We enjoyed The Ritz-Carlton Budapest Club Lounge on our most recent trip to this historic city in the Summer of 2024. This executive lounge can be found on the top floor of the hotel, and is set in a cozy, long room with big windows on one side, letting in plenty of natural light. There’s also a small balcony in front of the windows, which you can access from this lounge.
This club lounge is the best club lounge in Budapest, and has plenty of private sections, so you can sit and enjoy the complimentary food and beverage offered in your own space.
Review: The Ritz-Carlton Budapest
There are two hotel brands that give their guests the feeling of a big hug from the moment they arrive. These brands are the Four Seasons and the Ritz-Carlton. The Ritz-Carlton Budapest is one of those very special hotels that shares the love (and often a glass of champagne or fresh orange juice) from the moment you arrive. The rooms here are classy and modern, and the hotel offers a gorgeous pool, gym, and the best club lounge in Budapest. If you're searching for a well-located classy hotel in Budapest, you can't go wrong with this Ritz-Carlton.
For me, the most noteworthy part of this lounge is the contemporary, super stylish decor, the incredibly warm staff, and the delicious food.
Location
The Ritz-Carlton Budapest enjoys a prime location in a grand, historic building overlooking Erzsébet Square, one of Budapest’s most iconic green spaces. The square features a play park, skate park, abundant seating beneath leafy trees, and the impressive Budapest Eye, a 65-meter-high Ferris wheel offering breathtaking panoramic views of the city and ranking among the largest in Europe.
On the opposite side of the hotel lies the bustling Fashion Street, a stylish pedestrian promenade lined with upscale shops, including a prominent Philipp Plein boutique. The hotel’s main restaurant opens onto this lively street, adding to its vibrant atmosphere.
The club lounge sits on the top floor of the hotel. It has windows to one side which offer rooftop views, but the views are not extraordinary in any way and not the kind of views that you would gaze out upon. It is the interior of this lounge that makes it special.
Style & Character
This lounge has an no-expensive-spared to it and has been recently decorated with lots of dark black wood and plush carpet and seating. It feels brand new. The black woods extend through to the food area, giving the entire lounge the feel of a very exclusive club.
I loved the vases of fresh flowers in the lounge, adding pretty colors to the chic dark wood and cream marble interior.
There’s a sitting area to one end with four high-backed sofa seats in the middle and then intimate groups of two seats in each corner. It has a central area with large sofas and a TV, mainly promoting the Ritz-Carlton cruises.
At the other end is a classy restaurant area with seats around tables so you can enjoy the fine food on offer. Next to these seats is the buffet, which is regularly refreshed during eating times, so you always have a great choice of delicious finger dishes.
Food & Drink
The food here is incredible in this lounge, even by Ritz-Carlton lounge standards. This is a genuinely great lounge with a huge variety of food on offer to suit every palette.
Notably, the lounge offered a full breakfast prepared by a private chef, complemented by an array of exceptional cakes and macarons available throughout the day. The two chocolate cakes I sampled were a sublime combination of rich, creamy decadence layered atop a perfectly delicate sponge base. While nuts, cookies, and other classic lounge treats were also on hand, the standout cakes stole the show and were impossible to resist. This lounge is undeniably indulgent and not for the calorie-conscious!
In the afternoon, there’s an array of sandwiches, vegetarian cheese, and salami. There are also scones with numerous jams, cream cheese croissants, and turkey and ham rolls. A large tiramisu was laid out for dessert under a glass cover.
This is on top of the three plates of decadent, creamy chocolate cakes to enjoy which are displayed on a taller unit so that you can take a really good look at them.
In the early evening, they had a wine flight where you could try lots of local Hungarian wines. This was the only time we saw the lounge full.
The evening spread was particularly noteworthy and served until around 8ish. In the evening, we enjoyed small hot dishes of delicious fresh hot chicken tomato pasta, asparagus gratin, some Hungarian quiche-type things, meat lover or mushroom, and other small hot dishes. I had about 5 of the delicious chicken tomato pasta dishes, and they just kept replenishing them!
There was also an extensive salad area with mozzarella flakes, bread, anchovies, great olives, cold cuts, and all the components of a Caesar salad if you wanted to make them up. Lettuce and rocket bowls were complemented by tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, nuts, and pumpkin seeds, which were also set out in the salad area. Little tuna salads, chickpea salads, and fruit salads were also made up in bowls.
I must not forget to mention the drinks. There was a hot drinks machine and numerous fridges with unlimited drinks throughout the day until 10 pm when the lounge closed. This includes all the main branded drinks, juices, and alcoholic drinks including all the spirits you might like.
Conclusion
If you have an early flight arrival or a late flight departure, I would, without any doubt, reccomend this club lounge. In fact I would reccomend it regardless, for the setting, the kind staff and the cake.
This lounge had been designed so beautifully that you were happy to spend an extended amount of time in there. It was never busy (except during the wine flight), and it was a great place to hang out.
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