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The Independent
17 hours ago
- Business
- The Independent
The best budget-friendly hotels in Budapest for a cheap city break
Budapest is one of Europe's more budget-friendly city break destinations, but just because you're on a budget doesn't mean you need to slum it. And while some may think of budget accommodation in Budapest as being limited to party hostels, the good news is that there are plenty of quieter alternatives. You'll find a range of affordable accommodations, from upscale hostels (offering dorms and comfortable private rooms) to affordable wellness hotels with their own on-site thermal baths. If you're searching for inspiration for a fun place to stay in Budapest without breaking the bank, here are the city's best budget hotel rooms. 1. Gerlóczy Rooms de Lux hotel Gerlóczy Rooms de Lux is situated on the corner of a quiet square downtown, and its café is renowned for its baked goods. Visitors can book one of the 19 rooms above this Parisian-style café and brasserie. The accommodation is charming, with individually designed rooms that feel homely. It has plenty of period charm with details such as brass taps, cut glass and silk wallpaper. Settle in the café downstairs with a coffee, a bun and the morning paper, and you'll be a happy customer. 2. Danubius Astoria hotel Step back in time when you walk into the downtown Danubius Astoria Hotel lobby. This hotel offers a slice of Budapest's history, as it was built on the site of the Hatvan Gate in the historic city walls. Today's hotel dates back to 1914, offering a taste of fin-de-siecle style. The interior evokes a retro feel that wouldn't be out of place in a Wes Anderson movie, with a stained glass ceiling above the gallery and the classic cafe adorned with chandeliers and clad with mirrored walls (offering local dishes and delicious cakes), where breakfast is served in the elegant back room. Some of the rooms are old-fashioned, embodying a romantic sense of faded grandeur, but there are categories of recently renovated rooms that are more contemporary in style. The hotel's retro grandeur is part of its charm, and you can't beat its central location. Address: Kossuth Lajos u. 19-21., 1053 3. Ensana Grand Margaret Island hotel This grand hotel was Budapest's first big hotel and is the oldest one still operating in Budapest. Its location – in the centre of Margaret Island, sandwiched between Buda and Pest on the Danube – is undoubtedly its trump card. Some rooms have views of the surrounding parkland and others of the river. An underground passage connects the hotel to its sister property, the Ensana Thermal Margaret Island, which boasts thermal baths and a wellness centre and guests of Ensana Grand Margaret Island Hotel can use these facilities, which include thermal pools, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, saunas and steam rooms. There are also medical treatments available with in-house doctors on hand. The Ensana Grand Margaret Island Hotel is an ideal escape if you want a break from the buzz of the city, and despite the name, it's a good budget-friendly option if you're looking for a relaxing trip with luxurious amenities. Address: Margitsziget, 1007 4. Maverick Downtown hotel The Maverick Downtown offers the perfect mix of a quiet environment to sleep in and the chance to socialise. The hostel sits inside a gorgeous Art Nouveau tenement building in downtown Budapest, and despite its front door opening onto a busy road, the hostel's rooms overlook a quiet side street. There are options for dormitories, including female-only dorms, and private en suite rooms. You can join several community activities, such as cooking classes in the kitchen, which are great fun. However, this is not a party hostel, and its location inside a residential building makes it pretty quiet at night. If you want to cook for yourself, there is also a communal kitchen. 5. Wombat's hotel Wombats is the largest hostel in town and offers unique budget accommodation in that it took over a former 4-star hotel. Each room is en suite and decorated in a light, minimalist style. There are dorms, female-only dorms, private rooms and accommodation for large groups. Breakfast comes with organic and locally sourced ingredients, as well as unlimited tea and coffee, and there is also the on-site WomCAFÉ and WomBAR for drinks, snacks and socialising. Although the hostel is located at the heart of the action in the Jewish Quarter, plenty of events happen in-house, so there's always something to do. If you are looking for a quiet base, this might not be the place for you, as the hostel has quite a lively atmosphere. Address: Király utca 20, 1061 6. Lavender Circus hotel The rooms and public spaces in this intimate hostel are unique and charming, mixing vintage-style drawings on the walls that add a quirky character with wooden beams and exposed brick: the whole experience feels like being wrapped inside an artist's sketchbook. Even though Lavender Circus calls itself a hostel, most of the rooms are private double or triple rooms with shared bathrooms and a communal kitchen. The hostel operates a two-night minimum stay policy. Address: Muzeum Krt 37, 1053 7. Meininger Budapest Great Market Hall hotel Meininger is a large new-build hostel located just behind the Central Market Hall. It has a chic, modern design, with various rooms to choose from, such as dorms and even family rooms. Some accommodations on the upper floors have views overlooking