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The Intercontinental hotel in Budapest is a terrific luxury hotel. Right on the Danube river, overlooking Buda Castle. I stayed here for two nights and had a lovely time.
My room had spectacular River Danube views. The breakfast was large, varied and tasty. I had fun in the Swimming Pool and Spa. I also enjoyed using the club lounge.
The Intercontinental hotel in Budapest is very similar to what I’ve come to expect from Intercontinental hotels. High class and modern 5* hotels, in a city centre location.
I used my Intercontinental Ambassador Free Night Voucher to book one room. I used IHG points to book the 2nd room. I saved 35% on retail price, by booking like this. I also got a room upgrade, 4pm checkout, free drinks voucher and $20 dining voucher. I provide full details about how I booked the room below.
Pro tip. Try to book the club lounge. Normally, hotels provide a limited breakfast in a club lounge. The Intercontinental Budapest allows you to eat breakfast at the main restaurant. The breakfast there was massive.
I took over 100 photos for this review. Each photo can be clicked, to open out the full slideshow.
This page on my website has my Recommended Resources. For how to save serous money on luxury travel. Including how to get lounge access for $26.30.
Book your room on the Hotel Website here.
I booked two rooms, overlooking the Danube river. With Club Lounge access included. For two nights.
The cash rate for these two rooms was $1,400. However, I used a few tricks to lower the cost to $925. I also got a bunch of benefits, when I booked. Including 4pm checkout, a fee drinks voucher, $20 dining credit and a room upgrade.
I booked one room with my Intercontinental Ambassador free night. Which means I can book two nights for the price of one. So I paid $350, instead of $700. I pay $225 per year to be an Intercontinental Ambassador.
I booked the 2nd room with 70,000 IHG, which I paid $350 to buy. You can buy IHG points from this page on the IHG website.
So the total cash cost was $925, rather than $1,400. A saving of $475 (35%).
Intercontinental Ambassador is a paid membership program from IHG. Signup on this page. I’ve been a member for many years. I love for the program. For $225, I get the following benefits:
This is an impressive package of great benefits. I got all these benefits for this stay at the Intercontinental Budapest. At Intercontinental Hotels, the drinks voucher is very valuable. You can usually use it for any drink, including champagne and cocktails.
When you factor in all the extra benefits (upgrade, free drinks etc.), I would value my stay at about $2,000. If I had paid cash, that is what I would have had to pay, to book this trip.
You can signup to the Intercontinental Ambassador on this page.
The location of the Intercontinental hotel in Budapest is pretty special. It’s right on the Danube River, opposite Buda Castle. The views are amazing. I had a room with river view. Which is definitely worth the extra money.
To walk to the castle is about 15 minutes to walk across the bridge. The parliament building is also close by. 10 minutes walk away. The Budapest Eye is not far too, about 15 minutes walk away. If you want to sight-see, you can’t get a better location than this.
The journey to the airport will cost about $30 and take 30 minutes. Depending on traffic. I didn’t use Uber in Budapest, as they were really expensive.
I used Welcome Picks for my airport transfers in Budapest (and worldwide). As they’re well priced and reliable. With a 4.9* Trustpilot Rating. You can book your taxi here or use the below form.
When I travelled in Budapest, I used an eSim to save money on data. I paid $3.99 for 7 days of data - 1GB. Other packages are available. The eSim provider is rated 4.7* from over 17,000 reviews.
This deal is a no brainer. I’m angry that I didn’t use an eSim before!
Buy your eSim data here.
Budapest is one of my favourite cities in Europe. A beautiful and historical city. It’s also very well priced, compared to places like Paris and Rome.
There’s also a lot of newer buildings as much was destroyed in World War 2.
Book a half day tour of Budapest in a private Tuk Tuk here. Tour is rated 5* from over 600 reviews. It costs $175 and the Tuk Tuk can hold 3 people. You’ll have a knowledgeable and local guide take you where you want to go.
Book a 1.5 hour Danube Boat tour here for $29. You’ll see some great landmarks from the water. Also, you have unlimited champagne, prosecco and beer. Tour is 4.6* from over 3,500 reviews.
Buy Tickets here to St. Stephen’s Basilica for $13. I went there with my family, and it was amazing. As impressive as St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. The cathedral also has an outside viewing gallery with great views of Budapest.
The Intercontinental Budapest Budapest Hungary is a luxury hotel with Danube Views. It’s all about the location! Right on the Danube. There’s amazing views of the Danube and Buda Castle from the rooms. The hotel has 402 guest rooms and 26 suites.
The hotel has the following facilities:
This Budapest hotel is located over 9 floors. There’s a large and modern lobby on the ground floor.
Corso Bar and Terrace is on the ground floor. A relaxed place to have a drink and some bar snacks. It has a lovely outside terrace, next to the River Danube. A great place to sit down and watch the world go by!
ARZ Lebanese restaurant is also on the ground floor.
The Club Lounge is located on the first floor. Open from 6.30am to 10pm.
The Swimming Pool and Spa is also on the first floor. Open from 6am to 10pm. The fitness centre is on the first floor, open for 24 hours.
In terms of decoration, the hotel was modern, large and impressive. Beautifully designed.
I liked my room at the Intercontinental Budapest Budapest Hungary.
We stayed in rooms 824 and 825. On the 8th floor. Out of 9 floors.
Both rooms had a spectacular view of the River Danube and Buda Castle. Frankly, the view was unbelievable. I was given the upgrade, due to my status as an Intercontinental Ambassador.
