The best Budapest hotels with pools
An expert guide to the best hotels with pools in Budapest, including the top places to stay for Art Nouveau façades, eclectic interiors, seductive spas, rooftop swimming pools, aroma sauna ice wells, private apartments, trendy bars and intriguing artworks in locations near the metro station, Jewish Quarter, St. Stephen's Basilica, Váci utca, Margaret Island, Hungarian State Opera House, parliament building and Széchenyi Chain Bridge.
If you enjoy joyous, strutting, over-the-top architectural design then the Boscolo will fit you a treat. The building was the work of leading architects Alajos Hauszmann, Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl in the 1870s, its eclectic design inspired by the flamboyance of the Italian Renaissance. There’s a spa with steam room, sauna and tea lounge, and an atmospheric relaxation pool in an area designed to feel like the inside of a cave. Rooms are ranged over four floors around a vast courtyard lobby that’s laid with Italian marble and topped with a glass pyramid roof. The New York Café is its centrepiece, dripping with gilding and decorated with elaborate frescoes. It’s all immaculately done, the attention to detail exhaustive.
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The Corinthia is a genuine beauty. Its neo-classical façade opens onto a lobby of creamy marble and a centrepiece staircase that sweeps up to a vast ballroom. The building is divided between two glass-covered atriums that suck in light, and the sense of space is continued elsewhere through high ceilings and wide corridors. You’re spoilt for choice when it comes to food and drink and the service is impeccable. Facilities include the Spa Royale, which offers a range of massages and treatments, and has not only two Finnish saunas, three whirlpool tubs, a steam room and complimentary juice bar, but a truly stunning pool surrounded by Corinthian columns and topped with a stained-glass ceiling.
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The façade of the Art-Nouveau Gresham Palace (and it is palatial!) has arches and columns, godly statues and stylised floral motifs picked out in turquoise and gold. Inside, there’s something Moorish about the feel of the lobby. Its floor is a mosaic of cream stone with a pattern of swirling tendrils in dark green, while its arching glass roof has stained glass panels. Note the fantastic chandelier, with spiky glass shards like frost-covered leaves, and the peacock – a popular Art-Nouveau muse – adorning the building’s original black-iron gate. As for facilities, there’s a pool, wellness centre (offering massages and other treatments), steam room, fitness room and relaxation room.
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The sumptuous spa at this luxury cluster of 19th-century mansion buildings offers steam baths, a Finnish sauna, a solarium and an intriguingly named aroma sauna ice well, as well as a decent gym, solarium and pool with jet stream and whirlpool tub functions. You can book a variety of massages, while spa treatments are based on the cycle of the seasons, with different options available depending on the time of year you visit. The bedrooms are light and spacious and feature Art Deco touches in elements such as the design of the headboard and delicate curves in the New-Empire-style furniture. The location is as central as you could wish, in the pedestrianised area at one side of Erzsébet tér.
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Beyond the classical façade faithfully restored to its 19th-century origins, the hotel has a sensual quality to its styling. There’s something ‘spa-like’ about the airy lobby, with its turquoise roof panels and courtyard water feature behind a glass wall at the rear, while a palette of chocolate and gold in the guestrooms and restaurant oozes decadence. One of the best features of the Continental Hotel is a rooftop swimming pool complete with poolside sun loungers and splendid views to Buda Castle Palace and other city landmarks. There’s also a small indoor infinity pool on the seventh floor, together with a whirlpool, saunas and a fitness room, while the second floor has a massage area.
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This apartment hotel has great facilities, including a swimming pool with terrace, a fitness room that’s far better equipped than those at many hotels, a whirlpool tub, sauna and steam baths. The guest rooms are where the Adina really comes into its own. The one or two-bedroom apartments have heaps of living space, with a kitchen opening into a large sitting area with marble-topped dining table, a bathroom with washing machine, and a separate toilet. Studios are decorated in the same way, with grey-green carpeting and plum-coloured throws on the bed; they are medium in size and have a little kitchenette. Most rooms have balconies, and all have tea, coffee and toaster.
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As the name suggests, music is the motif here, in one of Budapest's coolest hotels by the man behind New York’s literary-themed Library Hotel. A long, black-and-white keyboard carpet (reminiscent of that scene from the Tom Hanks film Big) unfurls through the entrance to reveal a grand ‘garden courtyard’ and lobby. Violins and ornamental treble clefs hang from light fittings, gaze upwards and you’ll spot cartoons depicting singers ranging from James Brown to Jagger, while the centrepiece is a space-age piano designed by the Hungarian musician Gergely Bogányi. This theme continues in the seductive underground spa and swimming pool, dimly lit with a steam bath, sauna and whirlpool.
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If you’re after wellness facilities, the Danubius Health Spa Resort Margitsziget is a great contender. There are two thermal pools drawing on the island’s natural springs, a whirlpool tub, Kneipp cave, separate saunas for men and women, a steam bath, aroma cabin and well-equipped fitness room. Furthermore, there’s a bewildering list of relaxing and medicinal spa treatments. Beyond that, there are indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a beauty salon and hairdresser. The hotel sits on Margaret Island, a leafy spot in the middle of the Danube that offers peaceful strolls and a popular riverside running track. Rooms are lovely; most are a decent size and fresh, modern and sleek.
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The Ritz-Carlton feels very much tailored to its surroundings. Despite the imposing early-20th-century façade and stained-glass cupola, the hotel has a relaxed feel, its high style softened with vases of flowers and comfortable sofas. The rooms are contemporary in style with neutral colours of beige and cream. While the design is generally clean-lined and understated, there’s the odd adventurous touch, such as an asymmetrical light fixture that looks like a series of floating bubbles. Rooms on the eighth floor have balconies. Also on the eighth floor is the Ritz-Carlton Spa, which comes with thermal suites and a uniquely designed swimming pool beneath a glass roof.
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It might not win awards for its design flourishes but the leisure facilities are where the Helia comes into its own. In addition to a medium-sized swimming pool and a sauna, the wellness area at this four-star includes a pair of thermal pools fed with water piped direct from the springs on Margaret Island. As well as being hot, this water is medicinal, and reputed to help alleviate a range of conditions. The gym is superbly well equipped, with a range of state-of-the-art machines, and there are fitness classes. Massages are available. The hotel stands near the river on the Pest side, in between the Margit and Árpád bridges, around a 20-minute walk north from the tourism heart of the city.
