Inside Budapest’s Pivot From Backpacker Haven to Luxury Destination
Palatial historic buildings turned five-star hotels, a park revived with modern museums and a contemporary restaurant scene are part of the city’s fresh face.
The W Budapest is one of several luxury properties to have opened in an historic city building.
Source: Marriott
Grandiose architecture, epic views and cruises along the Danube River and soothing thermal baths: Budapest has no shortage of perennial draws. But Hungary’s capital has struggled to recoup tourism following the pandemic—not least because of the war in neighboring Ukraine. In 2022, while other European cities from Paris to Istanbul saw tourism approximate or exceed pre-Covid levels, Budapest lagged behind, receiving just 75% of its record 4 million visitors from 2019.
Things are looking up, though, as the city reaches the culmination of a five-year investment program in tourism and infrastructure that began in 2017—revitalizing everything from museums to public parks and spurring the development of ambitious new hotels, bars and restaurants. It comes just in time for the 150-year anniversary of the unification of Buda, Pest and Obuda—the three cities that came together to create a single modern metropolis.