Thermal bathing experience in Budapest

Trying the thermal baths in Budapest should be in everyone's to-do list while visiting the city.

As you might recall from this post from a couple of years ago, we were positively surprised by the thermal baths in Budapest, we thought the experience was going to be difficult and probably meh, but we found ourselves back home still thinking about how nice it was so as soon as we booked our tickets to go back to the city for some days, my research about the baths began.

Buddha Bar Klotild Palace, Budapest

A great stay in this modern hotel hosted inside a beautiful historic building.

The cool Buddha Bar Hotel in Budapest is hosted inside the beautiful Klotild Palace, right off Vaci Utca, Budapest's main shopping street, right outside the Ferenc Ter metro stop and minutes away from the city's main sights.

Shanghai Map

In case you haven't noticed, there's a section in this blog where you can find the maps with most of the  cities and places featured in the blog. It's called My Maps and you can find it in the upper menu or clicking here.

Subconscious Spa, Shanghai

The best way to end a long day walking around Shanghai!

Sheraton Milan Malpensa Airport

In my younger years, while traveling, I had no trouble sleeping in airports, train stations, etc. but now I definitely feel the need of a comfortable bed and Sheraton Malpensa Airport turned out to be the perfect choice for a night stay before an early flight.

Zoetry Casa del Mar, Los Cabos - the resort

As I was explaining in my last post, Zoetry Casa de Mar is a small resort, perfect for those looking for a relaxing stay away from the partying crowds of Cabo San Lucas.

Garda Lake

Sorry again for my lousy posting of the past weeks, I'm finally back!

Anyhow, as you might recall, some weeks ago we were in the Garda Lake area and we decided to visit Sirmione, the beautiful old town in the tip of the small peninsula on the southern part of the lake, famous because of its beauty, its fortress and its thermal springs.

On our way to Sirmione we stopped by Ca' dei Frati, a winery that produces local wines like Lugana (white) and Benaco Bresciano (red). These wines have a good price/quality ratio so it's a good stop on your way to Sirmione.

 We didn't stay for long in Sirmione - you have to leave the car very far away from the historic centre and the parking meters are not cheap - but it was enough to make us want to come back, perhaps for a weekend in the spa :)
Have a look at our photos and judge yourselves!

the fortress

melacholic Garda lake

Radisson Blu Scandinavia, Dusseldorf

Milan's Design Week report

So, finally the sun came back to Milan last weekend, and the timing couldn't have been better, the weekend of the Fuorisalone (that's Milan Design Week in case you missed my last post)!
Anyhow, after a looong walk from downtown we got to Tortona area at lunch time, what better way to start our tour than a good tuna salad bagel from California Bakery's new location in Via Tortona 28. A street cart was giving away RedBulls so we had one which "gave us wings" to start :)

New Nespresso machines

First stop, Nespresso space, there was a light instalment on walls made of Nespresso capsules which was nothing special, then coffee tasting (more caffeine for our bodies! we might have gone a bit Cornholio!) and presentation of the new coffee machines which looked fantastic (retro design).

Principi di Piemonte - Turin

To celebrate my birthday we chose to spend a weekend in Turin, a city we like a lot, because it's just an hour train ride from Milan (AV train, the fast one) but also because of its delicious food.

We booked a room at the 5-star hotel Principi di Piemonte, which seems to be the best hotel in the centre of Turin... Well, it is in the center, just off Via Roma, where all the nice shops are and a 5-minute walk from Porta Nuova train station, but I wouldn't give it 5 stars.

Bathing in freezing Budapest

Last winter we decided to visit Budapest, a city I've always wanted to see. Whenever we go somewhere we try to do what the locals would, and a local wouldn't get a cab from the airport to the city center if there's (cheap) public transportation. So that what we did, we took a bus from the airport to the nearest metro station and then we took the metro which dropped us on the corner of our hotel. Using public transportation gives you a greater view of a culture. The first glance of Budapest by bus and metro is not as charming as this beautiful city actually is, landscapes are a bit post-communism but it was in no way Milan's subway (people shouting on the phone, pushing, unaware of the fact that they disturb others forced to share that reduced space with them), Budapestians are not loud and they mind their own business.

