This was planned already in September 2018 – we were going to Budapest for the Christmas holidays between 22-26 December 2018, so we booked the tickets. SAS to go there and Norwegian to go back, quite cheap actually. This meant that we could allow us a luxury of a 5-star hotel. I think this one was the first 5-star hotel stay for me at least.
Off we went – the weather according to forecasts should be quite bad and rainy in Budapest, however it switched to -9C in Stockholm with a nice touch of white snow just ahead of Christmas. Well, nothing we could do. Flygbussarna to Arlanda and there we were on a slightly delayed SAS flight to Budapest.
Här inser jag at jag redan skriver detta på engelska så jag fortsätter väl :)
We landed late at night and went to out hotel in a shared taxi – second stop was ours. Well inside the hotel we got our room on the third floor.
Wow, what a room it was – a full 35 square meter, 3 room apartment with high ceilings and a walk-in closet, two toilets a shower and a bath tub and two TV-sets and a balcony with a view on the main street of Budapest. The hotel was Corinthia Hotel Budapest, so we highly recommend the experience once you get the chance.
The first day welcomed us with a very sunny weather despite the forecasts. So we went for a long walk around the city and visited both parts in both Buda and Pest where we had the chance to see all the touristy attractions. It was a wonderful walk. The evening was spent in a cozy restaurant, however the food was just ok, and nothing outstanding.
The second day we went to the dark side of the city where we saw the less glamorous side of Budapest life. Sorry for the photo, but this was basically a view of every corner there… A less interesting and kind of industrialized part of town made a huge contrast impact on me.
Third and last day we decided to spend by getting on the city sightseeing tour bus and after having bought the tickets we went to the bus stop. As everything was closed that day due to holidays we were not the only tourists wanting to spend a quite cold day in a warm bus just wandering around the city. There were approx 30 other people on the bus stop all waiting for their turn to jump inside and warm their hands and ears. However the City Sightseeing tour buses were full and the next bus approaching us had an angry driver inside saying that the buses are full and that the next bus will arrive in 15-30 minutes and if we wanted we could refund our tickets in the city centre at the main office. So, we went the the office for a refund instead covering a good 1 hour walk in the cold weather instead learning a bit more about the city. Quite a good idea prior to a café visit.
As we came to the Budapest New York Café we saw a huge line – well, waited for 30-40 minutes with people coughing and sneezing in our ears, and then saw that the menu of the café is very dull, expensive and not interesting at all. After having decided to take a coffee and some pastries (which were total crap!) we took some photos of this interior and went back to our hotel.
Back at the hotel we enjoyed a good treat with room service and prepared for the flight back which went smooth.
Well, a great trip with great hotel experience, good city walks, an OK spa and some bad experience of the New York Café.