The room itself was quite small. It was 23 square metres. It had the following facilities:
The decoration of the room was pretty nice. Although, a little plain. Not the most luxurious room I’ve ever stayed in.
The bathroom was small. With a small bathtub and no separate shower. The toiletries were by Byredo, which is a Swedish brand.
In terms of tea and coffee, the options were pretty good. There was a Nespresso coffee machine. There was also a tea selection by Ronnefeldt, and a kettle to boil to water.
I didn’t drink any tea or coffee in the room. As I had lounge access, I would much rather sit in the lounge to have a cup of tea.
If I’m honest, the room wasn’t up to much. But that didn’t matter as the view was spectacular. With a panoramic views of the River Danube and Buda Castle.
The Intercontinental Budapest Budapest Hungary has a Club Lounge. I highly recommend it. I booked a room with Club Lounge access. This was really good value, as I had used my weekend free night voucher. So I paid for one night but stayed for two nights.
I got all the food offerings in the lounge over the two days.
The Club Lounge was located on the first floor, with really nice views. While the room was facing the Danube, the view was blocked by trees. The view out the front of the hotel was lovely however.
The following services were offered in the lounge:
These offerings are consistent across all Intercontinental Club Lounges.
I should mention that the service in the Club Lounge was very friendly. When I entered the lounge, I was always asked if I wanted a drink. The staff would then make a fresh tea or coffee.
The afternoon tea was served between 2pm and 5pm. There were three sandwiches on offer. And some cakes. I only tried one sandwich each day, because I’m veggie and there was only one veggie option. The veggie sandwiches weren’t great. None of my family liked them.
From 6pm to 8pm, there’s a happy hour. A full bar was offered. Beers, wines, cava and premium spirits. There was also a small menu of food. On Friday night, there was smoked salmon, caesar salad, ham, veggie spring rolls, chicken skewers and white chocolate mousse.
The portions were very small. Definitely not a full dinner. The quality of the food was decent. I only tried the veggie spring rolls and they were nice. You can’t really go wrong with spring rolls.
On the dates I stayed, the cost of a room with Club Lounge Access was €62 more. Absolutely worth it. Club Lounge access allows you to eat breakfast in the restaurant – which would cost €90 for two people. You also have the evening canapes, afternoon tea and snacks throughout the day. I would put the value of the Club Lounge at around €150. If you drink more alcohol, then the value increases!
The above slideshow has over 20 photos of the Club Lounge.
I had club lounge access with my room. As with all club lounges, breakfast was served there. One unique and cool feature of the Intercontinental Budapest. Is that you’re allowed to eat breakfast in the restaurant. Instead of the Club Lounge.
This is a great deal, as the breakfast in the restaurant is bigger and better. It costs €45 for breakfast if you pay for it outright. I stayed as a family of four. So all of us got to eat breakfast.
The breakfast was offered in ARZ restaurant on the ground floor. It was large, varied and tasty. The following dishes were offered:
Now that’s what I call a breakfast spread! During my stay at the hotel, I tried a range of dishes. Cut melon, pitta bread, hummus, pancakes, mushrooms, veggie gyoza, hash browns. I also tried the English breakfast tea on both days.
The gyoza were terrific. The outside was crisp and the inside was well seasoned. The pancakes were pretty good. They were American style, thick and fluffy. The mushrooms were cooked nicely too, well seasoned.
The hash browns were ok. They weren’t made fresh. They were taken from the freezer and heated in the oven. The pitta bread and hummus were perfectly acceptable too.
I really enjoyed my tea on both days. The tea was made fresh by the staff, and I was given a large tea pot.
The above slideshow has 25 photos of breakfast.
I made sure to visit the Club Lounge and try the breakfast. Just for this review. Because I love you guys!
I really didn’t want a 2nd breakfast, and I ate far too much. But that’s ok!
The lounge breakfast was far more limited. The following was offered:
The food offerings were exactly the same as the restaurant downstairs. It’s just that the selection was smaller.
I only saw a couple of people eat breakfast in the lounge. Which makes sense. The breakfast in the restaurant was much better.
If I wasn’t able to have breakfast in the restaurant, I would have enjoyed the lounge breakfast. The dishes were cooked nicely.
The Intercontinental Budapest Budapest Hungary has a swimming pool and spa on the first floor. Next to the club lounge. There was a swimming pool, sauna and steam room. Sadly no jacuzzi.
I used the swimming pool three times during my stay. The water was really cold! Ironically, Budapest was very hot when I was there. It was 36 degrees outside.
There was both a sauna and a steam room and the hotel.
Both myself and my wife got treatments in the spa. I got a massage which was ok. I enjoyed it. But I’ve definitely had better. It cost around $100 for a 1 hour treatment.
The Intercontinental Budapest Budapest Hungary had a 24 hour fitness centre. It was located on the first floor. Next to the swimming pool.
I used the gym once during my stay. It’s really good. It’s large, with a wide range of machines. Dumbbells, a smith machine, cables, resistance machines and cardio machines.
The Intercontinental Budapest Budapest Hungary is a terrific hotel in a terrific location. It has everything that you want, swimming pool, sauna, club lounge etc. The hotel also has a fantastic location on the River Danube.
One of my favourite Intercontinental Hotels in Europe is the Intercontinental Estoril in Lisbon (Portugal) – review here. A lovely sea front resort. With indoor pool, outdoor pool and luxury spa. Best of all. The room only cost €140/night.