Erzsebet Hotel, Budapest, Hungary
Hotel Information
Recent Price: £57
Hotel Class:
Hotel Description:
The Erzsebet Hotel is synonymous for providing excellent service and traditional hospitality. This hotel is a popular choice due to its excellent location right next to the pedestrianised Vaci Utca with the many street cafes and shops. All the 123 comfortable bedrooms have recently been refurbished and are equipped with air conditioning, Internet access, telephone, minibar, radio and television. loading...
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Erzsebet Hotel Reviews
" As with any capital city, Budapest... "
Submitted By: Miss S Roberts
As with any capital city, Budapest has a vast array of hotels to choose from; the selection has improved dramatically over recent years, but a great deal of this development has been at the more profitable luxury end of the accommodation market (such as the hulking great Hilton that currently clutters up the otherwise pretty Castle Hill). However, as I was travelling on a Thomas Cook “Signature” trip, this reduced the overwhelming choice down to just the eight listed in their brochure.
<br><br>
So why did I plump for the Hotel Erzsébet (Elizabeth Hotel)? Well, it was partly through a process of elimination (the Hilton is a wee bit out of my league…strangely enough, student grants don’t stretch to five star accommodation), partly because it was listed as “top marks for its location right in the city centre” (as I wanted convenience to see as much as possible on my trip), and partly after finding promising reviews on it after an evening of trawling the internet and reading guidebooks to find out more. The fact it was the lowest priced hotel on offer may also have influenced my choice: at £61 per night for a double bedroom (including breakfast) I wouldn’t call this exactly cheap for a three star hotel, but it was certainly more affordable than the posher hotels on offer and a pretty good rate for city centre. Despite being at the lower end of the scale, a good range of services (room service, internet access, coffee bar, laundry, valet and souvenir shop) were still offered, although I did not sample any of these to comment on them.
Located on a side street near to the heart of Pest, Thomas Cook were spot on with their description of this hotel. The street itself was fairly quiet, but within a radius of about 15 minutes of walking, you could reach the main shopping areas of Váci Utca and the Great Market Hall; the Hungarian National Museum; the Erzsébet Bridge over the River Danube; Saint Stephen’s Basilica, a wide selection of restaurants and bars, and Deak Ter Metro station, the only station in Budapest offering access to all three metro lines. The Castle District in Buda – one of the main sight seeing destinations in the city – was about a 25 minute walk away (longer if you walk up the hill rather than ride the funicular). While it is possible to get decent and lower priced hotel rooms further out (such as in the Buda hills), paying the extra for such a well placed hotel was really worth it to make the most of my 3 day stay in the city.
**Arrival and Check In**
The building itself wasn’t that much to look at. Although it boasts that the Erzsébet can be traced back to the foundations of Budapest in the 1870s, I was a little disappointed to find I was staying in a rather dull 1980s lump of a hotel rather than the elegant 19th century pile I had imagined. It turns out that there has been a Hotel Erzsébet on this site for all this time, but the original building was torn down and replaced with the new one 20 or so years ago to increase capacity and add new facilities to the building (hence the rather unattractive beige and brown reception area). However, I think the external view of a hotel isn’t really that important – after all, you are not going to be looking at it much, are you?
Anyway, to turn to more pressing matters, all the reception staff were polite (despite having to work in such tasteless surroundings!) and spoke excellent English (which was just as well as between the two us, we could muster only three words in Hungarian). Check-in was quick and easy, and there were two lifts available to ferry us upstairs to our bedroom. (Incidentally, a number of services are available through reception, such as renting cars and booking city tours, but we did not use them).
**The Bedroom**
The Erzsébet has 123 bedrooms across five floors, and from the looks of things, they have been considerably upgraded since they were first built in the 1980s. Our room – a double en suite with air conditioning on the 2nd floor – was surprisingly well proportioned and looked to have been redecorated fairly recently. All the furniture was obviously new and the bathroom looked like it had been fitted not that long ago (with the most enormous shower cubicle I have ever seen in a hotel room). In addition to the expected facilities of a 3 star hotel (wardrobe, desk, phone, colour TV, comfy chair) there were also things that I have learned not to automatically expect in hotel rooms, even 4 star ones (mini fridge, hairdryer and a shower gel dispenser in the bathroom). There was also the wonderfully old-fashioned touch of providing hotel stationary, envelopes and pens in case we had to send out important missives during our stay. This was something I had not seen in a hotel room in a very long time; I didn’t think anyone did it anymore! As it turned out, by Hungarian standards, the Erzsébet is rated as a “3 star +” hotel, rather than the 3 star they were given in the brochure. Obviously Thomas Cook are a little stingy with their hotel ratings, I thought.
