Continental Hotel Budapest

“perfect”

look no further. This hotel is perfect. Great breakfast, helpful staff. Everything great.. loved the rooftop area. Lots of seats etc. Postion of hotel perfect for jewish area.. Quiet, modern and very good value. Will be staying here again. .

““Exceptional Stay at the Continental Hotel Budapest: Perfect in Every Way!””

Our stay at the Continental Hotel Budapest was nothing short of amazing. From the warm welcome at check-in to the exceptional service throughout, everything was handled with care and professionalism. The hotel was impeccably clean and beautifully designed, and our room was both cozy and modern—perf… more

Our stay at the Continental Hotel Budapest was nothing short of amazing. From the warm welcome at check-in to the exceptional service throughout, everything was handled with care and professionalism. The hotel was impeccably clean and beautifully designed, and our room was both cozy and modern—perfect for unwinding after busy days exploring. The central location made it easy to see all the sights, and the breakfast spread each morning was delicious and varied. The bar was another highlight, with attentive staff who made us feel right at home. Every aspect of our stay exceeded expectations, and we will be returning for a third time very soon!

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“Fabulous break !”

Fabulous hotel , walkable into the city centre, helpful friendly staff, great facilities inc an outdoor pool and an indoor pool ! Bedrooms clean, beds so comfortable , soap, shampoo etc in bathroom. Great restaurant, lots on the menue for breakfast; would definitely stay there again!

“Gorgeous hotel - not so gorgeous area”

The positives: This hotel is a beautiful hotel with fantastic architecture. It’s spotlessly clean, staff are polite and helpful, the food is great. We had breakfast included in our stay where we ate each morning, shout out to the chef who makes omelettes each morning, they are delicious. We had l… more

