The real-life Grand Budapest Hotel is excessive in the best ways

The place

Anantara New York Palace Budapest Hotel

Anantara New York Palace Budapest Hotel.

Check-in

Arriving after a 35-hour trek to reach Budapest I feel like I’ve stepped onto a Wes Anderson film set. Opened in 1894 as the opulent European headquarters for the New York Life insurance Company on the Pest side of the Danube, this Belle Epoque masterpiece is truly a grand Budapest hotel. A landmark on the city’s elegant Erzsebet Krt Boulevard, a discreet entrance opens to a grand courtyard atrium with Italian marble floors and sweeping columns rising four floors with symmetrical, whitewashed arches beneath a glass pyramid roof. I’m handed a room key after the 20-minute drive from the airport and am asleep before my head hits the pillow.

The look

Over the top, but it works.

This grand building was designed by lauded Austro-Hungarian architect Alajos Hauszmann as an architectural ode to the belle epoque era. There’s nothing understated here.

Since its construction, the palatial building has acted as a gathering place for Hungary’s early 20th-century literati. Its crown jewel, the New York Cafe, was opened by coffee baron Sandor Steuer.

Anantara added the property to its burgeoning European portfolio in 2021, introducing several trademark elements to the former Boscolo Hotel and reimagining the glamorous lobby and 185 rooms and suites. The White Salon, an elegant all-day restaurant was added along with a spa reached by a dedicated lift. It offers a sauna, steam room, 15-metre heated pool and treatments reflecting the company’s Thai roots and Budapest’s thermal bath heritage.

The room

Junior Suite … windows open to catch the atmosphere of the streets below.

Of the seven rooms types I am in an elegant 70-square-metre Junior Suite with separate living and sleeping quarters. The large bathroom features floor-to-ceiling Italian handcrafted rose marble, oversized tub, separate shower, bidet and (hooray) decent lighting. Being able to open the oversized windows overlooking Budapest’s historic streetscape is a highlight. Interiors designed by architect Maurizio Papiri lend a classic yet luxurious feel with decorative gold embellishments, tufted headboards and satin walls. It’s whisper-quiet too thanks to double-glazed windows.

Food + drink

Breakfast is served.

The New York Cafe, led by chef Andras Wolf, is the beating heart of the hotel. Its fine-dining menu is accompanied by resident classical musicians served beneath frescoed ceilings, chandeliers and gilded balustrades. Queues line the street waiting to dine on Hungarian dishes like goose liver terrine dotted with red currants or the popular chicken paprikash with spatzle noodle.

The intimate, century-old Poet Bar is ideal for an after-dinner drink. It’s easy to imagine Hungary’s poets and playwrights nursing a palinka here in the moody oak and leather-bound hideout. Alternatively, do a spot of people watching in the Atrium (lobby) and try Hungary’s famous goulash. Just before 6pm every night a string trio plays classical music while waiters serve complimentary aperitifs – signalling that the Poet Bar is open.

Breakfast (a highlight) is served in the downstairs section of the cafe. Between terrazzo columns and gilded stucco, guests are offered a mind-boggling selection of house-baked breads and pastries, fresh juices and fruit and a choice of Hungarian hot dishes. A staff member may even stop by your table and entertain you with his Rubik’s cube (invented by Hungarian Ern Rubik) and magic tricks.

Out + about

View to the Danube.

Sited just north of Budapest’s lively Jewish quarter, home to Europe’s largest and world’s fourth largest synagogue and many of the city’s “ruin bars” (formerly derelict and abandoned buildings, primarily in Budapest’s Jewish District, transformed into lively drinking holes), the hotel is in walking distance to the Palace District and a taxi ride (Hungary uses Bolt ride-share as opposed to Uber) from St Stephen’s Basilica. The hilly Buda side and the flat Pest either side of the Danube are within easy reach, however Anantara’s four-hour Samba Tour, led by a passionate local guide in a vintage VW Samba, is an incredible way to see the city’s landmarks, including Heroes’ Square, Andrassy Avenue and the Hungarian Parliament Building.

The verdict

This landmark property has undergone many incarnations – damaged in World War II and nationalised during the communist era. It offers the chance to immerse yourself in Budapest’s rich and often turbulent history and to experience one of Europe’s truly grand hotels. Over the top? Yes. However, the warm, attentive staff make you feel at home.

Essentials

From €218 ($365) a night. Anantara New York Palace Budapest Hotel, Erzsebet krt 9, 1073, 1133 Budapest, Hungary. See Anantara.com

Highlight

Having a private chef serve up a four-course breakfast worthy of royalty on a mezzanine overlooking the New York Cafe. Unforgettable.

Lowlight

The indoor pool errs on the smaller size and gets crowded with nowhere to sit and relax.

Our rating out of five

★★★★½

The writer stayed as a guest of Anantara Hotels and Resorts and travelled courtesy of Travelmarvel, see travelmarvel.com.au.