vandy86

We have finally picked a river cruise and plan 2 days pre-cruise in Budapest on our own. I have a couple o questions:What are the best places to stay location wise ? How do I find a local guide or is it best to use the concigere (sp) service at the hotel? Good restaurants ?

deniah

Stay in pest. Kempiski is a good option

JBord

I've heard good things about that hotel as well.

As a Marriott Gold, I enjoyed the Marriott overlooking the Danube. The lounge is on a high floor and has a gorgeous outdoor deck. Our group of 4 would meet up there every night for free cocktails and appetizers and watch the sunset. Worth considering if you have free lounge access.

OP - you ask about a local guide. I haven't used one there, but what is it that you were hoping to do or see? If you stay in the center, as deniah and I are recommending, you will find a lot of different tourism and restaurant options within walking distance.

You might ask the hotel concierge for restaurant recommendations. Two that I typically provide when asked are lunch at the Central Market (not a restaurant, but loads of excellent food stands on the top floor), and Rosenstein, which is a little off the beaten path but has excellent traditional food.

With your short stay before your cruise, if you're looking for recommendations on what to see while you're there, please post some of your interests and we will do our best .

ChrisJC5

I'm doing a River Cruise in October, 2016 and staying a few days on land in Vienna and Budapest. I'm Marriott Platinum (and Lifetime Gold) and planning on staying at here: https://www.marriott.com/hotels/trav...arriott-hotel/, which is right near where our ship departs on the Danube, or here:https://www.marriott.com/hotels/trav...ph-collection/, which appears to be a fabulous place.

I'm also thinking of using a private tour guide in Budapest and this person has been highly recommended: http://www.magdiprivatetours.com/.

You can send me a private message to let me know what you find.

JBord

The first Marriott is the one I mentioned in my post. If you look at the picture of the outside, you can barely see the outdoor lounge deck in the middle at the top.

stimpy

The Marriott is right on the river and central, but the most central hotel, and the one that most all the tour companies use as a base is the Intercontinental. It's just a few minutes walk from the Marriott or Le Meridien and across the street from the Sofitel, but for me the IC is the best choice. Excellent service, VIP club, bar, breakfast, etc. Both the IC and Marriott have awesome views of the Danube and Buda.

QtownDave

We now stay at the IC after years at the Marriott. Both good but we like the IC much better. As for tours I would do two: 1/2 day bus which will take you to the main attractions and a walking tour which will show you some different parts of the city with better insights from the guide. Your hotel can arrange both but you can find general info on line.

Great city with great food! Have fun.

stimpy

The concierge at the IC will also arrange bicycle rentals for you so you can explore around the city on your own.

exilencfc

Or you can use public transport, it isn't a difficult place to navigate. A guided tour might be good to give you an introduction/background knowledge but it isn't essential to have a guide the whole time.

ToGo

All of my friends like the intercontinental!

WilcoRoger

+1

IC, Marriott and if you can afford it, the Four Seasons

wrp96

Just left the Sofitel and loved the location. Concierge arranged a great city tour for me since I had to miss the one provided by my river cruise line. Also, can highly recommend Rezkakas Bistro for dinner. Only a few blocks from the Sofitel and the IC.

We also did an amazingly fantastic wine tour yesterday through travelguidehungary.com. Our guide was named Judit.

JBord

That's an interesting website, as I've been considering visiting Hungary again this fall. Last time there, I found the Hungarian wines I tried to be quite good.

It wasn't clear to me what was included in the wine tours and how much they cost. Are there custom quotes for those? I could see prices for most of the other tours.

wrp96

I know ours was a custom quote and the cost included the driver and the guide but lunch and the tastings were extra.

Our guide even took us to a few spots in Budapest when she realized I had missed the city tour everyone else got to do.

My other comment is the person in our group made the reservation, they made it for the wrong month. They still accommodated us, despite our screw up, with the guide calling and making all the reservations as we drove out to the countryside.

Linda Weber Masters

Which are the best Christmas markets in Budapest and Vienna?
We will most likely stay at the Erzsebet hotel - as it filled our needs in our trip last fall.(Clean with coffee & crossant for breakfast included in price)
Does anyone know if the "Winter Invitation" program will again be offered for this season? It gave you free entrances to three different "Baths" in the area and a host of discounts.