the #LTeuropa reunion: where we laid our heads to sleep
As much as we’d love to be all luxury all the time, we’re no dummies. We adore laying our heads down on a feathery cloud as much as the next girl! But, unfortunately, we kinda adore our meager savings accounts more.
Though our most recent reunion adventure took us to some amazing places, we couldn’t have done it without our signature travel move: the high/low accommodation mix.
Should you find yourself planning your own holiday in Budapest, Bratislava, Austria or Prague, know this, friends: it can be done on a budget, but you don’t have to sacrifice comfort!
Budapest
Night 1: The Four Seasons Gresham Palace
We have two rules when it comes to booking accommodations. First, start your trip with awesomeness. Second, end your trip with awesomeness. The wino was coming from a hurried layover in London after a long flight from New York, the romantic was coming from a 17 hour overnight train ride from Croatia. To say we needed a good night’s sleep is a severe understatement. Luckily, we are straight up geniuses, and knew this would be the case.
Enter: The Four Seasons Gresham Palace.
We were lucky to tour the full property, so we’ll save our best photos for a more detailed recap, but there’s no question: should you find yourself in Budapest, at least an evening spent at The Bar is an absolute must.
Night 2: AirBnb Luxury Flat in City Center
Photos via AirBnb
Adorable apartment in an amazing location for $60? Uhhh, what’s the catch?
Ok, well, there was a catch. There was no AC, no fan, and no circulation because the apartment faced a courtyard. In normal Budapest, this all means no problems, but when you happen to book a night on the hottest day of the year? This means everyone sleeps very far apart, possibly with a cold, wet towel over their face (ahem, the romantic), and with the windows open with the smallest wish for a breeze.
The place was clean, the location was great, and the price was even better. We’d return… but probably only in cooler months.
Bratislava
Night 3: The Radisson Blu Carlton Hotel
This place. Oooh, this place. The Radisson Blu Carlton Hotel in Bratislava–she comes with many stories. Tales of sinus infections and midnight room changes and free wine upon arrival! Naturally, another story for another day (like probably next week per our content calendar).
What you need to know: great for business travelers, terrific location, excellent breakfast. Also, this was the view from the wino’s room! The staff was, well… the Radisson Blu Carlton Hotel staff is a group of people who works at the Radisson Blu Carlton Hotel. We’ll talk about it later.
Vienna
Nights 4 – 10: Luxury Apartment Stay
The view looking down from our deck- thanks for capturing, Midnight Sun!
After three nights bouncing around from place to place, we were thrilled to arrive at our apartment in Vienna. We planned to stay here for a full week of beer drinking and strudel making. We couldn’t believe our luck when it came to the location- situated right off Judenplatz, smack dab in the middle of the Innere Stadt, it couldn’t get any better.
After much deliberation on how we’d approach telling our apartment stay story, what we’ll say is this:
The good: beautiful deck, terrific locale.
The bad: a shower that leaked, a bathroom with glass doors that provided NO privacy from sight, sound, or uh, any of the other senses, and a landloard who was less than helpful.
The ugly: a malfunctioning elevator that trapped us in a basement that could be described aaaaas the outer rings of hell.
Prague
Night 10: Four Seasons Prague
Ahhh night ten. Night ten brings us to the glorious Four Seasons Prague, and we couldn’t have needed it more. Nothing has ever felt better after a four hour early morning train ride than arriving in the perfectly decorated Four Seasons rooms and falling into a king-sized down-covered bed. Our time spent at the Four Seasons confirmed what we already knew to be so true: if you can only afford one or two nights of luxury, reserve those nights for the beginning and end of your trip.
Night 11: A charming & historic apartment
Photos via Flipkey
After a four hour walking tour with our beloved tour guide, Milos (more to come on that later), we couldn’t wait to get a feel of local Czech culture on our last night. We opted for this charmer, which was the perfect way to end our much-anticipated reunion. The apartment had plenty of space for four of us, and a full kitchen, should we decide to try our hand at making a traditional Czech meal. Instead, we cuddled up in the living room and drank wine, which suited us juuust fine.
Four countries and six accommodations later, we’re here to tell you this: you don’t need to choose between budget or luxury. We’ve found that mixing it up is part of the fun. Stay tuned!
xo!
the romantic & the wino
Lazy Travelers
The Lazy Travelers are two transatlantic best friends who have mastered the art of exploring a new city. Though Ashley is based in London and Carolyn is in Philadelphia, we'll use any excuse to reunite around the world. We’re professional bar hoppers, pub crawlers, and food testers, and you’ll never see us zipping around, checking things off a list of “must-sees.”