 The city is beautiful, full of culture, places to see and activities to experience. Divided by the river Danube in Buda (the old town) and the newest Pest, it was one of the most important cities of the Austro-Hungarian empire, full of beautiful monuments, museums and history.
As in every trip-planning, I found an interesting activity for our Budapest stay (apart from the baths): Opera. It's amazing how cheap it is to get a ticket for Budapest opera! I think we paid like 2 Euros for a seat, okay, it was in the highest part of the theater but the acoustics were good and we got a better chance to admire its wonderful ceiling while listening to beautiful music. If you are interested, I got the tickets online from this website.

Opera House

 After the Opera we managed to get a table at Klassz, (Andrassy ut. 41 - no reservations) a nice restaurant just in front of the Opera house in the classy street of Budapest. This restaurant is also a wine bar recommended by the Hungarian wine association, so it was a must for us. Atmosphere was nice, crowded but not noisy, service was just OK. The food was very good: goulash soup, venison and lamb, paired with hungarian pinot noir. The bill was approx 20 euro per person (2 soups, 2 main courses, water and 2 glasses of wine, tip included). We came back the following day to have a glass of Tokaji, Hungary's most famous dessert wine, definitely worth it!
We enjoyed sightseeing, opera, food, wine, our hotel, etc. but the real gem of our trip were the baths! Budapest boasts a long tradition of bathing, in fact there are public baths all over the city, some very luxurious (Gellert), and some very old and authentic like Rudas so that's where we went to! If you want to try the real Bath experience in Budapest you should definitely visit Rudas baths. The whole bathing experience is great: we were there on a Sunday morning (there are days in which both women and men can use the baths together, check before going), the weather outside was freezing (-7°C) and we felt like a hot bath and massage. We got a ticket with a cabin at the entrance and booked a massage. They give you a bracelet (like a Swatch) that contains info of what you paid for (massages, etc.) and is also your cabin key. When you get to the dressing rooms area you put your swatch on a machine which will tell you your cabin number. There are 5 pools with different water temperatures in the main dome (from 28°C to 42°C, I think), showers, a steam bath, a sauna and a relax area. The massage was not that relaxing, they are really strong but after it we felt very relaxed! We enjoyed the experience so much that the following day we visited Szechenyi Baths, one of the largest spa complexes in Europe with outdoor thermal pools and lots of indoors pools, sauna, steam bath and jacuzzis. The place is huge and it was also a great experience (especially taking off your bathrobe at -4°C and then jumping into a 42°C pool - and getting out!) but we somehow liked the starkness of Rudas better.

Szechenyi Baths

 Our hotel was also great, the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus. The hotel is centrally located, near the main attractions on the Pest side of the Danube. Modern building, very professional staff. Rooms are spacious and clean. free Wi-fi connection in rooms and hall, fast. Breakfast was delicious: omelette station, typical products, sparkling wine, fresh fruit, etc. Great spa and indoor pool. Since they had just opened Nobu in the ground floor of the hotel we decided to try a drink after dinner. Drinks and food are OK, service was over-polite; prices are expensive for Hungary, still cheap compared to Nobu in Milan.

view from our hotel room

 The sight I liked the most was the Memorial on the Danube Promenade: it is a series of sculptures of shoes along the Danube bank (near the Parliament), it represents the shoes of the Jews who fell into the river after they were shot by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen during World War II.

Danube Promenade Memorial

 Of course I loved the Parliament, the Castle and the views of the city reflected in the Danube, the market and don't make me mention the Christmas market in Vörösmarty Square and the delicious glühwein (mulled wine)! the all-you-can-eat buffet at Trófea Grill (so cheap!), the tramway rides around town to find the baths, the Vajdahunyad Castle, the Basilica.... I could go on and on.... Beautiful city, great food, history and Tokaji!

Parliament

Great Market Hall

Pest from Buda

St. Stephen's Basilica

Update: check out the folder "My Maps" to see a map of Budapest with all the spots in this post: http://www.tfoodie.com/p/my-maps.html