It didn’t take long for the disadvantages of the room to become apparent, though. On pulling back the bedcovers, we found that our double bed was in fact two single beds pushed together, with their own separate sheets and duvets. The beds themselves were very comfy, but we soon discovered that if you moved towards the middle of the bed, the two single halves of it easily rolled away from each other (more often than not depositing one of us on the floor in the process). I think this must have been a bed designed for unmarried couples. ;-)
The most obvious thing missing from the room was the ubiquitous tea & coffee making facilities – it has been quite some time since I stayed in a European hotel, but I seemed to recall finding them as standard as in UK hotels. Would anyone care to enlighten me on this? Anyway, it didn’t make any difference to us (neither of us drink tea or coffee and it was too warm for hot chocolate), but this could be a point to consider for all you caffeine addicts out there. Equally, don’t bother buying anything from the mini fridge; they were very overpriced at 600HUF for 500ml bottle of Coke or water (about £1.90 or so). There is a grocery store just down the road from the hotel, where you will pay less than half that, around 200HUF (60p) for the Coke and a bit less for the water.
**Breakfast**
The breakfast room in the Erzsébet was located just off the reception area. Thankfully, it was more tastefully decorated, but it was rather tiny for a hotel with 123 rooms – there were only around a dozen tables set out, and despite breakfast being served over 3 hours (7am to 10am) we did have to wait each morning for a table to become free as the hotel was busy. Breakfast was a buffet-style affair, with a yummy range of foods to cater to the tastes of all the various nationalities staying there. Surprisingly no cornflakes or croissants, but there was plenty of drinks (tea, fruit tea, coffee, juices and iced water), local breads, fruit, cheeses, cold meats, museli, scrambled eggs and pastries to name but a few. Basically you could have just about anything ranging from pickled herrings to gateaux! The food was good quality and you could help yourself to as much as you wanted, although I was a little put out by the fact that the orange juice was obviously being watered down.
**Check Out**
Departure time from this hotel was noon, which is pretty generous as hotels go these days (most that I have stayed in over the past few years tend to go for 11am or even earlier). We checked out pretty early to make the most of our last day in Budapest, a quick and painless process that took barely two minutes to complete (although bear in mind that we had paid upfront through our travel agent). However, our flight wasn’t until 9pm, so could they, we asked, possibly look after our suitcases until the evening? This is a question that the reception staff were obviously asked a lot! The Erzsébet has large safe deposit room, and they were only too happy to look after our cases all day (no charge) until we could return for them. A great last impression of the hotel to leave with, I think.
**My Overall Thoughts**
We both liked the Hotel Erzsébet and I think I can safely say that we got good value for our money; the room was a good size, clean and comfortable; the location was excellent; breakfast was enjoyable, and the staff were polite and helpful. There were downsides to our stay (watered down orange juice – urrgghhh!) but on the whole we were satisfied with our choice of accommodation and I for one would be happy to stay there again if I were ever lucky enough to return to Budapest (always assuming I still couldn’t afford the luxury range, that is, LOL). I feel happy to recommend this hotel to leisure and business travellers who want a reasonably priced stay in a central location in the city.
**Details**
Hotel Erzsébet
H-1053 Budapest
Károlyi Mihály Utca 11-15
Hungary
www.danubiusgroup.com/erzsebet
<br><br>
So why did I plump for the Hotel Erzsébet (Elizabeth Hotel)? Well, it was partly through a process of elimination (the Hilton is a wee bit out of my league…strangely enough, student grants don’t stretch to five star accommodation), partly because it was listed as “top marks for its location right in the city centre” (as I wanted convenience to see as much as possible on my trip), and partly after finding promising reviews on it after an evening of trawling the internet and reading guidebooks to find out more. The fact it was the lowest priced hotel on offer may also have influenced my choice: at £61 per night for a double bedroom (including breakfast) I wouldn’t call this exactly cheap for a three star hotel, but it was certainly more affordable than the posher hotels on offer and a pretty good rate for city centre. Despite being at the lower end of the scale, a good range of services (room service, internet access, coffee bar, laundry, valet and souvenir shop) were still offered, although I did not sample any of these to comment on them.
Located on a side street near to the heart of Pest, Thomas Cook were spot on with their description of this hotel. The street itself was fairly quiet, but within a radius of about 15 minutes of walking, you could reach the main shopping areas of Váci Utca and the Great Market Hall; the Hungarian National Museum; the Erzsébet Bridge over the River Danube; Saint Stephen’s Basilica, a wide selection of restaurants and bars, and Deak Ter Metro station, the only station in Budapest offering access to all three metro lines. The Castle District in Buda – one of the main sight seeing destinations in the city – was about a 25 minute walk away (longer if you walk up the hill rather than ride the funicular). While it is possible to get decent and lower priced hotel rooms further out (such as in the Buda hills), paying the extra for such a well placed hotel was really worth it to make the most of my 3 day stay in the city.
**Arrival and Check In**
The building itself wasn’t that much to look at. Although it boasts that the Erzsébet can be traced back to the foundations of Budapest in the 1870s, I was a little disappointed to find I was staying in a rather dull 1980s lump of a hotel rather than the elegant 19th century pile I had imagined. It turns out that there has been a Hotel Erzsébet on this site for all this time, but the original building was torn down and replaced with the new one 20 or so years ago to increase capacity and add new facilities to the building (hence the rather unattractive beige and brown reception area). However, I think the external view of a hotel isn’t really that important – after all, you are not going to be looking at it much, are you?
