The Four Seasons Gresham Palace, Budapest

This Four Seasons hotel in Budapest, Hungary is located on the Pest side of the river, right in front of the Chain Bridge. The location is great, as you are very near the shopping district on the Pest side and the other tourist sites, such as Hero’s Square, St. Stephen’s Basilica, and Parliament. You can also walk across the Chain Bridge to the Buda side – where you can take a tram to the top of the hill (as Buda is the hilly side of the city) – up to the Castle District.

The Four Seasons Gresham Palace is amazing. The Palace was built in 1907 by the London Gresham Insurance Co – the building was designed with Art Nouveau architecture. It was built for the offices of the Insurance company, as well as ’designer’ shops at street level, and luxury apartments. The Communist Government nationalized the building- and it fell into complete disrepair – thankfully the Four Seasons purchased the building – and took 5 years and 84 million dollars to renovate – before it reopened in 2004.

The entry walkway and floor in the reception area is a beautiful tile mosaic, and the crystal chandelier above reception is stunning. We were assigned a room on the Mezzanine level with a view of the Chain Bridge and the Danube River – if you can, securing the River View rooms is well worth it.

The rooms I was able to inspect were the Superior, Jr. Suite, Presidential Suite, and the Danube Premier. They are all beautiful, very spacious, with impeccable attention to detail. All of the light fixtures are made by Hungarian artisans – and there are some very unique pieces to admire. The bathroom had marble vanity, separate shower glassed in shower, and soaking tub.

The Spa occupies the top floor of the building – the fitness room is quite large with an extended choice of exercise equipment complete with headsets, weights, mats, towels, water and tea. The indoor affinity pool is great for laps, and is surrounded with potted plants and chaise lounge chairs. At the end of the pool room is a large Jacuzzi, Steam and Sauna rooms. The Spa offers quite a menu of therapies, massages and treatments.

The restaurant is Gresham Kavehaz – next to the hotel lobby – and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. At one time they had had a fine dining choice for dinner, but that has since closed, and they are deciding what to do with the space. The food was very good – and a wonderful selection of pastries and cakes!