the Danube; some even have balconies or terrace access. The hostel has a coworking space, a communal kitchen (handy since the city's most famous market is located next door), and a games area. Whether you're a solo traveller, travelling with your family or as a couple, there's a budget accommodation option that will suit you here. Accessible rooms are also available, and it's located in a quiet but central part of town. Address: Csarnok tér 2, 1093 8. Maverick Soho hotel Maverick Budapest Soho is a stylish hostel in the heart of the Jewish Quarter. Although it's around the corner from various ruin bars and the epicentre of Budapest's nightlife, the hostel is pretty quiet at night and, despite its location, it is not a party hostel, but still close to everything you could want. It does have a friendly, social vibe, and fun events, such as wine tastings, sometimes take place. The hostel also has a kitchen that guests can use, and there's a buffet-style breakfast available. The on-site restaurant, Fat Mama, serves food all day long, and it's a great spot for drinks. You can get dorms, female-only dorms, and private rooms here at a reasonable price. 9. Pest-Buda Design Hotel Located on Castle Hill, Pest-Buda Design Hotel is a compact hotel with 11 rooms and suites. It resides in a historic Baroque townhouse, and it's been functioning as a hotel and inn since the 17th century. It's just a few minutes from Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church, making it a good base for sightseeing, and its location in the Castle District is ideal for those looking to stay in a quiet part of the city. There's an excellent on-site restaurant, and its rooms and suites embody a retro-modern design with wooden beams, industrial lighting and decorative throw pillows, that blend style with cosiness. 10. ROOMBach Hotel Budapest City Center Just around the corner from the Rumbach Sebestyén Synagogue in the heart of Budapest's Jewish Quarter, the ROOMBach Hotel offers comfortable lodging at fair prices. Its decor is modern with mid-century touches, with a range of rooms from singles to suites. A buffet breakfast is served daily, there are parking facilities, and there's a bar on-site. Although it's close to the ruin bars and party hubs, the ROOMBach caters more to business travellers and more mature travellers looking for somewhere central. Address: Rumbach Sebestyén u. 14., 1075 Why trust us The hotels featured in this list have been carefully selected by The Independent 's expert travel writers, each with a deep knowledge of the destinations they cover. Our contributors either live in these locations or visit frequently, ensuring a personal and informed perspective. When picking which hotels to include, they consider their own experience staying in the hotels and evaluate location, facilities, service and all the other details that make for an exceptional stay for all types of traveller.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Children's play area to open in old arcade in Jersey
A former arcade on St Helier's waterfront will be converted into a children's indoor play area and café. Jersey Development Company secured planning permission for the site at the Waterfront Centre, Rue de L'etau that was previously home to Tamba Arcade and Arcadia. The company announced in March that the opening of the new soft play area would enable the existing facility at Fort Regent to close, which would help in the Fort's planned plans for the new play zone to open later in the summer.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Quirky Sidcup coffee shop applies for new licence to sell alcohol
A new licence is being sought for alcohol sales at a quirky café in Sidcup. Jacqueline Langley, owner of The Banana Garden at 17 The Oval, has applied for a premises licence to sell alcohol. If granted, the shop would be able to sell alcohol for consumption on and off the premises from 8am to 7pm, Monday to Sunday. The application was made on May 15 to the London Borough of Bexley. The Banana Garden is a coffee shop that also serves homemade soups, cakes, and light lunches. It offers a variety of Afternoon Tea options and features an eclectic mix of signs, ornaments, and unique items to purchase. The application can be viewed for free at the council's offices at the Licensing Partnership, PO BOX 182, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN13 1GP or online at Written objections or support can be submitted to the Licensing Section until June 12. It is a legal offence to make a false statement in connection with a licence application, with offenders facing an unlimited fine upon conviction. Want to find out all the latest planning applications, alcohol licensing applications and planned road closures near you? Then search the Public Notice Portal. The Public Notice Portal is owned and operated by the News Media Association, the voice of UK national, regional, and local newspapers in all their print and digital forms. NMA members include nearly 900 local and regional news titles which reach 40 million people across the length and breadth of the country each month. Many of these publications have served their communities for centuries and remain the most reliable source of verified news and information. Created by local news publishers and supported by the Google News Initiative, the portal carries statutory public notices published in local newspapers and is the fastest and most effective way of finding out what is happening in YOUR neighbourhood.