The positives: This hotel is a beautiful hotel with fantastic architecture. It’s spotlessly clean, staff are polite and helpful, the food is great. We had breakfast included in our stay where we ate each morning, shout out to the chef who makes omelettes each morning, they are delicious. We had lunch a couple of times in the Gallery cafe which was also very nice. Service was a bit slow but we found everywhere in Budapest to be like that. This hotel has a swimming pool and sauna. We used these facilities during our stay and had a pleasant experience. There is a rooftop pool as well but this is only open during the summer months, but going away in November we knew this and didn’t mind, we chose this hotel for its spa facilities. Very clean hotel, we had our room cleaned daily during our 3 night stay with fresh towels and replenishing of toiletries. The beds are nice and comfortable. Staff were friendly and helpful, they managed to book all 5 of us a transfer mini bus back to the airport on the way home, with a trusted taxi firm they use, with a driver who was polite, accommodating and pleasant after a not so nice experience we had encountered the night before with Uber, which leads me onto my next point. The negatives - Location. The hotel is in a run down area in my opinion which is the Jewish quarter, no fault of the hotel as once you’re inside the hotel it is beautiful, I don’t have anything negative to say about the hotel itself or the staff, just the area it’s located in which I feel is important when choosing a hotel. Nothing in Budapest is close together, all the tourist attractions are in completely different areas so be prepared to do some travelling around to get to them. From the hotel is walking distance to the ruin bars and New York Cafe, which are popular tourist spots. The ruin bars are 3 streets away. If you turn left out of the hotel past the Mr XL store and come across a run down looking area with furniture everywhere in the street, and road works you’re going the correct direction, it looks an absolute dump because on the outside streets, it is. You will find the famous Szimpla Kert ruin bars and the centre, However if you decide to visit Szimpla Kert on a Friday or Saturday night, be prepared to queue for hours on end to get in, easily a minimum 2 hour wait. We gave up in the end and didn’t bother. These areas are not safe, people in couples and girls in groups were having their drinks spiked, couples when one goes to the toilet, the other one who’s waiting is distracted on their phone, that persons drink is being spiked and when the other returns from the toilet their partner is a mess. Ambulances everywhere. Pick pocketing and theft is rife in this area, be careful when leaving phones out on tables in front of you, some will try to distract you so they can steal it right in front of your face. Luckily this didn’t happen to us but to plenty of people on Friday and Saturday, it did. We struggled finding our way around to begin with at the start of our 3 night stay, walking in the opposite direction. Google maps aren’t very good or accurate in Budapest in my experience, you start walking to your destination and it constantly re routes itself when you are supposedly a couple of minutes away from your destination. Other than Szimpla Kert ruin bars, New York Cafe, anywhere else you want to go to is a minimum 30 minute walk away, be careful walking around at night. If you download the Bolt app for taxis, these are an inexpensive way to get around, I should mention we were getting mini buses via Bolt by selecting the XL option because we are a group of 5. These are safe, cheap and very inexpensive in my opinion and you’re never waiting for long. There is probably an even cheaper alternative by using the trams and buses but we could not figure out which ones to get to where we wanted to go. A red number 74 passes this hotel but we didn’t know the destination where it goes to, where to get on or where to get off. The szechenyi thermal baths are a 45 minute walk away from the hotel, a mini bus on Bolt for 5 adults to take us there cost 3420huf which is roughly £7.02 which I didn’t think was expensive at all between 5 people. However, be very careful when using Uber, we used them instead of Bolt one evening when we couldn’t get a taxi for 5 adults. I am glad we did not separate in 2 separate cars, because the Uber driver tried to scam us, and used scare tactics. We had a river cruise booked down on the promenade where parliament is lit up on an evening, and allowed plenty of time to arrive at our designated time slot. The Uber driver kept messing around with the destination on his phone while on the phone to somebody else. He took us to a really secluded derelict area in the middle of absolutely nowhere about a good half an hour away or more from the centre, so he could try charge us 14,400huf which is roughly the equivalent of just short of £30. It doesn’t sound much but it is compared to how cheap everything is, and it’s not the point but the principle of the matter. This resulted in us missing our river cruise. Please do not fall for these scams and let these drivers intimidate you because you are a tourist. I am so glad we were in a group of 5 and not a lone couple or group of females. He refused to move from the area, or drive us somewhere else. There was no way we could of got out where he had taken us, we were in the middle of absolutely nowhere. He stopped communicating altogether and refused to drive, it was a horrible experience and the feeling of danger crept in. He was being unnecessarily difficult. I used Google translate to communicate with the driver in case the language barrier was the issue. He still ignored and refused to acknowledge us for a further 20 minutes, so we had to contact the police as we were at a complete loss of what to do next, the vehicle doors were locked, he wasn’t going to let us out but he wouldn’t drive anywhere else either, it’s like he was waiting on somebody else to arrive. I had tried booking us a Bolt from the location we were at but 2 had cancelled as they couldn’t find our location. Panic set in at this stage. We said if he wasn’t going to drop us off somewhere safe, we were ringing the police. He argued we had requested this particular location, when we certainly had not and had actually already been down to the promenade earlier in the day, this was not the promenade, it was remote, deserted and scary with nothing there so why would we want to go there? He kept on repeating that Police were a big problem for him which was more concerning. My mum then contacted the police and explained our situation, they spoke to the driver, tracked my mums phone and he eventually drove us somewhere central, even though it wasn’t where we originally wanted to go we were just relieved we were safe, he was not happy at all dropping us off and then getting pulled over by the police. Again this is no fault of the hotel one bit, but I’m raising awareness for tourists thinking of staying in this area or booking this hotel just to be extra cautious and travel in numbers at all times outside of the hotel. Don’t use an Uber or regular yellow taxi, they will drive miles away to charge more money, stick to Bolt who are safe and reliable. I would hate for anybody staying anywhere around this area to have to experience what we all did. I am not writing this review to scare anyone or put anyone off, but it was one of those situations that you don’t think is going to happen to you until it does. I really hope anyone else who stays in this location has a much better and safer experience than us. Ending this incredibly long review on a positive note, the Christmas markets are a great visit and are close to the big Budapest ferris wheel, definitely worth going on. Most people we encountered were very friendly and trustworthy, a few times we had mistakenly given way too much money when paying for bills for meals out or buying something in a shop, people were honest, told us we had over paid and gave us back our money rather than taking advantage and keeping it, or short changing us. My favourite attraction in Budapest was the Szechenyi thermal baths, I wish I would have visited some of the other ones. The Shoes on Danube Bank was also a favourite too and this gorgeous hotel, just a shame about the area it’s in.

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