Anyway, to turn to more pressing matters, all the reception staff were polite (despite having to work in such tasteless surroundings!) and spoke excellent English (which was just as well as between the two us, we could muster only three words in Hungarian). Check-in was quick and easy, and there were two lifts available to ferry us upstairs to our bedroom. (Incidentally, a number of services are available through reception, such as renting cars and booking city tours, but we did not use them).
**The Bedroom**
The Erzsébet has 123 bedrooms across five floors, and from the looks of things, they have been considerably upgraded since they were first built in the 1980s. Our room – a double en suite with air conditioning on the 2nd floor – was surprisingly well proportioned and looked to have been redecorated fairly recently. All the furniture was obviously new and the bathroom looked like it had been fitted not that long ago (with the most enormous shower cubicle I have ever seen in a hotel room). In addition to the expected facilities of a 3 star hotel (wardrobe, desk, phone, colour TV, comfy chair) there were also things that I have learned not to automatically expect in hotel rooms, even 4 star ones (mini fridge, hairdryer and a shower gel dispenser in the bathroom). There was also the wonderfully old-fashioned touch of providing hotel stationary, envelopes and pens in case we had to send out important missives during our stay. This was something I had not seen in a hotel room in a very long time; I didn’t think anyone did it anymore! As it turned out, by Hungarian standards, the Erzsébet is rated as a “3 star +” hotel, rather than the 3 star they were given in the brochure. Obviously Thomas Cook are a little stingy with their hotel ratings, I thought.
It didn’t take long for the disadvantages of the room to become apparent, though. On pulling back the bedcovers, we found that our double bed was in fact two single beds pushed together, with their own separate sheets and duvets. The beds themselves were very comfy, but we soon discovered that if you moved towards the middle of the bed, the two single halves of it easily rolled away from each other (more often than not depositing one of us on the floor in the process). I think this must have been a bed designed for unmarried couples. ;-)
The most obvious thing missing from the room was the ubiquitous tea & coffee making facilities – it has been quite some time since I stayed in a European hotel, but I seemed to recall finding them as standard as in UK hotels. Would anyone care to enlighten me on this? Anyway, it didn’t make any difference to us (neither of us drink tea or coffee and it was too warm for hot chocolate), but this could be a point to consider for all you caffeine addicts out there. Equally, don’t bother buying anything from the mini fridge; they were very overpriced at 600HUF for 500ml bottle of Coke or water (about £1.90 or so). There is a grocery store just down the road from the hotel, where you will pay less than half that, around 200HUF (60p) for the Coke and a bit less for the water.
**Breakfast**
The breakfast room in the Erzsébet was located just off the reception area. Thankfully, it was more tastefully decorated, but it was rather tiny for a hotel with 123 rooms – there were only around a dozen tables set out, and despite breakfast being served over 3 hours (7am to 10am) we did have to wait each morning for a table to become free as the hotel was busy. Breakfast was a buffet-style affair, with a yummy range of foods to cater to the tastes of all the various nationalities staying there. Surprisingly no cornflakes or croissants, but there was plenty of drinks (tea, fruit tea, coffee, juices and iced water), local breads, fruit, cheeses, cold meats, museli, scrambled eggs and pastries to name but a few. Basically you could have just about anything ranging from pickled herrings to gateaux! The food was good quality and you could help yourself to as much as you wanted, although I was a little put out by the fact that the orange juice was obviously being watered down.
**Check Out**
Departure time from this hotel was noon, which is pretty generous as hotels go these days (most that I have stayed in over the past few years tend to go for 11am or even earlier). We checked out pretty early to make the most of our last day in Budapest, a quick and painless process that took barely two minutes to complete (although bear in mind that we had paid upfront through our travel agent). However, our flight wasn’t until 9pm, so could they, we asked, possibly look after our suitcases until the evening? This is a question that the reception staff were obviously asked a lot! The Erzsébet has large safe deposit room, and they were only too happy to look after our cases all day (no charge) until we could return for them. A great last impression of the hotel to leave with, I think.
**My Overall Thoughts**
We both liked the Hotel Erzsébet and I think I can safely say that we got good value for our money; the room was a good size, clean and comfortable; the location was excellent; breakfast was enjoyable, and the staff were polite and helpful. There were downsides to our stay (watered down orange juice – urrgghhh!) but on the whole we were satisfied with our choice of accommodation and I for one would be happy to stay there again if I were ever lucky enough to return to Budapest (always assuming I still couldn’t afford the luxury range, that is, LOL). I feel happy to recommend this hotel to leisure and business travellers who want a reasonably priced stay in a central location in the city.
**Details**
Hotel Erzsébet
H-1053 Budapest
Károlyi Mihály Utca 11-15
Hungary
www.danubiusgroup.com/erzsebet
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- Date of Holiday:May 2005
- Board Basis:Select
- Tour Operator:Thomas Cook
For a low cost, high quality meal in a restaurant/coffee bar try 'Central' just on the corner of the Hotel Ersabet. The decor is in 1920's style and the waiters dress accordingly! Atmosphere is lively for a restaurant.
Don't exchange for Euros as we ended up swapping them again to the local currency. Euros not commonly used and prices in Euros are more expensive.