Condé Nast Traveler
5 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Condé Nast Traveler
Going Off-Grid in Japan's Uncrowded, Otherworldly Goto Islands
This is part of Uncovering Japan, a collection of stories that spotlight the lesser known gems that belong on your Japan itinerary, offering everything from a wellspring of local craft and a vibrant street-food culture to traditional wellness. Read more here. It's so stormy and rough when I walk onto the tarmac of Fukuoka Airport that my umbrella is blown inside out, and I wonder whether my flight will even take off. Once onboard I nervously buckle up, and we take off into an uninviting sky. But just 20 minutes into our 40-minute flight from Fukuoka to Fukue—the largest and most populated of Japan's Gotō Islands, population 38,000—the skies clear. When the small twin-propeller DHC-8-400 dips its wings to start its descent, shafts of sunlight beam down and I catch my first glimpse of this fabled, subtropical Japanese archipelago, also called the Islands of Prayer. It's fitting for the moment, since I was uncharacteristically pleading with the gods at takeoff. Strewn below, towering green peaks rise from the choppy but shimmering Sea of Japan. There are lush swaths of forests, wind-bent palms, isolated golden-sand beaches, and basalt coves and sleepy ports peppered with bobbing boats and wooden fishermen's shacks. In recent years the Gotō Islands have drawn urban transplants from Osaka, Tokyo, and Fukuoka who are seeking a more relaxed pace of life, in tune with the rhythms of nature. The result has been new cafés, izakaya, galleries, and inns across the area. But the Gotō Islands are not just a picturesque destination for visitors seeking reinvention; they've served as a cultural bridge to cosmopolitan mainland Asia ever since they became a sanctuary from insular Edo-era Japan in the 1600s. From the trail's lookout spot, the treeless and green Mount Onidake looks perfectly symmetrical, like its summit was lobbed off by a giant samurai sword. It's just one of 11 monogenetic basalt volcanoes and last erupted 18,000 years ago, but like so many volcanic landscapes I've been to, the energy of the land was alive and palpable. To really decipher the Gotō Islands requires understanding two things: their history and geography. Located just 50 miles off Japan's southwest coast in Kyushu's Nagasaki prefecture, Fukue is the largest of the 150-plus islands and home to their biggest port and city (just 146 miles west of Jeju Island, South Korea). It's 200 miles closer to Shanghai than Tokyo, and it and the other four inhabited Gotō islands have their own volcanic, subtropical flavor that's like nothing else in the Land of the Rising Sun. Fukue, the biggest island of the subtropical Gotō archipelago, has many Christian religious historic sites dating to the 1600s. Naoki Ishikawa The island is now home to around 50 Christian churches, many of which were granted UNESCO World Heritage status in 2018. Naoki Ishikawa When Japan banned Christianity in 1614 at the dawn of the Edo era, persecuted devotees, both Japanese and foreign, sought refuge in these far-flung islands. Over the years a network of hidden Christian sites emerged, and today Fukue is home to around 50 Christian churches, some of which received UNESCO World Heritage status in 2018. But don't think for a minute the islands are not Japanese; there are also numerous Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, and plenty of izakaya and Japanese minka (farmhouses)—all things I love about Japan that have kept me coming back to the country for the last 15 years. Long before the Edo era, the Gotō archipelago was an important stop for the maritime traffic of China, Korea, and Japan between the seventh and ninth centuries during China's golden-age Tang dynasty. Back then, Japan's political and cultural envoys to prosperous China would stop on the island of Fukue before crossing the threshold onto the Asian continent. And new ideas from Asia would first land here: