Check out their court yard, its pretty amazing.

The Gozsdu Court (Udvar) is a place worth seeing, staying there or not. It is 100% tourist in nature, but fun if you are young. On weekends they have a sort of bazaar in the courtyard. Very well located for getting around town.

Residence Baron is across the street from the Market Hall. Its well connected to the center of things by either the 2 Tram or the 47/49 Tram. Again, sort of in the heart of tourism, good or bad.

Thank you all for your help!!

I have stayed twice at Residence Baron and loved it--great location near the river and close to 2 metro stations, excellent breakfast. This May I couldn't get my dates there so I decided to branch out and stayed near the Oktogon at Hotel Medosz just off Andrassy--I had an enormous room with a lovely terrace that gave me a panoramic view of the city--so nice to sit out there with a cup of coffee in the morning and see Parliament, or seeing all the buildings lit up at night. Breakfast was fabulous. It was approx. $110 per night, booked 7 months earlier.

Christa, imho, chose well for location. The Hotel Medosz is about a 3 minute walk to the Oktogon Intersection of Andrassy ut where the M1 has a stop. The M1 will take you to Hero's Square and the Bath House in one direction and very near St Stephen's and just about to the river in the other. Even the M1 itself is an experience as the oldest underground metro line on the continent of Europe. The cars are small and play Mario Brothers sort of music when the doors close. Also at the Oktogon is the 4/6 Tram line. Its newer equipment so you don't have that old world feel like on the 47/49 or the 2 tram; and it's the tram line with the heaviest use in Europe; but it does do an excellent job of connecting you to very near the Parliament, the NY Cafe, Margaret Island and Buda. Stop announcements are in Hungarian, German and English and on a display in each car. The Hotel is located off Jokai ter which has trees and is a pleasant area. My niece stayed at an AirBnb on Jokai ter last year and I really liked the area. Actually, a block or two each side of Andrassy especially between the Opera and the Oktogon is a great mix of tourism and local life and so convenient. We generally stay a block and a half off Andrassy ut, near the Opera and i don't think there is a better zone for a first time visit or in our case ...... lots of visits.

Christa, did i hit most of the high points???

James--you did! I'm finally "connecting the dots" more now with 4 visits and rode the trams and buses more than the metro. Bonus point for me: 3 minutes to the tram stop, 5 minutes to see my storks on Margit sziget. I made good use of an artisanal-type ice cream shop on the corner of Jokai and Andrassy called Hiszteria, and there were a couple of places right there on Andrassy for pastries or a quick snack, an OTP bank at Oktogon, Rossmann drugstore, and finally, just 2 blocks to the Operettszinhaz.

Goofball confession time--I recorded the happy tune the M1 train makes on my phone in case I need to hear it...

https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ai7Zk-szxfTJhetCiVLDEf1GfYSX4Q

For you christa! Why the trams are so perfect. Turn the vol. up. A bit jerky, i filmed it with a cell phone and pasted together a lot of clips. Look fast and you can see me in the passing tram window reflection.

I couldn't get the Hotel Medosz for my days. Has anyone stayed at either the Butterfly Home or Butterfly Penthouse?

I'm sort of worthless on anything but locations. Have been staying in the same place every trip for the last 10 years. If everything else was equal i would choose the Penthouse.....

And that's incredibly biased as it's very near my neighborhood.

The penthouse is actually cheaper than the Baron!!

Wow James, thanks for that video. It brought back some wonderful memories. I rode the trams all over Budapest when I was there, rarely took the metro - mostly just to the train station and back. I loved the trams because Budapest is such a visually interesting and beautiful city (at least to me).

The only metro that really becomes essential is the M1 to reach out to city park. I'm with you, i love the trams. The music on the video is a very old song about a tram....

All other things being equal, the Penthouse is cheaper because its on the fringe of the tourism. But because its a 3 minute walk to the Oktogon and the M1 line you will still be very well connected to everything and have the advantage of being very near the old ghetto district, Kiraly utca with its restaurants, my favorite wine bar, a few clubs, etc. and Andrassy ut which is beautiful night and day. Again, i am biased, because its pretty much my neighborhood, but i bought there for just these reasons....

Still, my apologies. I am way the heck to picky. It’s a beautiful town and there are so many great neighborhoods to stay in, it can be hard to make a decision; but its equally hard to make a bad decision.

Some observations.

The shaded area is District V. This is the most expensive District because it’s what I call Tourist Hell. All the river boats drop tourists here and the two largest hotels and a few of the most expensive hotels in the city are here. Generally speaking you will meet no Hungarians in District V unless they are selling you something. But its beautiful and worth visiting and especially at night to sit on the Danube Corso, drink and eat and see the lights across the river in Buda is special. The two extreme ends are not as much touristy as is the center half. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Budapest,+District+V.,+Hungary/@47.5002311,19.0345229,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x4741dc154c687d4d:0x500c4290c1ed580!8m2!3d47.5002319!4d19.0520181

This is Deak Ferenc ter. This is where the majority of the transportation you are likely to use all comes together. Sort of Ground Zero for seeing the city. Here the M1, M2 and M3 Metro cross as does the 47/49 Tram. The list of what you can reach from this point without changing tram or metro lines includes 75% of what you would encounter in a 3 or 4 day trip. Most destinations are less than 10 minutes from Deak Ferenc ter.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/De%C3%A1k+Ferenc+t%C3%A9r+M/@47.4972617,19.052177,16.37z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x4741dc41c6f753c9:0x3fb3bd3f18927922!8m2!3d47.497413!4d19.055158

If you are within a 3 minute walk of the M1 Metro Line or the 47/49 tram or the 4/6 Tram; then you are in a good location for sightseeing.

As you move away from the inner loop road that defines District V prices go down, tourist traffic decreases and more of what I enjoy most about Budapest increases. When you cross the otter loop road you will see very few tourists except on Andrassy ut. Great old neighborhoods though.

What most people fall in love with are not the tourist map sites, but what lies between them. In that regard Budapest and Paris are a lot alike.

James, I loved the video. It made me long for another visit.

Chani, that came out pretty good for cell phone video. The individual that keeps my US business website and social media nonsense up to date lives in Nyíregyháza. I sent her all the clips and she put it together for me. Very talented lady,