Top 5 Favorite Hotels 2010-2020: #5: art'otel, Budapest, Hungary

The Year of Our COVID, A.D. 2020, has not been the year for travel that I anticipated at the ringing in of the new year. I had planned an active international travel agenda on the occasion of my then-upcoming 60th Birthday in May. The one exception was a five-day trip to Quito just as the COVID lockdowns were being put into place. Other than that, 2020 had the least amount of international travel for me since 2009, the last year I failed to venture out of home country.

Rather than mourn the inability to do international travel this past year -- of which I have done plenty -- I would rather honor a preceding decade of an extraordinary, fantastic, marvelous, wonderful travel opportunities. I will now count down my five favorite hotels where I was able to stay during that great decade of travel, my 50's.

#5: art'otel, Budapest, Hungary.

Isn't the lobby artsy?

The room was quite nice and quite comfortable:

But it wasn't extraordinary. In fact, except for what will be #1, none of the hotels at which I've stayed qualify as "luxurious." I do not stay in the premier, world-class most expensive hotel in any town, unless the most expensive hotel in town is around $100 a night.

What made the art'otel of Budapest so extraordinary, so worthy of mention and acclaim, was the view:

I upgraded for a "river view" room and, oh my my, was it worth it. From the balcony of my hotel, I had the signature view of all of Budapest. It's better to see in daylight:

The Danube River and Budapest's premier landmark, the Parliament Building.

I've since been to Budapest two other times. I've stayed in different hotels in different neighborhoods each time. I would recommend all three of the hotels. I would recommend all three neighborhoods. But in no hotel in which I've ever stayed have I ever had a more extraordinary view from my room.