Japan's famous eighth-century-born priest Kukai (Kōbō Daishi) was one such passerby; he founded the Shingon school of Japanese Buddhism, which helped spread the religion to Japan. A statue of him can be found on Kashiwazaki Cape on the north shore, and in 806 CE he is said to have visited Myojoin Temple in Gotō City, the oldest wooden structure on the island and prized for its ceiling decorated with 121 paintings of flowers and birds. Shops along the street sell all manner of Gotō specialities, from local sweet potato mochi and local camellia oil especially prized across Japan to yuzu salt and flying-fish dashi stock. Like Kukai, I was only passing through. I spent three nights in Gotō, a decent amount of time to visit the main island of Fukue, though you could easily spend a week or more. For the first night I stayed in Fukue's biggest city, which was renamed Gotō in 2004, after Fukue port merged with the towns of Kishiku, Miiraku, Naru, Tamanoura, and Tomie. Just across from the port where the 30-minute long jetfoil ferries from Nagasaki drop passengers is the Goto Tsubaki Hotel, an ideal spot to get a lay of the land. Unlike many of Japan's small towns on the mainland, densely packed with historical buildings, Gotō's sites are scattered across the island. Naoki Ishikawa A short walk from the hotel took me to Ishida Castle, one of the last castles built in Japan, completed in 1863. Only its gate and moss-covered fortified walls remain, and the site now houses the Gotō Municipal High School, a cultural center, Gotō's tourism office, and a public library, all located within the former castle's walls. Next door is the former Lord Gotō Residence, a traditional house built in 1861 with tatami mats, fusuma sliding doors, a Japanese garden, and a pond shaped into the Chinese character for 'heart' (心) designed by Zensho, a Kyoto monk.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
First look inside the affordable café and pantry opening today in Bishop Auckland
A new affordable café and deli pantry that gives its profits to charity will open in County Durham today. The Beehive coffee shop and pantry, supported by the Angel Trust, opens its doors in Bishop Auckland this morning (May 30). The shop, on Kingsway, is set to offer 'luxury' goods but at more accessible prices, with any profits going to the Angel Trust. Beehive, Coffeeshop & Takeaway and Pantry opens tomorrow in Bishop Auckland supporting The Angel Trust (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) Founder and CEO Clair McGregor said: "We are just so excited to bring the Beehive to Bishop Auckland. "It's an area that needs affordable options and we hope to help as many people as possible with our community pantry. "We just want to do some good." A preview opening night was held on Wednesday (May 28). (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) Plans for the cafe began to form when the property next door to the Angel Trust's Kingsway pantry side became available. They took over the property to expand and Clair decided to open the café to bring more people into the pantry. The food bank and community pantry is currently in need of donations like canned goods, pasta, rice or fresh produce and will also be stocked with items made in house. (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) The chef at Beehive will make chutney, pickles, and fresh bakes while an own-named coffee will also be on sale. The cafe will also offer takeaway services, daily specials and a range of drinks and snacks. The Angel Trust charity aims to help communities across County Durham. (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) The shop and pantry will be open from 9am til 3pm daily and a takeaway hatch will be open from 8am. (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) Manager Alex Bestwick. (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) Chef Martyn Hull. (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT) (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)
