Corinthia Budapest, once known as Royal Hotel Budapest, is a 5-star hotel and one of the poshest hotels in Budapest. The Corinthia Budapest is located on Teréz krt. between Oktogon and Blaha, which is not renown as the most luxurious location in Budapest (I for one was once threatened by a woman with a long stick on Teréz krt. between Oktogon and Blaha) but I can attest that the Corinthia Budapest itself is an oasis - once you're inside you'll swear you've been transported to another planet, Planet Bouj, or at least Budapest's posher side (aka Buda). Of course, those who can afford a night in the Corinthia Budapet can surely afford to take a taxi or a Bolt there, but you would be missing out - the 4/6 tram runs right along Teréz krt. and is a great chance to rub shoulders with real locals (most of which don't carry long sticks, although you will get the odd non-threatening light-saber).
Disclaimer: I was invited to stay at the Corinthia Budapest back when I was a better blogger - by this I mean, back when I was neat and polite and mainstream. Nowadays, I am more honest and more confident - which means I have no qualms in telling you what I really thought - making this a very honest review of the Corinthia Budapest:
Honest review of Corinthia Budapest
Check-In at Corinthia Budapest
My first impression was that the Corinthia Budapest was grand and filled with natural light. It was surprisingly large, I have walked past it many times and not noticed it from the outside. Little did I know that inside was a palace. Check-in was easy. I arrived very early and although my room wasn't ready, it wasn't a problem, they told me I could sit in the Executive Lounge:
The Executive Lounge at the Corinthia Budapest
Probably my favourite thing when I worked with hotels (after getting a free, fancy place to sleep), was the executive lounges - that is if they had them and if they let me use them. Corinthia had and did. Executive lounges mean good food and good drinks, and it's all free. Or rather it's all included in the price of the room, which for me meant free. I was happy because the Corinthia Budapest had lots of options for vegans, like olives, grapefruit juice, vegetable soup, coffee, and, of course, wine. And it's Hungary so of course it was very very good wine.
(Side note, here is a blog post I wrote about how travel made me vegan, on the off chance you're interested)
The Corinthia Budapest's Executive Lounge offers high tea (which is a fancy way of saying sandwiches in the afternoon, not an invitation to get high) and happy hour (which I assume you know about).
Whilst I was waiting, I was treated to a visit from someone who worked at the hotel. Memory doesn't serve to tell me his name or his status - but he was some kind of mid-level wage laborer like a manager or something, I may not remember his name or face or job, but I remember the conversation we had, because it was funny. He tried to convince me that mushrooms were not vegan. My babe, I said, they are fungi, they are plant-based, we can eat them. He concluded that I wasn't a hardcore enough vegan. I concluded that as a non-vegan he didn't get to decide if I was hardcore or not. Moving on.
My Room at the Corinthia Budapest
The night before I stayed at the Corinthia Budapest, I spent the night in a literal shed at Balaton Sound,
and the contrast of sleeping in a shed one night, to sleeping in a
five-star hotel the next was not lost on me.
So yeah, my standards were low, but perhaps unsurprisingly my bed at Corinthia Budapest was perfection. The bed was super duper comfy, I had the best night's sleep here. (And not just because was unslept from sleeping in the shed the night before.)
It also had an excellent shower (even more excellent as I felt disgusting from the festival). There was a gigantic TV too, which I didn't watch so can't confirm that it was in English, but I assume it was. Last, but not least, I was very excited about the welcome gift: traditional Hungarian snacks and Palinka
Palinka is the Hungarian national drink (not Unicum, much to my disappointment, what a cool name). Almost every Hungarian I've ever met has told me that "one does not simply buy Palinka, it's only authentic if it's made by a grandpa in his garden in the village". So I was dubious that this non-grandpa made Palinka given to me by Corinthia Budapest would be good. But it was, so I think that there are truly three kinds of Palinka - good grandpa stuff, bad supermarket stuff, and then this really high quality stuff (presumably found at boujie shops). It was so good I ended up not being able to drink it all, and carried it around for a while, left it at my mum's, found it a year later and drank it then lol.
All in all, I like to joke around a lot, but it meant a lot to me that they gave me this stuff, it was a nice touch and unexpected. Whether they would give it to non-bloggers is another question.
The Pool at Corinthia Budapest
The pool at the Corinthia Budapest looks really nice, and much like the other Hungarian baths dotted around the city it screams of another grander time. I didn't take a photo because people were bathing, and unfortunately I didn't have time to get in myself, but if you're stretched for time in Budapest, the convenience of having an authentic Hungarian bath on site is a winner imo.
Dinner at Corinthia Budapest
I really enjoyed my complimentary 5-course meal at the Corinthia Budapest, which they specifically made vegan for me. So, even if you don't stay at the Corinthia, but you're looking for a fancier vegan-friendly place, then I recommend you go there, particularly if you want to impress someone, because boi was I impressed. At the time I said that "this might well have been the best meal I've ever had in Budapest". Nowadays, I'm less inclined to say this because my husband has made me many delicious meals in Budapest, but between you and me this was delicious and fancy. So, caution, read on with care - side effects may include mouth-watering and accidentally booking trips to Budapest.
First up was bread with a tomato based spread, served with olive oil and beetroot. Beetroot (or cekla) are a big thing in Hungary. Tomatoes too for that matter, in fact Hungary has the most accurate name for tomato in my opinion - paradicsom - literally, my paradise. And this dish lived up to that name, the spread was indeed tomato-based, and the Cekla was presumably local, because it tasted full of flavour.
Next was a delicious, fresh salad with avocado and roasted pine nuts, I liked how wild the salad tasted.
Then came a clear tomato soup that was delicious, of course, but was also served in a memorable way: the bowl was brought to me without the liquid, and the liquid was poured on it in front of me. Classy. It tasty healthy (though it had a lot of oil so probably wasn't). But I didn't mind, the novelty of the interesting serve, and just the concept of 'clear' tomato soup is something I'm sure I'll think about for years to come.
I thought the soup would be my favourite course but then came the pasta. This was excellent. Dare I say it was better than the pastas I've had in Italy? Yes I dare.
Finally came dessert. I'm not really a dessert fan, in fact I only have time for two types of dessert - fruit and anything chocolately. Such is the power of the restaurant at Corinthia Budapest that they somehow psychically knew that and served: fruit and dark chocolate pudding:
Specifically, it was a vegan chocolate mouse and it was absolutely incredible, look how happy it made Tom 'sweet-tooth' Theune:
Breakfast at Corinthia Budapest
After such an memorable dinner my expectations were high for breakfast, but yet again my expectations were exceeded: there was a lot of choice. I had a fruit salad, grapefruit juice, coffee and what I like to call a basic diy vegan English breakfast: beans, bread, mushrooms, tomato. All excellent.
Conclusion: Corinthia Budapest review
I stayed at a lot of hotels during my time as a professional blogger, including in Budapest, and I can honestly say that my stay at Corinthia Budapest was in my top 5. Despite the dumb mushroom comments from the manager, and the gross inefficient distribution of resources, even I cannot deny that I loved the dinner, I loved the breakfast, I loved the fancy lounge, I was touched by the gifts and I slept very well. If you want to book your own stay head on over to their website or find them for a discount on Hotels.com.
Disclaimer: Travelling Weasels were invited as guests but as always all opinions are our own. We would never recommend something we haven't personally tried and loved. If we don't like something, we tell you!
ABOUTME
We overland. We eat plants and fungi. We live outside as much as possible. We are all connected. A female travel blogger overlanding and writing about ecotourism, ethical and sustainable travel, socially conscious travel and housesitting. An online travel magazine since 2015.
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