Prestige Hotel Budapest

Sister to the Continental Hotel Zara, the Prestige Hotel Budapest is further evidence that the cosmopolitan luxury-boutique moment has truly arrived to the Hungarian capital. This one, set within the walls of a listed landmark building, trades in a similar East-meets-West atmosphere, its thoroughly renovated rooms paying homage to Budapest’s multifarious design history, in up-to-date contemporary style. And it’s got historical attractions all its own — the central atrium, around which the open-air corridors wrap, is nothing if not distinctive, and might just force us to drop our prohibition against mentioning Wes Anderson’s fictional Grand Budapest Hotel....

The other key to the Prestige’s appeal, however, beyond the architectural one, is a culinary attraction. Costes, the first Hungarian restaurant to earn a Michelin star, has a sequel here: Costes Downtown is accessible from the street as well as from within the hotel. And while the Prestige won’t go so far as to install a Hungarian-style bath house, a relaxation room, complete with sauna and jacuzzi, is set to open in August.