21 Comments
carla
i’m liking this idea of breaking apartment stays with luxury hotels 🙂 will definitely do this the next time we hit europe. thanks!
Lazy Travelers
can’t recommend it enough, carla!! let us know how you make out 🙂
Lazy Travelers recently posted..the #LTeuropa reunion: where we laid our heads to sleep
nicole
Wow. that’s like half of our honeymoon itinerary coming up! These are lovely accommodations!
nicole recently posted..Does “Off the Beaten Path” Even Exist?
Lazy Travelers
ahh amazing honeymoon! let us know if you have any questions at all. xo
Lazy Travelers recently posted..style spotter: budapest, hungary
Anita Mac
Love the high/low approach…may have to adopt it on my next road trip! I am all over the luxury hotels and apartment stays – but a few AirBnB stays can certainly help the bank – did that in NYC and enjoyed getting to know my host – a little perk along with the saving!
Anita Mac recently posted..Teased by Cottage Country on Otter Lake with Sunny Point Resort and Cottages
Lazy Travelers
we couldn’t believe how nice the airbnb apartment was and the price was SO reasonable. definitely worth every penny!
Raul (@ilivetotravel)
Seems to me you got a lot of material from this tour! And the romantic with a wet towel over her face to sleep made me think of Scarlett O’Hara for some reason – oh, Rhett, oh, Rhett, it’s so unBEARably hawt…
Raul (@ilivetotravel) recently posted..From Suite to Tent: What Made Accommodations Memorable in Jordan
Lazy Travelers
thats like, pretty much how she acted. such a drama queen! xoxo, the wino
Lazy Travelers
HEY WAIT RUDE JUST SAW THIS.
no but like, probably true. except i was saying “oh hubs, oh hubs! it’s so unBEARably hawt!”
XO, the romantic aka scarlett
Lazy Travelers recently posted..style spotter: budapest, hungary
Traveling Ted (@travelingted)
I can sympathize with the heat in Budapest. I was in Prague a few years back during a historic heat wave and had a similar apartment experience.
Traveling Ted (@travelingted) recently posted..Another beautiful Wisconsin River weekend canoeing photo essay
Lazy Travelers
WELP karma got us in the end because after complaining about the heat in budapest, we had cold, rainy weather throughout our entire stay in vienna!
Erin at The World Wanderer
Love the way you travel, ladies. We really need a LT/WW trip one of these days…
Erin at The World Wanderer recently posted..Empanadas: Three Ways.
Lazy Travelers
YUP. name a time and place and we’ll be there.
lola dimarco
The Four Seasons baby! – can’t go wrong. Nothing makes the outer rings of hell seem like a distant memory like a stay at The Four Seasons Prague- a personal fav!
lola dimarco recently posted..The Nonantum Resort in Kennebunkport, Maine
Lazy Travelers
four seasons prague was the perrrrfect cure for the misery we endured while we were stuck in the basement! no, but seriously, the basement was horrifying.
OCDemon
Damn summer travel and its silly overheating nonsense. Wet towel on the face is sometimes the only way to not die a little inside.
OCDemon recently posted..Happily stuck in Lviv, Ukraine
Lazy Travelers
i know right? it actually worked wonders.
Lazy Travelers recently posted..style spotter: budapest, hungary
Lance | Trips By Lance
Mixing is good, very good. I don’t want to sound cheap, but I have better things to do with my hard-earned money than stay in expensive places every night of a trip. A few nights here and there, most definitely. I don’t stay in hostels, but I love apartments and B&Bs. As a southerner, though, I’m not a fan of no AC. We like our artificial air that poisons the environment very much in the South.
Lance | Trips By Lance recently posted..Looking for Foodie Memphis With Dishcrawl
Lazy Travelers
we hear you. it’s also nice to have a bit of a change in neighborhoods, especially if you’re short on time! we really loved the location of our second apartment, and we probably wouldn’t have made it over there otherwise.
re: ac, you would have shriveled up and died in this place, with only slight exaggeration.
Lazy Travelers recently posted..style spotter: budapest, hungary
Pola (@jettingaround)
Those are some cool digs, ladies! I like that Budapest apartment, so cute. 🙂
Pola (@jettingaround) recently posted..Photo(s) of the Week: Steel wings of Milwaukee Art Museum
Lazy Travelers
just be sure to book that one in the winter!
Lazy Travelers recently posted..style spotter: budapest, hungary