Budapest – Four Seasons Gresham Palace

This is part four of my trip to Paris and Budapest. For the remainder of the series, please see below.

Paris – Hotel Esprit Saint Germain
Paris – The Marais, Le Bon Marche, Le Comptoir du Relais
Paris – St. Germain, Hermes, L’Avant Comptoir
Budapest – Four Seasons Gresham Palace
Budapest – Andrassy Avenue, Onyx
Budapest – Taste Hungary
Budapest- Christmas Markets, Bock Bistro

While we were in Budapest, we stayed at a fantastic hotel – the Four Seasons Gresham. We absolutely loved our time here, and I would personally rank the Gresham as one of the best city hotels in the world, and certainly one of the best in Europe. I always love staying at hotels with some character, a history, a beautiful exterior, and the Gresham definitely met this qualification! Can you believe that this was once the headquarters of an insurance company?

One of my favorite areas of the hotel was the lobby. It was huge – apparently horse drawn carriages used to come through regularly!

Mr. Feather’s favorite detail were the tiled floors…

…while mine was the amazing chandelier.

There were so many details all around the hotel that I admired and appreciated. For example, there were hearts in hidden places all around the building – very sweet!

At the hotel, we stayed in a “Danube River View” room. If your travel budget allows, I would highly recommend staying in at least this category room at the Gresham – the space was more than ample enough for two.

And it had the large marble bathrooms that are standard in many Four Seasons hotels.

The same L’Occitane toiletries…(a fine enough choice, but not my favorite).

What was really impressive about the room though, and why I would recommend staying in this category, was the view. During the day, you faced Chain Bridge, and the Castle..

…but it was in the evening when the view turned truly spectacular!

Our first evening, we checked in very late to the hotel (past midnight) and were pleasantly surprised to find some nuts and small desserts in the room.

Each night, right after turndown, there was a new plate of desserts waiting – much better than some chocolates on the pillow in my opinion!

We were very happy with our room and would return to the same one again in a heartbeat. That being said, we had the opportunity to tour a few of the other rooms at the Gresham. There was the Presidential Suite…

…but as grand as it was, it actually wasn’t my favorite “mega suite”. Those honors go to the Crown Suite, which was smaller than the Presidential but in my opinion just as fantastic (with a lower price tag).

I loved how even the most expensive rooms didn’t come with the mandatory “opulence” that you see with these top tier suites sometimes – they were clean, modern, with lots of light. Though we were told that the staff could of course notch up the opulence factor per each individual guest’s preferences!

These suites each came with a different set of toiletries…Acqua di Parma. Come on Four Seasons…roll these out to the rest of your rooms. Please?

A final suite that we saw that I really liked was the Tower Suite. This suite was actually not that large – I would imagine it would be a good size for either a business traveler with meetings, or a small family.

However, what I found very unique about the suite was the ceiling of the bedroom, as each of the two lone Tower Suites were set in one of the two “towers” of the Gresham building – you can see it below, on the top left.

Very unique!

There were so many beautiful design details all around the hotel and I could probably share photos forever. Here are a few more favorites…starting with the stained glass.

It was everywhere, including on the floor of the 5th floor!

Also on the 5th floor were the spa, and the pool.

Each morning when we came down from breakfast, I tried to go down a different staircase (there were three).

And of course, breakfast itself was in a lovely setting each morning, on the first floor facing the bridge. It was fun to sit by the windows and people watch as locals and tourists strolled by.

The Gresham had a fantastic buffet each morning which we thoroughly enjoyed. I have to say that I adore breakfast buffets at hotels in Europe and Asia. I really don’t think hotels in the U.S. can really compare (though if you have any suggestions, please let me know!).

A honey bar! I tried a new one with my tea each morning.

Aside from the buffet, there was a also a very nice ala carte breakfast menu. I was so sad because each evening before I ended up stuffing myself silly and could never partake fully in all the breakfast offerings. Here was the one dish I was able to try on the first day, a goose liver omelette.

All of the food we had at the Gresham was fresh, and delicious. We also had dinner at the restaurant for dinner one night, and the food was great (I would especially recommend the borscht! One of the best we had in Hungary).

On our last evening, we also found a parting gift in our room – a box of traditional Christmas candies, dark chocolate dipped marzipan.

The next morning, before we left, we took a few minutes just to enjoy the view.

While I think one could have a great time in Budapest while staying in a variety of hotels in the city, if you have the budget, I would highly recommend the Gresham. It was clear that the building was beautifully looked after and maintained, and the service was excellent all around.

Have you traveled to Budapest? If so, I would love to hear your thoughts on your favorite accommodations, experiences, and eats. Thank you for reading, and next time I’ll be covering more of my favorite sights and food in Budapest!