The Best Arty Hotels in Budapest

Once a 19th-century doctor’s surgery, Brody House now has rooms and shared spaces showcasing works by artists with a personal connection to Budapest – take the time to admire pieces by portraitist Alexander Tinei and colour-loving painter Ludovic Thiriez, who both had studios here. Each of the 10 intriguing bedrooms (variously featuring free-standing tubs, hand-crafted beds and mezzanine galleries) is named after a collaborating artist. If you’re inspired to create, join one of the regular in-house socials – the accurately named Drink and Draw night is led by a Brody artist.

Just steps from St Stephen’s Basilica, Aria has a roof terrace overlooking the towering dome of the church. Music is the inspiration behind the hotel’s palatial design: there’s a silhouetted jazz band on the wall of the spa, and a stylised piano keyboard curves along the marble floor in the orchid-flanked corridor. There’s an on-site musical director, who curates individual soundtracks and itineraries for guests, and live music accompanies the free afternoon selection of Hungarian wine and cheese.

Are you drawn to the light-filled simplicity of the Heaven Room, which frames works by contemporary artists? The casual earthy tones of a Natural? Or the darker, gilded glamour of a Classic, with antiques and oil paintings? Additionally, at the adults-only Casati, guests can enjoy balconies that face onto a creeper-draped internal courtyard and access to a brick-vaulted gym and sauna on site. There’s a head-spinning choice of must-see sights outside the door, too, from the little Museum of Sweets and Selfies a few doors down to the frescoed State Opera House around the corner.

Originally a tobacco merchant’s mansion, this 19th-century building has previously been a bank and a cinema, but is now a 99-room hotel. Elaborate plasterwork and wrought-iron balustrades give way to rooms in which the decor echoes the painted ceilings downstairs and suites in which sloping windows have wide views across the skyline.